Acton Line

Latest Episodes:

Dare to speak: defending free speech for all Jul 07, 2021

Show notes

Suzanne Nossel, CEO of Pen America sits down with Eric Kohn, Acton’s director of communication to discuss her new book, Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All.

Nossel, a leading voice in support of free expression, delivers a vital, necessary guide to maintaining democratic debate that is open, freewheeling, but at the same time respectful of the rich diversity of backgrounds and opinions in a changing country. Centered on practical principles, Nossel’s primer equips listeners with the tools needed to speak one’s mind in today’s diverse, digitized, and highly divided society without resorting to curbs on free expression.

About Suzanne Nossel

Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All

Communist China forces shutdown of Apple Daily, stifling truth in pursuit of control

‎Acton Line | Dylan Pahman on free speech and cancel culture

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Betsy DeVos and Sal Khan on education and entrepreneurial disruption Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, we're bringing you a panel discussion featuring Betsy Devos and Sal Khan that was delivered as part of Acton University Online 2021. The Panel was moderated by Jeff Sandefer, entrepreneur and founder of the Acton School of Business.

An educated citizenry is fundamental to securing a free and flourishing society. Innovation, technology, and entrepreneurial endeavors are transforming education in many ways. This panel examines common myths about learning and the provision of education, highlights the great entrepreneurial efforts to improve its quality and accessibility, and explores what the future holds in providing an education that secures creative opportunity, growth, and fulfillment for everyone.

Bio | Sal Khan

Bio | Betsy DeVos

Bio | Jeff Sandefer

America's Public Schools: Crisis and Cure - Chapter 1

What’s driving the decline of religion in America? Secular education

A silver lining in the Golden State's school shutdowns

The Myth of a Value-Free Education

The Entrepreneur as Servant

The Biblical Case for Entrepreneurship

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The love of learning Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

Liberal Arts Education is a classical academic discipline that focuses on educating the whole person and is rooted in a lifelong study of transcendent, interdisciplinary knowledge. In June 2021, Dr. Margarita Mooney, an associate Professor in the Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and Executive Director of the Scala Foundation, published her book “The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts” to promote liberal arts education for the improvement of education and human virtue.

In this episode, Dr. Mooney discusses the purpose of a classical education, its preservation of moral virtue and human goodness, and its place in schools and society. Some schools and universities have built their base curriculum from a foundation of the Liberal Arts, while other individual teachers and professors are swimming against the stream by promoting its ideals: the pursuit of holistic, transformative knowledge, in their classroom.

“The Love of Learning” tells the story of seven scholars who fell in love with learning, explores the roots that the Liberal Arts has in Western Tradition, and considers the beauty it offers our contemporary education. It also offers discussion questions between chapters to foster discussion in reading groups or for personal reflection.

The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts Education in a Free Society

About Margarita Mooney

Scala Foundation

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Covid relief bill’s side effects on our future economy Jun 16, 2021

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Along with more than half a million American deaths, lockdowns and federal mandates, the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it unprecedented government spending and economic disruption. In this episode, Acton Institute’s research fellows, Dan Hugger and Dylan Pahman evaluate the economic and moral implications of the COVID relief bill.

In March 2021, the Biden administration passed a 1.9 trillion dollar COVID stimulus package to provide monetary aid for the American people under the guise of a “COVID relief bill”. However, a little less than 9% of this bill directly targets public health relief. In a live economy, how does this amount of government spending shape the future of America?

Hugger and Pahman discuss the true purpose of a stimulus package, the Biden administration’s COVID relief bill itself and its effect on the future economy, how the American people should react morally, and if stimulus checks could have been rolled out in a more effective way.

Will the fiscal legacy of the massive COVID relief bill remain or can America get back on track?

Three core principles to evaluate the coronavirus stimulus

Parenting after the pandemic: More freedom, less ‘safetyism’

States’ rights, federal behavior: Alabama and COVID-19 spending

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America without God Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

Cultural American ideologies, which were historically influenced by Christian beliefs, have continued to deteriorate throughout the years. Faith in politics, rather than having a theological perspective, continues to grow aggressively. While our country is greatly divided, American culture turns to ideological politics for a solution. Shadi Hamid, senior fellow at the center of middle east policy at the Brookings Institution calls it, “religion without religion” in an article titled, "America without God," published in the Atlantic.

America without God

Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World

Lyman Stone on the decline of religiosity in the United States

What’s driving the decline of religion in America? Secular education

Pastors less concerned as religious liberty declined: Poll

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Why do some people hate the Jews? Jun 02, 2021

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We bring you a conversation between Acton’s Director of Communications, Eric Kohn, and the Jack Miller Family Foundation’s Director of Freedom Initiatives, Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg. In this episode, they discuss a new surge in antisemitic violence in America as tensions between Israel and Gaza continue to grow.

Jews have been beaten in broad daylight, synagogues have been vandalized, pro-Israel demonstrations have resulted in riots, and major cities across the Unites States have experienced explosive growth in antisemitic attacks.

Journalist Bari Weiss wrote in her new article, “We saw them on Thursday, when pro-Palestinian protesters threw an explosive device into a crowd of Jews in New York’s Diamond District. We saw them on Wednesday, when two men were attacked outside a bagel shop in midtown Manhattan. We saw them on Tuesday, at a sushi restaurant in West Hollywood, when a group of men draped in keffiyehs asked the diners who was Jewish, and then pummeled them. And in a parking lot not far away, when two cars draped in Palestinian flags roared after an Orthodox man fleeing for his life. And in the story of the American soccer player Luca Lewis, cornered by a band of men in New York demanding to know if he was a Jew.”

How did this happen, and why is this hate becoming a trend?

How to Fight Anti-Semitism: Bari Weiss

The New Furies of the Oldest Hatred

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National Review: Action Institute's Father Robert Sirico Cautions Against Despair

Chilling video captures the moment socialism morphs into anti-Semitism

Terror in New York: Is anti-Semitism on the rise?

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Representative Peter Meijer on public service May 26, 2021

Show notes

We bring you a conversation between Acton’s Director of Communications Eric Kohn and Congressman Peter Meijer, who took office in January as the representative for Michigan’s 3rd congressional district, and recently visited the Acton Building. They discuss bipartisanship, leadership, the often counterintuitive incentive structure that exists in the US Congress and much more.

Representative Peter Meijer

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The American Dream is not dead May 19, 2021

Show notes

Does hard work pay off? Do workers enjoy the fruits of their labor? Can a child living in poverty grow up to be financially successful? These are the questions Dr. Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, answers in his new book, The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).

Populists on both sides of the political aisle routinely announce that the American Dream is dead. According to them, the game has been rigged by elites, workers can’t get ahead, wages have been stagnant for decades, and the middle class is dying.

This rhetoric is dangerous and wrong. Dr. Strain shows that on measures of economic opportunity and quality of life, there has never been a better time to be alive in America.

Markets, populism and a fading American dream – Acton Institute PowerBlog

The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) - Book

AEI - American Enterprise Institute

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One year after the death of George Floyd May 12, 2021

Show notes

Police reform, police training, foot pursuit policy, how to comply, lack of parenthood, and why we are so preoccupied with race. It’s been a year since the death of George Floyd and a lot has changed and a lot hasn’t. Dr. Anthony Bradley from King’s College presents effective solutions on how we can promote human flourishing in black communities.

Acton Line podcast: Anthony Bradley on George Floyd, police reform, and riots

When police get it wrong (repeatedly): The rule of law and police reform

How Christians should think about racism and police brutality

Derek Chauvin guilty, but riots will hurt Minneapolis for generations

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Alexander Salter on the American tradition of ordered liberty and sound money May 05, 2021

Show notes

Acton Line brings you a conversation with Dylan Pahman and Alexander Salter. Pahman is a research fellow here at Acton Institute and serves as executive editor of our Journal of Markets and Morality. Salter is an associate professor of economics at Texas Tech University, and research fellow of the university's Free Market Institute.

In this episode they discuss the relationship between money and liberty. In his article, The American Tradition of Ordered Liberty, Salter writes that “The United States is an experiment both in revolutionary freedom and communal virtue. In other words, our public institutions reflect an ongoing quest for ordered liberty. Without understanding the sources of ordered liberty, we cannot come to grips with our own institutions.”

This “source of ordered liberty” is found in the four pillars that Russell Kirk writes of in his book, Roots of The American Order. The first pillar is Jerusalem where we derive our Judeo-Christian tradition. The second is Athens with our classical Greek intellectual tradition. Third, is Rome, giving us our Roman legal tradition, and the fourth is London — our English constitutional tradition.

“Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London — these are the antecedents of ordered liberty in America. Each tradition left its mark on American social and political institutions, and continues to influence them today.”

The American Tradition of Ordered Liberty – AIER

Money and the Rule of Law - Salter’s book

Free Market Institute

Reading Russell Kirk – Acton Institute PowerBlog

Sirico on Russell Kirk and populism – Acton Institute PowerBlog

Video: Samuel Gregg on Russell Kirk’s contributions to conservatism

The History of Freedom in Antiquity - Lord Acton

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