While the economic arguments for free trade remain compelling, the political rationale requires a long-overdue overhaul.
Author: Samuel Gregg (Samuel Gregg)
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How Europe’s Way of Denial Became a Way of Death
Europe’s immigration woes underscore how much of the continent is living in untruth—in lies that gradually kill.
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Alexander Hamilton: Revolutionary Conservative Lawyer
A new book illustrates how Alexander Hamilton used British legal traditions and the American judiciary to give a distinctive constitutional form to a new republic.
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Capitalism, Conservatives, and the Intellectuals: A Reply to Matthew McManus
Not only are there many forms of capitalism, but intellectuals exert great influence in determining what type of economy we embrace—for better and for worse.
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First Things and the Market Economy: A Response to R. R. Reno
More than ever, religiously informed conservatives should underscore the importance of market economies for ordered liberty.
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National Sovereignty and the Challenge of Immigration
The idea of national sovereignty is indispensable to any coherent discussion of immigration policy.
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Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
Any defense of the West must be clear about those core commitments to reason and the reasonable God that are central to its identity.
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John Stuart Mill’s Intolerant Faith and the Religion of Liberalism
John Stuart Mill foreshadows the deeply intolerant faith and agenda of contemporary liberalism.
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Globalist Illusions and the Folly of Global Governance
Global governance projects don’t just foster unaccountable bureaucracies and rule by experts. They are increasingly corrupting the idea of human rights.
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Neil Gorsuch, Natural Law, and the Limits of Judicial Power
What does natural law say about the power of judges in constitutional systems of government?
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Michael Novak: Catholic, American Patriot, and Lover of Liberty
The life and work of Michael Novak was a witness to Christian faith and the promise of America.
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Good Money
Lasting reform of our monetary systems require serious rethinking of the state’s role vis-à-vis money.
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Shedding Light on Progressivism’s Dark Side
A new book details the progressive movement’s reliance on eugenics and race science as well as its effort to exclude the disabled, blacks, immigrants, the poor, and women from full participation in American society.
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Tocqueville and Democracy’s Fall in America
For Alexis de Tocqueville, American democracy’s passion for equality was a potentially fatal flaw—one that religion could help address. But what happens when religion also becomes preoccupied with equality?
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Markets, Catholicism, and Libertarianism
Supporting markets as the economic arrangements most likely to help promote human flourishing doesn’t necessarily mean you accept libertarian philosophical premises.
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How Christianity Created the Free Society
While many Christians have undermined human liberty, a new book of essays shows just how much of our contemporary freedom we owe to the Christian church, Christian thinkers, and Christian practice rather than liberals and liberalism.
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Regensburg, Ratzinger, and Our Crisis of Reason
Against the Age of Feelings, Joseph Ratzinger has consistently upheld the power of reason in all its fullness.
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George Washington’s Constitutional Morality
In the age of Clinton and Trump, we need the principles and ideals that animated America’s first president more than ever.
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Adam Smith, Economic Nationalism, and the Case for Free Trade
As economic nationalism enjoys a resurgence across the developed world, Adam Smith reminds us of how much we stand to lose—and not just economically.
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Global Capitalism versus Christianity? A Response to David Bentley Hart
Christianity has never seen the pursuit of virtue as incompatible with private possession of wealth.
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Constitutional Conservatism: Its Meaning and Its Future
The project of constitutional conservatism must be about more than restoring limits on government. It must also invoke the ends of the American experiment in ordered liberty if the United States is to resist the siren-calls of egalitarianism and populism.
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Sovereign Debt Crises, Justice, and State Authority
The significance of sovereign debt crises goes beyond economics. How we address these situations gives important insight into our understanding of the nature and limits of state authority.
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The Law of Benedict
Pope Benedict XVI often ventured into venues historically hostile to the Judeo-Christian tradition. A new collection of essays discusses many of these speeches, probing the relationship of reason to religion, the West, and natural law.
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Crony Capitalism: Inefficient, Unjust, and Corrupting
Cronyism in the marketplace not only damages the economy. It is also unjust and deeply corrupting of the body politic—perhaps especially of democracies.
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A Conservative’s Odyssey: Russell Kirk and Twentieth-Century American Conservatism
Bradley J. Birzer’s intellectual biography of the twentieth-century conservative thinker Russell Kirk highlights the complexities of the American conservative movement and its ongoing challenges.