Message to Graduates in 2018: Graduate

Return to Order Five Pieces of Advice for Graduates: To ‘Adult’ or Not to ‘Adult’

It is that time of the year again when students graduate from their high schools and colleges. The graduation ceremony is a rite of passage that is so much a part of our tradition. Commencement speakers call upon graduates to dream, hope and plan for the future. While such words may seem proper for these … Read more

The Crumbling of Certainties

Return to Order The Crumbling of Certainties

In the scramble to make sense out of the present election cycle, analysts have come up with all sorts of theories. One popular explanation claims that people are hardening in their positions. On the left and the right, all parties are holding rigidly to their agendas, forcing their will upon the rest of the nation … 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

When Institutions Decay

Return to Order When Institutions Decay 2

A review of The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die by Niall Ferguson, Allen Lane, London, 2012. Niall Ferguson’s The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die is intriguing since the title reflects what should be an obvious connection: Social institutions do affect economies. Free Book: Return to Order: From a Frenzied … Read more

Freedom Is Not Choice

Return to Order Saint Albert the Great: Why Property is Needed 1

There are those who confuse freedom with choice. They do not realize that freedom is the ability to choose the means to a determined end perceived as good and in accordance with our nature. It is not the choice itself. When a person makes a bad choice or chooses a bad end, the result is … Read more

Discouraging the Rise of Heroes

Return to Order Discouraging the Rise of Heroes 4

We live in an age of self-interest where each looks after his own pleasure and gratification. Ours is a culture that glorifies comfort, safety and health. It exudes carefree optimism, giving us the mistaken impression that we can somehow have perfect material happiness in this valley of tears. In such a climate, the hero seems … Read more

Why the Met Exhibit Must Be Denounced and Opposed

Return to Order Why the Met Exhibit Must Be Denounced and Opposed

Something is sacred when it separates that which belongs to God alone from the rest of the world. The sacred speaks of heavenly things and leaves below earthly concerns. The sacred is outside of time and place. It contains the mystery of all things infinite and ineffable. Indeed, the very word sacred comes from the … Read more

What Is Wrong with This Story?

Return to Order Discouraging the Rise of Heroes 1

A good friend of mine was commenting on a local business luncheon with the town mayor that reveals something of the state of the economy and the nation. He reported: “There are no pre-determined topics. Attendees can discuss any issue they like concerning challenges to their business and/or governmental issues that they would like to … Read more

Can You Force People to Sin?

Return to Order Can You Force People to Sin? 3

Those who want to opt out of serving at same-sex “marriage” functions often claim a right to religious liberty. Some say it is a matter of following one’s beliefs and conscience. Still others believe it involves freedom of speech and opinions. Such claims, while valid, are doomed to fail, because the center of the debate … Read more

Return to Order Talks in California

Return to Order Return to Order Talks in California 7

On May 5, the TFP Southern California Regional Conference as held at Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel in Buena Park. The event featured TFP speakers, John Horvat, Michael Whitcraft and Norman Fulkerson. On May 6, a similar conference was held in Sacramento, California at the city’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The theme of the conferences was “Means … Read more