The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) Grewcock Senior Scholar Dr. Donald Devine published his tenth book in January 2021. Devine served as President Ronald Reagan’s civil service director during the president’s first term in office. During that time, The Washington Post labeled him Reagan’s “terrible swift sword of the civil service” for cutting bureaucrats and reducing billions in spending. Today, Devine teaches Constitutional Leadership Seminars to young people, and speaks to groups about reviving the Constitution and saving the marriage between libertarianism and traditionalism.
His new book, “The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order,” provides a bold look into the failures of the current economic system, critiques the responses to it, and identifies a solution for reinstating capitalism as it was intended to be.
In the first week since its release, Devine’s new work has garnered the attention of leaders in academia, business, philanthropy and journalism. Read the recent praise about Devine’s important work:
Wall Street Journal – Barton Swaim
“The book’s overarching theme is that economic freedom has always existed ‘in tension’ with the moral and religious impulses that animate traditional life, and that American conservatism depends on that tension to flourish. It is a superb work of synthesis.
Mr. Devine, a scholar with the Fund for American Studies and a veteran of the Reagan administration, puts tough questions to all sides. I particularly enjoyed his analysis of various religious critiques of capitalism, including those by Pope Francis. The “unruly freedom” decried by the pope, Mr. Devine points out, is traceable to Christianity itself, which exploded ancient cosmologies with its emphasis on the individual’s freedom in Christ. What the pope and others mean to decry, I often think, is not capitalism but sin—which capitalism, for all its achievements, has so far found no way to eliminate.”
Read more in The Wall Street Journal here.
Heartland Daily News – Jane Shaw Stroup
“So this is a big book, dealing with a big problem: the potential loss of Western civilization via the destruction of capitalism. It’s important to understand that for Devine, capitalism is more than the freedom to buy and sell in the marketplace. He sees such freedom as essential, but it is part and parcel of a social system that is intertwined with and supported by tradition, religion, and morality; i.e., Western civilization.”
If you pick up ‘The Enduring Tension,’ you will soon see that ‘a society where liberty and order exist in creative tension’ is well worth preserving.” – Jane Shaw Stroup
Read the full review on the Heartland Daily News here.
The American Spectator – George Neumayr
“Devine’s book is a learned, sound, and detailed answer to these critics. It couldn’t come at a more opportune moment, as global leaders from Joe Biden to Pope Francis seek to move the Western world away from capitalism.
These critics of capitalism assume that they occupy the moral high ground. But do they? Devine reveals that they don’t, as he draws the reader’s attention to the moral and religious roots of capitalism.”
Read more from Neumayr in The American Spectator here.
TFAS President Roger Ream ’76
“The publication of ‘The Enduring Tension’ could not be more timely. This is a book that should be the basis for the great debate underway about capitalism, socialism and the values of Western civilization. Don Devine responds to the critics of our capitalist economic order and offers a positive case around which a consensus might form that will rebuild the foundations of a free society.”
Hear more from Ream and learn about other new releases here.