On October 4, Daryl Morey, manager of the Houston Rockets, posted a tweet that included the words “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.” Afterwards, China severed several partnerships they had with the Rockets in retaliation, leading Morey to delete his tweet and apologize for it and also prompting NBA commissioner Adam Silver to issue a statement declaring that the NBA does not regulate the speech of its players. Since then, however, the NBA has made attempts to appease China. So what’s the current state of the NBA’s relationship with China and does the NBA have a moral responsibility to denounce China? Micah Watson, professor of political science at Calvin University, joins Acton staff to discuss. Afterwards, Robert Doar, president and Morgridge scholar at AEI, comes onto the show to speak about effective solutions to poverty in America. He also shares how he came to be deeply interested in battling poverty, recalling the career of his late father John Doar who did heroic work in the U.S. Justice Department fighting racial discrimination and working for voting rights during the 1960s and ’70s.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II spoke to a crowd in Baltimore, MD, saying, “Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community. The basic question before a democratic society is: how ought we to live together?” This question has proved important throughout history and has left some people wondering how neutral our founding ideas were, and whether particular faith traditions, especially Catholicism, are compatible with the American political order. So what defines our American political order? Is it at odds with Catholic Social Teaching? John C. Pinheiro, professor of history and the founding director of Catholic Studies at Aquinas College, joins the show to break it down.

In August, the New York Times launched the ‘1619 Project,’ an initiative that includes school curriculum, videos, and a podcast, which aims to “reframe” the history of America’s founding around slavery. The Times claims that since the year 1619, “[n]o aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed.” So what is the Times trying to accomplish with the ‘1619 Project’? Ismael Hernandez, founder and director of the Freedom & Virtue Institute, shows how we can thoughtfully approach it. Afterwards, Joshua Muravchik, author of “Heaven on Earth: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism,” lays out the history of socialism and explains why socialism has never worked.

On November 16, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law, a bill backed by nearly unanimous bipartisan support. While RFRA has since then protected the religious liberty of American citizens, it has lost many of its original supporters and is now under attack. So why was RFRA signed into law in the first place? Does the bill truly protect religious pluralism? Daniel Mark, a professor of political science at Villanova University, helps answer these questions. On the second segment, Jared Pincin, a professor of economics at The King’s College, sheds light on the concern that a recession is around the corner. Unemployment rates are low, but America’s trade war with China and growing national debt are causing many to believe that we’re headed toward economic disaster. Is there reason to panic?

Cronyism is everywhere, affecting industries, entrepreneurs and customers and distorting the market through political advantage. So what is cronyism and how does it compromise genuine capitalism? Anne Rathbone Bradley, the current academic director at The Fund for American Studies, as well as the vice president of Economic Initiatives at the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics, comes onto the show to explain how cronyism affects the market and how to combat it. Afterwards, Acton’s director of research, Samuel Gregg joins the show to talk about his new book, “Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization.” Gregg lays out what he believes defines the West, how the disintegration of reason and faith has caused the West to decline and what can be done to reclaim it.

A crisis in the adoption and foster system is currently plaguing the nation. With over 400,000 children in need of homes, a shortage of placements is driving some states to desperate measures, even housing children in hotels and office buildings. States should be working to support and safeguard the work of adoption and foster care providers, however discrimination motivated by anti-religious bias is posing an obstacle to some state contracted and private agencies. Kate Anderson, senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, joins the podcast to explain how faith-based adoption agencies are being increasingly threatened due to their religious beliefs and why faith-based agencies are crucial in the adoption and foster system. On the second segment, President emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, Larry Reed, speaks with Acton’s Samuel Gregg about how many trends of our day echo those of ancient Rome, making the lessons of its fall all the more relevant, even pressing, for us now.

Populism is gaining traction, both abroad and in the United States. In 2017, the Swedish libertarian think tank Timbro and the European Policy Information Center released their “Authoritarian Populism Index,” showing that populist parties have gained the highest percentage of the vote in nine countries, including Hungary (65.2%), Poland (46.4%) and Greece (45.1%). Zoltán Kész, co-founder of the Free Market Foundation in Budapest said in 2015 that “Populists are especially dangerous enemies, because they are strategizing in the terms of democratic competition. That is the main principle of populism: gaining power once and never, ever letting it go, reshaping democracy and deconstructing the rule of law step-by-step.” Populism poses a threat to freedom by rejecting pluralism and classical liberalism. Where are we seeing populism take shape in America today and how is it effecting our public discourse? Ben Domenech, writer and co-founder of The Federalist, joins us in this episode to break it down.

On June 14, an International Coalition for Religious Freedom in North Korea was launched, consisting of almost 200 activists, including Thae Yong-ho, a North Korean diplomat and defector to South Korea. President and co-founder of Acton Institute, Rev. Robert Sirico joins the podcast to talk about communism in North Korea as well as his hopes for the coalition. On the second segment, Bruce Ashford, professor of theology at Soueastern Baptist Theological Seminary, addresses the relationship between family and state, plus ways he sees the breakdown of the family unit in America.

Last week, nearly 2 million Hong Kong residents gathered to protest a newly proposed extradition bill. Helen Raleigh, senior writer at the Federalist, joins the show to explain the current extradition agreements held between Hong Kong and China, why so many in Hong Kong are angry about the bill and how the extradition bill, if passed, would threaten Hong Kong’s rule of law. After that, Acton’s Trey Dimsdale is joined by Anne Rathbone Bradley, affiliate scholar of economics at Acton, and Adam MacLeod, professor of law at Faulkner University. Together, they break down Kisor v. Wilkie, a case currently pending in the Supreme Court.

On this episode of Acton Line, we talk about HBO’s new miniseries ‘Chernobyl’ and the events surrounding the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, in 1986. Kyle Smith, writer at National Review, joins us for this segment and explains how ‘Chernobyl’ is an indictment of socialism. Afterwards, Aaron Rhodes, human rights activist and co-founder of the Freedom Rights Project weighs in on the Department of State’s new Commission on Unalienable Rights and explains why he’s hopeful about the new commission.