I assent that liberalism taken to its furthest extreme (i.e. social anarchy) would certainly be dangerous to society as a whole. Allowing children the freedom to engage in sexual activities with adults would be ludicrous and destructive to our social fabric. However, liberalism is also the progressive force that propels society forward and evolves our moral understanding. The “constraint and obligation” to the community could easily be used to regress society and as a tool to control certain groups of people. For example, Rousseau argued that women were best suited for work in the home and thus it was their duty to remain there. It is the liberal mindset that fostered more equality of the sexes (I am making the a priori assumption that equality of the sexes is good).

Additionally an Atheistic philosophy such as Secular Humanism provides structure for a society that seeks to find balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of the many. A main principle of Secular Humanism reads, “A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.”

“Washingtonian, n. A Potomac Tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing himself for the advantage of good government . In justice to him, it should be said that he did not want to”

and, dedicated to the fulminating Mr. Cheeks and his T Shirts:

“Zig-Zag,v.t. To move forward uncertainly, from side to side as one carrying the White Man’s Burden. (from zed, z, and jag, an Icelandic word of unknown meaning).”

Actually Robert, it seems to me the transition from the previous administration to the current one has been relatively seamless. We were hacking away at the Constitution while engaged in Hair-brained Wars and spending money we did not have four years ago and we are still doing the same. Adding this boondoggle “health care” (as if it had much to do with actual care or the cost thereof) to the Black Hole will likely mean little . My own personal Health Care involves what I do with myself up to a point and if the point beyond that gets out of hand, there is always recourse to the old beloved lever action Marlin 30-30…a carbine, so we can reach the trigger whence aiming it at the seat of discomfit.

For all its traffic in the realm of ideas, FPR has been moored to things terrestrial: make-weights, places, laws. Explicit congress with the celestial beings that constitute today’s government (by way of critiquing the current regime) could capsize this/our nascent group. That time will come, but it is not now.

And now this, in response to several other commentators:

In the past two election cycles, now, the term “electability” has been bandied about, at once hesitantly and earnestly. The idea is that the candidate who makes himself sufficiently electable wins. The shrewdest candidate will not let on, though, that he is making himself electable. In fact, he may openly eschew the idea, thus making himself more electable. He understands that, deep down, voters want a leader who will stand up to them. They want someone they can believe in, and they know themselves well enough to look to someone wholly different from, even contrary to, themselves.

Now, I’m not suggesting that FPR take a course in cunning and so fashion its agenda. (Though some fashion–cowboy hat–does appear necessary.) But I am warning that pursuing the naive form of electability will put FPR on the same wavelength as Glenn Beck.

I will read de Jouvenel’s “On Power” – thank you. Please let me know if you want any 80′s anarchist ‘zines or ‘libertarian socialist’ thought to fill your reading list;)

1. Take your list of archives out of your sidebar and make a dedicated ‘archive’ page

2. Start ‘tagging’ your articles and add a ‘tag cloud’ to your archive page

3. Lastly, add a continually updated ‘New to FPR? Read These Articles’ section to that archives page. Actually, that might be the first thing you’d want to do.

I know these ideas might sound, I don’t know, trivial, but new readers do need a place to orient themselves.

Good luck!

i have to admit i wasn’t looking forward to moving up here, but, the bogeyman is never as scary as you think he is.

actually, to be fair, canada, for all its centralization, does have some very interesting things set up that really favor local business and even local government over federal.

I agree with you. In fact, I had a post I was developing at one time about how Canada’s centralized health-care system, among other things, enables more actual localism (in terms of people sticking with their jobs, staying in their home towns, and contributing to their communities rather than embracing the dream of mobility) than we have currently in the United States. But I’m not sure it would have gone over with the majority of FPR’s readers particularly well. Plus, I’d just written a post about how feminist policies were an important aid to building a traditional family, and I figured I’d already had enough heat from Bob for the month already. So I gave it up. Maybe some other time. (Hey, you know I love you, Bob.)

Micah: google “Earthships” …for some reason I can’t post a link…sorry. If someone knows how, please tell me.

I toured one in Taos during high desert winter last January…awesome. I would think that off-the-grid living might appeal to certain FPRers. The catch…they are expensive to build, but that is off-set by the fact that you don’t have to pay for power or water, or any utilities for that matter, other than maintenance of the power distribution module. They can be built anywhere, as long as you have the land.

This is my 6th attempt at posting. If it don’t work this time, I’m giving up…course, you’ll never know…

micah, I’m sorry to hear that the Great White North has falled down South. The Land of Hockey is better than that. I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. On the issue of the church, I think you have to either be careful about what your church supports, or get into a position within the church to change it. I know my Parish supports some activities that are less than local, if you know what I mean. While I donate just as much as the next guy to keeping the lights on and the pantries full, sometimes I secondguess myself in terms of donating through the church instead of by myself.