Mark T. Mitchell

The Modest Republic: Just Published

May 14, 2013

A book I’ve co-edited with Michael Federici and Richard Gamble has just been published. It’s titled The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and Politics: The Modest Republic. Here’s the description at Amazon:
The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and…

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Harassed by the IRS? Don’t be Surprised.

wolf May 13, 2013

Hidden Springs Lane…. Americans have recently learned that certain groups seeking non-profit status were subjected to, ahem, “heightened scrutiny” by the IRS.  It seems that groups that used words like “Tea Party” and “Patriot” were singled out for rougher

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Dana Gioia, Bill Kauffman in Pomona. Save the Date.

May 13, 2013

FPR’s Third Annual Conference is shaping up to be a fantastic event. It will be held at Pomona College on September 20-21.  The conference will kick off on Friday evening, September 20, with a screening of the new film Copperhead,…

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Twitter and the Decline of Civilization

May 1, 2013

Here’s a rather satisfying screed on the baleful effects of Twitter. A taste:
If you haven’t gathered by now, I’m not a Twitter fan. In fact, I outright despise the inescapable microblogging service, which nudges its users to leave no…

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Localism in Britain

April 29, 2013

Daniel Hannan (Member of the European Parliament for South-East England) sees the beginning of a localist revolution.
We’ve still got a very long way to go, of course. But give credit where it’s due. Governments hate giving away any jurisdiction.…

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Localist Philanthropy

April 25, 2013

Philanthropy Daily has an interesting piece arguing that “philanthropy is at its best when it leverages local resources.” See how this works in one California county.…

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Unsolicited Advice for the Republican Party

GOP April 21, 2013

Hidden Springs Lane…. It is clear that the GOP is in disarray. The recent CPAC conference only served to highlight that the Republicans are bereft of ideas. Railing against “big government” and championing a bellicose foreign policy have proven

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Tocqueville for Tax Day

April 15, 2013

It seems if despotism came to be established in the democratic nations of our day…it would be more extensive and milder, and it would degrade men without tormenting them….I see an innumerable crowd of like and equal men who revolve…

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Mitchell Video: Human Scale and Humane Politics

April 9, 2013

Here’s a link to the video of my talk at Villanova. 
Thanks to James Matthew Wilson and Douglas Minson for making it such an enjoyable time.…

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How to Lose a Republic

April 3, 2013

Long before our own time, the customs of our ancestors moulded admirable men, and in turn these eminent men upheld the ways and institutions of their forebears. Our age, however, inherited the Republic like some beautiful painting of bygone days,…

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Biometric ID Cards Coming Your Way (Maybe)

April 1, 2013

Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham are pushing for national biometric ID cards as part of their comprehensive immigration reform plan. Writing an opinion piece in The Washington Post, the senators argue that,
“We would require all U.S. citizens and legal…

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Neighbor Day

March 28, 2013

A friend sent this link announcing “NeighborDay.” Here’s a description:
It’s crazy how few of us know our neighbors: their names, their phone numbers, what they’re about. The explosion of online “social” networking has only made it easier to avoid…

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Ayn Rand Called C.S. Lewis an “Abysmal Bastard”

March 27, 2013

First Things has a piece on Ayn Rand’s marginalia in her copy of The Abolition of Man.
Ayn Rand was no fan of C.S. Lewis. She called the famous apologist an “abysmal bastard,” a “monstrosity,” a “cheap, awful, miserable, touchy, social-meta­physical…

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The Case for Getting Married Young

rings March 25, 2013

Hidden Springs Lane…. A couple months before my wife and I were married, a friend ask me “why do you want to get married so young?” My fiance and I were recent college graduates, holding less that lucrative jobs

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Solidarity Hall Asks Some Questions of George Weigel

March 22, 2013

Solidarity Hall is a website interested in formulating new visions for civil society. Their initial project is an attempt to recover communitarian ideas from thinkers like G.K. Chesterton, Jane Jacobs, Dorothy Day, Simone Weil, E.F. Schumacher in order to inject…

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Farming without Dirt (and with fish)

March 14, 2013

Here is an article describing a method of producing vegetation and fish in a symbiotic relationship all without dirt. Could this, as the title of the article suggests, revolutionize the way we eat?
Aquaponics is a method of combined fish…

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