ActonInstitute

ActonInstitute Connecting good intentions with sound economics.

Compassion is everywhere in today's political language, but is it enough on its own?A new piece by Marcus Peter argues r...
09/09/2026

Compassion is everywhere in today's political language, but is it enough on its own?

A new piece by Marcus Peter argues real help requires pairing good intentions with an honest view of human nature.

From Augustine to Niebuhr to modern development economics, the message is consistent: charity that restores dignity and responsibility changes lives. Charity that only soothes our conscience just feels good.

Read more in "When Compassion Forgets Human Nature," by Marcus Peter.

09/09/2026

Should you send your kids to public schools?

On The Curious Middle podcast, Father Robert Sirico discussed how the modern education system prioritizes making good workers over allowing kids the space to dream and be seen for who they are as individuals.

Tall. Handsome. Peg leg. Wrote the Preamble to the Constitution basically solo. Called out the Three-Fifths Compromise t...
09/08/2026

Tall. Handsome. Peg leg. Wrote the Preamble to the Constitution basically solo. Called out the Three-Fifths Compromise to its face. Watched the French Revolution unfold from the front row and lived to tell about it.

So why has nobody heard of Gouverneur Morris?

A new biography, "The Forsaken Founder" by Scott S. Greenberger, highlights Morris’s boldness, sincerity, independence, and intellectual imagination, all traits says Tyler Curtis, "that speak directly to the political anxieties of Americans today."

We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker for our Sixth Annual Academic Conference: Dr. Erik Matson, Senior Researc...
09/08/2026

We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker for our Sixth Annual Academic Conference: Dr. Erik Matson, Senior Research Fellow at The Catholic University of America, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center, and Co-Director of the Adam Smith Program at George Mason University.

Dr. Matson will explore the extent to which virtue can be said to be the true wealth of nations, as we reflect on what Adam Smith and many of the American founders understood about freedom, wealth, and prosperity at the time.

📍Grand Rapids, MI
📅 October 16, 2026
🎟️ $20 General | $15 Student

“Are you confused about trade deficits, monetary policy, inflation, government-owned grocery stores, and government taki...
09/04/2026

“Are you confused about trade deficits, monetary policy, inflation, government-owned grocery stores, and government taking equity stakes in private companies? Grounded in the truths of human nature and the realities of the world, Coyne and Hall show that Austrian economics is more relevant than ever.”

Acton affiliate scholar Anne Bradley reviews a new book on Austrian economics from Christopher Coyne and Abigail Hall.

09/04/2026

A political movement needs more than political strategy. It needs a vision of the good.

Stephanie Slade argues that one of the conservative movement’s greatest failures has been the loss of philosophical formation. As the movement became more focused on elections, policies, and defeating political opponents, the deeper ideas behind it were no longer transmitted as deeply to the next generation.

That means returning to first principles: What is freedom? What is virtue? What does it mean to live a good life? What is human flourishing?

In this episode of the Acton Line podcast, Dan Hugger speaks with Stephanie Slade about her new book, “Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right.”

We are pleased to announce our Annual Dinner speaker this year is Dr. Brad Birzer from Hillsdale College, who will be sp...
09/03/2026

We are pleased to announce our Annual Dinner speaker this year is Dr. Brad Birzer from Hillsdale College, who will be speaking on “Declarations and Dragons: 1776, the Inklings, and the West."📜⚔️

Dr. Birzer will draw from his forthcoming book “Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West” and break down how pipe-smoking Oxford friends and Revolutionary-era colonists lived centuries apart, but defended the same ideas and values in the face of tyranny.

📅 November 10, 2026
📍 Amway Grand Plaza | Grand Rapids, MI
🎟️ RSVP at acton.org/dinner

09/03/2026

Were the early Christians socialists? Is the charity of Christian believers inherently socialist?

Father Robert Sirico joined The Curious Middle podcast discussing these questions and makes the moral case against socialism without abandoning genuine compassion for the poor.

What if we stopped viewing successful people as people who took something from us and started seeing them as people who ...
09/02/2026

What if we stopped viewing successful people as people who took something from us and started seeing them as people who built something?

Benedek Dózsa explores how our assumptions about entrepreneurship shape our willingness to take risks, build businesses, and create.

Read more on “Learning to Value Success” in Acton’s Religion & Liberty Daily.

“Slade grapples with the problem that now faces the American conservative tradition: We should want to live both free an...
09/01/2026

“Slade grapples with the problem that now faces the American conservative tradition: We should want to live both free and flourishing lives, but freedom and virtue can conflict, and we can misuse our freedom in ways that undermine our flourishing.”

Read Kevin Vallier’s review of “Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right” by Stephanie Slade.

Address

98 Fulton Street E
Grand Rapids, MI
49503

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when ActonInstitute posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share