John Médaille

What Does the Boss Really Do? Business Education and the Liberal Arts

boss March 7, 2013

An address given to the Ciceronian Society at Mount St. Mary’s University, March 3.
At the start of each semester, I ask my MBA students, “What are you here for? An education or a credential?” The students neither hesitate nor…

Read the full article →

The Pickup Truck and the Tommy Gun

pick up truck December 28, 2012

During the Republican primary, Newt Gingrich joked that “you can’t put a gun rack on [Chevy] Volt.” Newt was, of course, trying to identify himself with a rural culture while distancing himself from “tree-hugging” liberal urbanites. Whether he was right…

Read the full article →

Why Isn’t Romania Rich?

RomaniaFlag December 5, 2012

An address to the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, June 22, 2012
It is puzzling to note that somewhere between 4 million and 8 million Romanians have left the country. Indeed, Traian Băsescu has estimated the number as high 12…

Read the full article →

Reflections on the Revolution in America

pro life November 23, 2012

This article first appeared in Ethika Politika, the Journal of the Center for Morality in Public Life. 
To all appearances, nothing happened. On Monday, we had a Democratic President, a Democratic Senate, and a Republican House, and on Wednesday, after the…

Read the full article →

The Music of The Spheres and The Terminally Tone-Deaf

ChartresGargoyle01 March 21, 2012

I was watching a film called Chartres Cathedral and the Geometry of the Sacred the other day. For some reason, the Gothic gargoyles put me in mind of the Republican presidential primaries and their rather odd assortment of candidates.  And…

Read the full article →

There is No Such Thing as a Bank Loan

loan February 3, 2012

“Dexia” is not a word familiar to most Americans, and if told that it is a French bank in need of a fresh bailout, the knowledge would likely elicit no more than a yawn. Interest might increase, however, if they…

Read the full article →

Friends and Strangers: A Meditation on Money

bartering January 12, 2012

I start my meditation with a true story that will serve as a parable. On his 21st birthday, the nature writer Francis Thompson was presented by his father with a bill for all the expenses of his upbringing including the…

Read the full article →

Distributism and the Supremes

December 3, 2011

My latest book was cited as an “authority” before the Supreme Court in Florida v. HHS, the “Obamacare” case. You can read the brief here, if you are bored. This should add to the work of some poor clerk.…

Read the full article →

Which Way for Catholics?

October 1, 2011

For all the Porchers in the New York City area, Christopher Ferrara and I will be speaking at the Una Voce Symposium, Libertarianism or Distributism: Which Way for Catholics? The event will take place October 14th, at 6:30 pm at…

Read the full article →

Easter and Economics

August 18, 2011

Robert T. Miller and I discuss two opposed views of Catholic Social Teaching as it relates to economics in this month’s issue of Dappled Things. Robert defends that “… for people like us in a society like ours, capitalism is…

Read the full article →

We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us

Pogo2 August 15, 2011

One has a free choice of whether to take one’s cocaine in crystal or powdered form. However, while this may be a free choice, it is never a choice of freedom, since either choice leads to slavery.

Read the full article →

Will There Be Zombies?

zombie July 28, 2011

But that is not so with computers, for no matter how many doctorates one holds in computer science, at some point the system disappears into a world of magic.

Read the full article →

City of Dreams

May 2, 2011

Imagine designing a city for people rather than cars: Curitiba, Brazil…

Read the full article →

The Mosh-Pit of Philosophy, the Pedestal of Science, and a Plate of Green Beans

11 TDPOPP05 HINDASH April 18, 2011

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of addressing the ISI Conference at Taylor University, “Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market? Exploring the Moral Dimensions of the Market.” My message to the 200-plus participants was an attack on the philosophic bases of…

Read the full article →

Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market?

March 30, 2011

Those Front Porchers in the Indianapolis-Fort Wayne area might want to attend the ISI Conference, “Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market?: Exploring the Moral Dimensions of the Market Economy,” Saturday, April 9th, at Taylor University. I’ll be speaking there, and there…

Read the full article →

The No-Suicide Pact

March 22, 2011

You cannot slit your wrists. It says so, right here in your employment contract. And besides, we’ve installed suicide netting on all of our buildings. So if you manage to kill yourself, it is not our fault. So tell your…

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries