So often it is heard that the public good is obtained when men look after their own interests. While there might be some degree of truth in the idea, the real change was one of focus. The modern view shifted the whole perception of the public good. It is no longer an end but merely … Read more
The immigration crisis brings to the forefront many issues that have long festered in the body politic. It involves the future of an order inside a nation, which today is fragmented and polarized without a clear course ahead. What is at stake is not just the composition of who makes up the nation, but the … Read more
Wherever there is private property, there also one will find a strong family system. The two institutions are intertwined. The family household as an economic unit has always been much more important to the development of a nation than the isolated individual. Indeed, we can say that modern economy was built upon the firm foundation … Read more
Most people do not realize how the financial systems outside of Christendom were untrustworthy in pre-modern times. The moral structures of the Church created a climate of trust and honesty that was unknown to other civilizations. Historian Rodney Stark relates an astonishing example of the Turks after their defeat in the Battle of Lepanto in … Read more
In a world where everything is so rationalistic and well-organized, it seems a contradiction that people would seek after things like drugs, alcohol abuse, promiscuity, violence, extreme sports, intense music, violent video games and other such pursuits that border on the irrational. Yet, as sociologist Richard Strivers notes, such behavior is actually a consequence of … Read more
The family is the single most important component of a Christian society. However, while the family is a tremendously vital force for development of the individual, it alone will not suffice. A regime of separate and scattered families, even very Christian families, does not a society make. Isolated families alone cannot normally sustain themselves in … Read more
When speaking of imbalance in our economy, many are quick to lay the blame upon capitalism as a system since we have long gloried in being the capitalist nation par excellence. One must reject such an evaluation. In its purely popular sense understood by most Americans, capitalism is a market system of production and consumption … Read more
There are many who complain that big government is the root of all our problems. If we could but rid ourselves of its intrusive presence in our lives, things would be much better. Many complain about the effects of big government but few look at its cause. Big government does not just happen. In fact, … Read more
As the world prepares to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, it is good to acknowledge the debt the modern world owes to its medieval predecessors. They were the ones who nurtured the idea of the rule of law and clearly broke with the despotism of former and later regimes. … Read more
British economic historian R. H. Tawney argues that economic efficiency cannot be the only criteria of judgment for the well being of society. Undoubtedly, every “sane and vigorous society” needs efficiency and those who deny this are but “incorrigible sentimentalists.” Read the popular article: We Must Resist the Temptation to Secession However, the noted scholar … Read more
