Acton Unwind

This week, Eric Kohn, Stephen Barrows, and Dan Hugger discuss the emergence of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. With so little known about it, are political leaders and public health officials getting too far ahead of themselves? Dr. Anthony Fauci says he “represent[s] science.” When did we come to have such a malformed understanding of the scientific process that we moved into an ideological understanding of science? And how unsurprised should we be that the World Health Organization skipped over the “Xi” variant name? Finally, they discuss Yuval Levin's recent essay "The changing face of social breakdown.” What's holding people back from starting their lives? Has the pandemic made these problems worse or just revealed trends already at work? And how can we learn to better deal with our changing world to establish more communion, not just communication?

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Omicron Rises, but Our Fears Should Not | National Review

Fauci: Republican detractors are "criticizing science” | Axios

In Naming Omicron Variant, Authorities Skipped ‘Xi’ and ‘Nu’ | Wall Street Journal

A ‘Simpsons’ Episode Lampooned Chinese Censorship. In Hong Kong, It Vanished. | New York Times

The changing face of social breakdown | The Dispatch

For first time, India’s fertility rate below replacement level | Times of India

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali | B. K. S. Iyengar

National Economic Planning: What Is Left?| Don Lavoie

The Use of Knowledge in Society | Friedrich A. Hayek

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Today on Acton Unwind, Stephen Barrows, Dan Hugger, and Dylan Pahman join Michael Matheson Miller—guest editor of the new double issue of Religion & Liberty, Acton’s quarterly journal of religion, economics, and culture—to discuss the issue’s theme: the challenges of thinking clearly in an age dominated by ideology. How can we function in a time when the pursuit of truth, and even the meaning of “truth” itself, is subservient to a suffocating ideology that makes real dialogue between opposing viewpoints difficult if not impossible? What are the risks that come with the adoption of a rigid ideology? What is the difference between ideology and worldview? And how do we resist the temptation of adopting ideological thinking ourselves?

Religion & liberty Summer/Fall 2021

Carter Snead at the Acton Lecture Series: What it means to be human

The History of Freedom in Antiquity 

Bastiat’s Theory of Class: The Plunderers vs. the Plundered 

Biblical Worldview Crucial for the New Millennium 

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Today Eric Kohn, Stephen Barrows, and Dan Hugger discuss all things inflation. What makes the inflation we’re seeing now different from the experience of the 1970s? What does it mean that we have a contracting labor force along with high inflation? How long will inflation be with us, and is there anything that can be done about it? The discussion then turns to mission creep and masking guidance from the CDC, with the agency head suggesting we keep wearing masks to combat, not only COVID-19, but the flu and the common cold as well. And finally, the trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and the accused killers of Ahmaud Arbery are both underway, but only the Rittenhouse proceeding is getting much attention, thanks largely to people using it as a political cudgel. What would happen if we lost faith in our legal system the way we’ve lost faith in so many other American institutions?

Fastest Inflation in 31 Years Puts More Heat on Washington | New York Times

The number of U.S. workers quitting their jobs in September was the highest on record | New York Times

Labor force participation is static, a conundrum for the Fed | New York Times

Inflation Will Make or Break the Next Spending Bill | New York Times

The CDC's Director Implies That Face Masks Are More Effective Than Vaccines at Preventing COVID-19 Infection | Reason

The Rittenhouse Trial Is a Master Class in Media Bias | National Review

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This week, Eric Kohn, Michael Matheson Miller, and Dan Hugger discuss the National Conservatism convention, from which Dan just recently returned. What do the national conservatives want? Should we think about this as an intellectual movement or as a political movement? Have they achieved a consensus about their own identity? And how much of a force will they prove to be within conservative intellectual circles and conservative politics going forward?

National Conservatism Convention agenda

The biggest problems of national conservatism | Acton Line

A healthy conservative nationalism? Not without classical liberalism | Joseph Sunde, Acton Institute

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In this episode, Eric, Sam, and Dylan discuss the potential for upheavals in public education. Will fights over the curriculum and the cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (and the behavior of the teachers union during it) open up the possibility of wholesale changes in public schools? Next, Joe Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis goes very, very well. At least according to Joe Biden. Is the president to be believed when he says Pope Francis assured him he's a Catholic in good standing? Is this something he should even be saying out loud? Finally, Eric and Dylan discuss Dune and explore the important themes related to human nature at play in Frank Herbert’s book and Denis Villeneuve’s film--and in all good science fiction.

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Virginia governor's race now hinges on education, and one candidate has a clear edge: poll | Fox News

Critiquing the 1619 Project with Phil Magness | Acton Line

Capitalism in the 1619 Project | Heritage Foundation, Samuel Gregg

Biden: Pope told me that I should ‘keep receiving Communion’ | Associated Press

Discovering human dignity in Villeneuve’s Dune | Dylan Pahman

Dune trailer

Acton’s 31st Annual Dinner

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This week, Eric and Sam discuss the growing threat from China. First, Sam recaps a talk he gave in Houston last week entitled, "China: Enigma and Challenge for the World." In the wake of China’s test of a hypersonic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead, how should we think about the military, economic, and cultural threat that China poses to the United States and to the world?

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China tests new space capability with hypersonic missile | Financial Times

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, October 18, 2021 | White House

China has won AI battle with U.S., Pentagon's ex-software chief says | Reuters

What to Do About China? | Sam Gregg, Law & Liberty

Decline Is a Choice | Charles Krauthammer, Manhattan Institute

Acton’s 31st Annual Dinner

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This week, Eric Kohn, Sam Gregg, and Dan Hugger discuss Netflix standing up to the woke mob coming after Dave Chappelle for his new comedy special, The Closer, in which he makes jokes about the trans-rights movement. Can we view this as a watershed moment in the culture wars? Or is Netflix just defending their $60 million investment in the legendary comedian? Then, the supply chain has problems. Between that, high energy prices, employment problems, and inflation, are we staring down the barrel of a repeat of the 1970s? Next, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been out for two months on paternity leave. Setting aside the political-football aspect, how should we think about paternity leave in the modern culture and economy? And finally, we end with a new segment called Recommendable, where the crew will recommend articles, books, podcasts, or anything else they found important and recommendable throughout the week.

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Defending Dave Chappelle | National Review

Jews in Space | History of the World Part 1, Mel Brooks

Jon Gruden emails, explained: Raiders coach resigns following release of damning messages | Sporting News

Pete Buttigieg defends being on paternity leave amid supply-chain crisis | New York Post

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek | EconStories

Recommendable:

Eric - We Got Here Because of Cowardice. We Get Out With Courage | Bari Weiss, Commentary

Sam - Abusing the Power of the Purse, with Philip Hamburger | Law & Liberty

Dan - India Before Modi: How the BJP Came to Power | Vinay Sitapati

Acton’s 31st Annual Dinner

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This week, Eric Kohn, Sam Gregg, and Dylan Pahman discuss the possibility that objection to Southwest Airlines’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate was behind the cancelation of more than 1,000 flights over the weekend. Even if it wasn’t, there is clearly resistance to vaccine mandates out there, whether coming from the government or private businesses. And why is resistance to mandates, for some people at least, turning into resistance or rejection of the vaccine itself? A University of Michigan professor is under fire for showing his class Lawrence Oliver's black-face film portrayal of Othello. Is the biggest culprit in situations like these the people in authority who cave to the mob? And finally, Sam Gregg discusses his review of Vivek Ramaswamy’s new book Woke, Inc. and how the behavior we're seeing in big corporations is similar to that on display in the University of Michigan story.

Southwest cancels more than a thousand flights, cites air-traffic control issues | Fox Business

Southwest Airlines denies that pilot "sick out" drove weekend of delays | Axios

Michigan Students Accuse Celebrated Music Professor of Racism for Screening Othello | Robby Soave, Reason

The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium | Martin Gurri

Why I Am Suing UCLA | Gordon Klein, Common Sense with Bari Weiss

The Distorted Market for Woke Capitalism | Sam Gregg, Law & Liberty

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On this week’s episode, Eric Kohn, Sam Gregg, and Michael Matheson Miller discuss U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance’s comments about the Ford Foundation--namely, that we should “seize the assets of the Ford Foundation, tax their assets, and give it to the people who've had their lives destroyed by their radical open borders agenda.” When did it become acceptable for the right to abandon concepts like constitutionality and the rule of law? Why is this kind of rhetoric constantly escalating? Is it really what the polity wants? Then, have we thrown open the Overton window on spending with the trillion-dollar infrastructure deal? When Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who is still cool with spending $1.5 trillion on a reconciliation bill on top of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, is the “conservative” in the conversation, have words lost their meaning entirely? And how long before we’re talking about quadrillion-dollar spending bills?

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J.D. Vance's latest Fox News stunt is a far-left fantasy | Noah Rothman, MSNBC

Ford Foundation’s aim to ‘change philanthropy’ warps the true meaning of ‘justice’ and ‘generosity’ | Dan Hugger, Acton Institute

The Conservatives Dreading—And Preparing for—Civil War | Emma Green, The Atlantic

A Whiff of Civil War in the Air | David French, The Dispatch

Terry McAuliffe’s War on Parents | National Review

Attack Ads, Circa 1800 | Reason

Manchin proposed $1.5T top-line number to Schumer this summer | Politico

Related:

Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism | Michael Matheson Miller

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On this week’s episode, Eric Kohn, Dan Churchwell, and Dan Hugger discuss America’s dueling refugee crises: one on the southern border manifesting in around 14,000 migrants descending on Del Rio, Texas, and the refugees fleeing the Taliban rule in Afghanistan following the American exit from that country. How should we approach these problems as Americans, and as Christians? Crime has been rising in American cities. How should we understand the problem, and how important is it to truly understand the nature of the problem and how it’s different in different places before we attempt to pick and choose policies to solve the problem? And finally, Brookings senior fellow and Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan says our constitutional crisis is already here. When they’re subject both to erosion and attack, how long can our American institutions hold up?

Welcoming the stranger: The dignity and promise of Afghan refugees | Joseph Sunde

National Review Special Issue in Crime: Law and Disorder

The Mistakes We Cannot Make Again | David French

Our constitutional crisis is already here | Robert Kagan

Trump's 'Eastman Memo' Proposed an Unconstitutional Power Grab by the Vice President | Damon Root

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