Why Is Socialism Still Popular?

Return to Order Why Is Socialism Still Popular? 1

If ever there was a set of ideas that has been tried and found lacking, it is socialism. It has been tried on every continent. It has been tried in weak nations and strong. It has been tried in primitive countries and those which are highly developed. The most striking thing about socialism is that … Read more

What Happens When Money Becomes the Primary Concern

Return to Order What Happens When Money Becomes the Primary Concern

When money becomes the primary concern, it creates a dynamism of its own by empowering banks and other financial institutions to expand the money supply.1 This rule encourages many financial institutions to develop complex new financial products, credit innovations, and speculative instruments that enable them to profit from a tense climate of boom or bust. … Read more

Doing Business Differently: A Free Market Fable

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A review of Nothing is Free: The Price Only Business Leaders Can Pay to Protect Free Markets by Dave Geenens (Atchison, Kans.: Inhance Press, 2013). * * * Modern economics tends to reduce what happens in business to numbers and formulas. The human element is taken out, and all is left dry and lifeless. It … Read more

The Modern Enemy of Our Brains

Return to Order The Modern Enemy of Our Brains

by Jacob Weymier What is the problem with the Internet and how can it hurt you? Nicholas Carr provides the answer in his book called The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. He talks about how the brain works and how the Internet makes the brain have shallower thoughts rather than deep concentration. … Read more

Fostering an Organic Society: The Value of Every Person

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Excerpt from the talk, “Fostering an Organic Society: Principles and Examples” given by James Bascom at the 2013 TFP National Conference on October 27, 2013 The first principle is that within every man there are potentialities that must be developed. Every man is born with an enormous variety of qualities, propensities, and strengths that seek … Read more

Organic Christian Society and the Second Amendment

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The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in our American Constitution and culture to the point that many think this right is uniquely American. However, the historical evidence is quite surprising. Pre-modern and pre-industrial cultures also promoted arms ownership. Organic Christian society recognized the natural-law right of the family to defend itself from … Read more

Natural and Organic Life v. Artificial & Mechanical Existence

Return to Order Natural and Organic Life v. Artificial & Mechanical Existence 1

  A room with cleverly calculated proportions: wide enough and with a high enough ceiling to simultaneously convey the harmonious yet contrary impressions of warmth and relief. It easily accommodates the furniture, paintings, chandelier, and people with enough space for them to move about naturally, without bumping into something or someone. The furnishings are not … Read more

The Apples-and-Oranges Debate over Tariffs

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As I watch the debate over tariffs, I can’t help but feel the two sides are not speaking the same language. They are talking apples and oranges. One side is concerned only about money while the other side deals with social impact. I don’t think this apples and oranges debate can be reduced to which … Read more

Why Do So Many Smart People Use Dumb Phones?

Return to Order How Many Smart Phones Are Enough? 2

Wherever you go, people are on their “smartphones.” In airports, restaurants or on the street, people are almost permanently glued to their devices, obsessed with the idea that they cannot exist without being connected to the cyber world. Thus, they text and tweet, email and Google, follow and like in an effort to be constantly … Read more

How a Good Lent Can Help Fix a Bad Economy

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To those who see no link between Lent and our failing economy, it might be the case to look again. Economics is about people. It cannot be reduced to numbers, formulae and analyses. “The subject matter of economics,” observes economic historian Odd Langholm, “is properly the habits, customs, and ways of thinking of producers, consumers, … Read more