Acton Line

Latest Episodes:

Ilya Shapiro on Supreme Disorder and SCOTUS politics Sep 30, 2020

Show notes

The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016 amplified questions about the Supreme Court in the 2016 election to new highs. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s high wire act in denying a hearing and vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill that seat, Judge Merrick Garland, ultimately paid off for him: President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was then confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

A year later, the political world was rocked again by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the bench. Following one of the most contentions confirmation hearings in modern American political history, Kavanaugh was also confirmed.

Now, the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has created another election year vacancy on the nation’s highest court. President Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat. The political temperature has again risen.

In his new book, “Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court,” Cato’s Ilya Shapiro examines the history of the judicial confirmation hearings, how politics has invaded the Supreme Court itself, and how appointments to the Court have become one of the most explosive features of our system of government.

In this episode, Ilya Shapiro discusses his new book, how our politics of the judiciary got this way, how that politics affecting us as a nation, and what, if anything, can be done about it.

Ilya Shapiro at the Cato Institute

Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court - Ilya Shapiro

Term Limits Won’t Fix the Court - Ilya Shapiro

Roberts Rules - Ilya Shapiro

Everything you need to know about Amy Coney Barrett - Rev. Ben Johnson

‘A different kind of lawyer’: Amy Coney Barrett on Christian vocation - Joseph Sunde

High Court, high stakes: Replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Trey Dimsdale

Religious liberty at the Supreme Court - Acton Line

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Stephanie Slade on will-to-power conservatism Sep 23, 2020

Show notes

With fusionism – the strategic alliance of conservative foreign policy hawks, social conservatives and economic libertarians knitted together in the last half of the 20th century in opposition to international communism – crumbling after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the modern conservative movement has been remaking itself in effort to address the problems of the current day.

One of these seemingly ascendant factions are the so-called common good conservatives.

In an article in the October 2020 edition of Reason magazine, managing editor Stephanie Slade examines the what she calls the “great liberalism schism” that has emerged out of the collapse of fusionism.

And for the common good conservatives shedding classical liberal norms, she identifies a new moniker: will-to-power conservativism, borrowing a concept from German philosopher Friederich Nietzsche.

In this episode, Stephanie Slade discusses will-to-power conservatism, who exactly has a claim on the concept of the common good, and what the great liberalism schism means for our politics and society.

Stephanie Slade at Reason magazine

Will-to-Power Conservatism and the Great Liberalism Schism - Stephanie Slade

The biggest problems of national conservatism - Acton Line

The Post-Liberal Right: The Good, the Bad, and the Perplexing - Sam Gregg

Patrick Deneen and the Problem with Liberalism - Sam Gregg

Rev. Robert Sirico responds to Marco Rubio's 'common good capitalism' - Acton Line

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Dylan Pahman on Charles Malik and 'Christ and Crisis' Sep 16, 2020

Show notes

Charles Malik, the Lebanese diplomat and one of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was intimately involved in the crises of his own day, from the challenge of international communism to the internal challenges and problems of the West itself. For Malik all of our challenges take the form of crises which, at their deepest levels, reflect Christ’s judgement.

His profoundly theological vision of global crisis, one in which crises are ongoing in the lives of individual believers as well as the world at large, springs from his own lifelong Orthodox faith.

In a world consumed by crises from the global COVID-19 pandemic to ongoing civil unrest in the United States Malik’s insights are timelier than ever for believers trying to navigate through a turbulent world.

In this episode, Acton’s Dan Hugger talks with Dylan Pahman, research fellow and managing editor of the Journal of Markets and Morality at the Acton Institute, about Malik’s life and his book "Christ and Crisis" in which he presents his Christ-centered interpretative framework for grappling with a rapidly changing world.

Christ and Crisis - Charles Malik

Charles Malik - Hero of Liberty, Religion & Liberty

The burden of the Christian - Charles Malik

‘Christ and Crisis’ today - Dylan Pahman

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Iain Murray on the socialist temptation Sep 09, 2020

Show notes

In his new book, The Socialist Temptation, author Iain Murray examines the resurgence of socialist ideology in America and across the world.

Seemingly discredited just thirty years ago by the failures of the Soviet Union and Communist block Eastern Europe, socialism has seen a revival of support and popularity in the West.

Murray sets out to explain why the socialist temptation endures even after it’s own massive failures, the inconsistencies in socialist thought that prevent it from ever working in practice, and how to show young people who didn’t learn the lessons of history the sorry truth about socialism.

Iain Murray at the Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Socialist Temptation - Iain Murray

Socialism as religion with Kevin Williamson - Acton Line

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Daniel Darling on using social media for good Sep 02, 2020

Show notes

On February 4th, 2004, a sophomore at Harvard University by the name of Mark Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook. At the time, the social networking website was limited to only students at Harvard. And while other social networking platforms like MySpace and Friendster predated the launch of Facebook, it was that February day in Cambridge, Massachusetts that the age of social media was truly born.

Today, Facebook boasts 2.5 billion active users, is available in 111 languages, and is the 4th most trafficked website in the world. And from there, other platforms followed: Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, Pintrest and, most recently, TikTok.

While these platforms were launched with a promise of connecting the entire world together in conversation, today they also have a reputation for fostering hate, animosity, vitriol, conspiracy mongering, outrage mobs and a litany of other negative societal impacts.

Does social media have to be this way? Or can we be better?

In this episode, Daniel Darling, Senior Vice President for Communications at National Religious Broadcasters and author of the new book A Way With Words, discusses the promise of social media, where it went wrong, what our social media habits say about us, and how we can use our online conversations for good.

Daniel Darling's website

The Way Home Podcast with Daniel Darling

A Way with Words: Using Our Online Conversations for Good - Daniel Darling

A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream - Yuval Levin

Is social media the source of our social problems? - Dan Hugger

How to drain the poison of outrage out of social media - Dan Hugger

Religion & Liberty Winter 2019: Social Media

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Dr. David Hebert on COVID-19 pandemic economics Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has brought with it enormous costs. These include, first and foremost, an enormous cost in the terms of human life, with more than 178,000 deaths from the coronavirus in the United States alone, and at least 814,000 deaths worldwide, as of late August 2020. But also, with the pandemic have come significant economic costs, fiscal costs, and personal costs to our happiness and quality of life.

Why is living under quarantine so hard for people? In large part it’s because, prior to the pandemic, many people have enjoyed living under a system of mostly-free markets. But when we’re robbed of our ability to work in a lockdown, we’re also robbed of part of what comprises our innate human dignity, as this pandemic takes a toll not only in the loss of human life but in the loss of community.

What can we learn from the economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic? How can economics and public choice theory help us better understand the actions of political leaders during this time? And how can entrepreneurship allowed for under free market systems innovate solutions to these problems?

In this episode, Acton’s managing director of programs Stephen Barrows speaks with Dr. David Hebert, chair of the economics department and associate professor of economics at Aquinas College, about the economics of the quarantines and lock-downs in the Covid-19.

Dr. David Hebert at Aquinas College

Why quarantine is no fun, part 1 (video) - Dr. David Hebert

Why quarantine is no fun, part 2 (video) - Dr. David Hebert

Pen and Paper Economics

Creativity will kill COVID-19 - Anne Rathbone Bradley

Rev. Robert Sirico on the church's response to COVID-19 - Acton Line

A free-market agenda for rebuilding from the coronavirus - Henrik Rasmussen

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Kevin Williamson on socialism as religion Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

From accusations of embracing socialism leveled at the Obama administration by the Tea Party movement to the rise of self-proclaimed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders as the second highest vote-getter in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic Party primaries, socialism has been an emerging movement and topic of conversation in the American body politic.

While polling data suggests that socialism is generally still viewed far less favorably than capitalism or free markets overall, the younger Millennial and Gen Z generations are more embracing of socialism than generations before. Similarly, those younger generations are more likely than their forbearers to be among the Nones: those who proclaim no religious affiliation and no religious or spiritual beliefs.

Is socialism filling in for the human religious impulse, allowing people to feel a part of something larger than themselves without embracing the concepts of God and church?

On this episode, Kevin Williamson, roving correspondent for National Review and author of the 2010 book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism,” discusses the emergence of socialism in American politics and the spiritual role it seems to play now, and has historically played, for its proponents.

Kevin Williamson at National Review

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism - Kevin Williamson

The Celestial Afterlife of Karl Marx - Kevin Williamson

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s crass Marxist materialism - Dan Hugger

The key to understanding Bernie Sanders - Rev. Ben Johnson

Bruce Ashford: Marxism is a false religion (video) - Rev. Ben Johnson

There is no 'Catholic case for communism' - Rev. Ben Johnson

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Matthew Continetti on the rise of the national conservatives Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

The conservative movement in America has always been evolving. From the old right of the progressive era to the conservative intellectual movement identified with William F. Buckley Jr. and National Review to the Reagan revolution to today, the political right in America has changed with the challenges it has faced and with the context of the times in which it has existed.

The current iteration of the conservative movement is today more nationalist, more populist and more skeptical, if not opposed, to classical liberalism, liberal institutions and free markets than ever before – at times even expressing doubt or skepticism about the American founding itself.

How did the conservative movement get here?

On the episode, Matthew Continetti, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, discusses the history of the American conservative movement, its evolution into being dominated by nationalism and populism, and where it may be headed in the future.

Matthew Continetti at the American Enterprise Institute

Making Sense of the New American Right - Matthew Continetti

The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 - George Nash

A healthy conservative nationalism? Not without classical liberalism - Joseph Sunde

The biggest problems of national conservatism - Acton Line

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Phil Magness on critiquing the 1619 Project Aug 05, 2020

Show notes

Since debuting in the New York Times Magazine on August 14, 2019, the 1619 Project has ignited a debate about American history, the founding of the country and the legacy emanating from the nation’s history with chattel slavery.

The project’s creator and editor, Nikole Hannah-Jones, has described the project as seeking to place “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” Components of a related school curriculum have been adopted in major cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Buffalo, New York. For her work on the project, Hannah-Jones was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

But the project has also come in for heavy criticism from historians and economists of all political and philosophical persuasions for inaccuracies in "matters of verifiable fact” in history and economics. In response to these critics, Hannah-Jones just recently declared the project not a work history, but instead a work of journalism.

One of the project’s most frequent critics is Phil Magness, Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.

On this episode, Phil Magness discusses the objectives of the 1619 project, the economic history of slavery, the project’s historical errors and why many Americans seem to have such a difficult time accepting the complicated totality of our own history.

Phillip W. Magness at the American Institute for Economic Research

The 1619 Project - The New York Times Magazine

The 1619 Project: A Critique - Phil Magness

Public Schools Are Teaching The 1619 Project in Class, Despite Concerns From Historians - Reason

Karl Marx: Intellectual father of the 1619 Project? - Rev. Ben Johnson

The 1619 Projection: 3 lies Pulitzer should not reward - Rev. Ben Johnson

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Jordan Ballor on Richard Baxter & 'How to Do Good to Many' Jul 29, 2020

Show notes

Richard Baxter, the English Puritan churchman and theologian, was perhaps one of most prolific English language author in the seventeenth century. His writings were wide ranging from doctrinal theology to devotional classics. And his practical theology was a model of German sociologist Max Weber’s understanding of the protestant work ethic.

Baxter’s worldly aestheticism was focused on service to others across sectarian divides. His book, How to Do Good to Many: The Public Good is the Christian’s Life, offers practical guidance to lay people grounded in Christian faith.

This classic, updated for modern readers by Jordan Ballor, remains a thought provoking and inspirational meditation on Paul’s admonition to, “…do good to all people…” (Gal. 6:10)

Acton’s Dan Hugger talks with Jordan Ballor, senior research fellow and director of publishing at the Acton Institute, about Baxter’s life and work, and the new updated edition of How to Do Good to Many.

How to Do Good to Many: The Public Good Is the Christian’s Life

How to do Good to Many (1682)

Selections from How to Do Good to Many (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Maslow, material needs, and the gospel

The Redemption and Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

How Groundhog Day changed my life

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