If you think that your community today is too fractured over political issues, imagine what it would have felt like to live in the American colonies on the eve of the Revolution. The situation with the British government across the Atlantic had united colonists while simultaneously creating new divisions. As the disagreements spiraled toward violence,...
In a world of constant change, the enduring principles of The Northwood Idea remain steadfast. Personal freedom, individual responsibility and the rule of law are not relics of another era — they are the permanent foundations of a free and flourishing society. It is therefore fitting to revisit the voices and lessons that have most...
A Student View by Oliver Jarvis, Lilly Lauzon, A. Noel Tokarev, and Kristin Tokarev When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, America was in trouble. Prices were rising by double digits on an annual basis. Interest rates? Nearly 20%. Unemployment? Persistently high. The Keynesian economists from the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter years had given...
Dr. Timothy G. Nash, Northwood University Senior Vice President Emeritus and Director of the Northwood University Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, recently joined Mike Austin on WILS (Lansing) to discuss the latest U.S. employment data. Listen here:
After World War II, Germany was in ruins. Cities leveled, infrastructure destroyed, tens of millions killed or severely injured, morale shattered… The Nazi regime had left behind not only devastation, but a command-and-control economy riddled with inflation and rationing. Police forces were gutted by the Allied regime. Theft and black markets became a way of...
As America approaches her 250th birthday, it’s worth asking: What made this country exceptional? How did a handful of rebellious colonies become a global symbol of freedom and opportunity? The answer isn’t complicated — it’s the ideas at the foundation of our Republic. The American experiment was history’s boldest bet on liberty. Instead of rule...
What causes revolutionary change? What drives history forward? When we think of the American War of Independence, we correctly give credit to the ideas put forth by Enlightened thinkers who reshaped the way people thought about liberty, justice, and equality. Ideas that began in the Old World were reconsidered and reformulated in the New World...
President Trump says Americans are being “ripped off” by credit card companies that charge interest rates of 30 percent or more. His proposed remedy—capping interest rates at 10 percent—is a reminder of what James Baldwin wrote in 1961: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty, knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” If...
As the nation prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Northwood University is announcing Freedom Lights the Future, a series of public events planned throughout 2026 that will invite residents from Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Region and beyond to celebrate 250 years of the American spirit. Freedom...
As confidence in higher education continues to erode — and families increasingly question whether a degree delivers real value — Northwood University President Kent MacDonald is making a clear case for a different path forward: one grounded in free enterprise, personal responsibility, and the ideals that made opportunity possible in the first place. That message...
Northwood University recently held a webinar exploring “Capitalism at the Crossroads: Why Free Markets Matter More than Ever,” featuring Northwood Senior Vice President Emeritus Dr. Timothy G. Nash, who leads the Northwood University Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. In the webinar, Dr. Nash explores: • Why capitalism remains essential to American...
Deirdre McCloskey has reshaped the study of economic history by insisting that ideas, not institutions or capital, made us rich. This prolific author is one of the rare figures in modern academia whose work crosses disciplines and defies labels. Drawn as a teenager to utopian and revolutionary theories, McCloskey grew up to realize that noble...
Just 50 years ago, China was one of the poorest countries on Earth. Many of its people lived in mud-brick homes. Most were undernourished. Everyone was trapped in a rigid communist system that crushed initiative. Today, it is the world’s second-largest economy by some measures, home to gleaming megacities and the largest middle class by...
Dr. Timothy G. Nash, Northwood University senior vice president emeritus and director of Northwood’s Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, joined the Mike Austin Show on WILS on Thursday, Jan. 22, to discuss Greenland, President Trump’s Board of Peace, Listen here: