Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox
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https://mmfraf.webs.com/
Russell Arben Fox grew up milking cows and bailing hay in Spokane Valley, WA, but now lives in Wichita, KS, where he runs the History & Politics and the Honors programs at Friends University, a small Christian liberal arts college. He aspires to write a book about the theory and practice of democracy, community, and environmental sustainability in small to mid-sized cities, like the one he has made his and his family's home; his scribblings pertaining to that and related subjects are collected at the Substack "Wichita and the Mittelpolitan." He also blogs--irregularly and usually at too-great a length--more broadly about politics, philosophy, religion, socialism, bicycling, books, farming, pop music, and whatever else strikes his fancy, at "In Medias Res."

Recent Essays

Health Subsidiarity, or Solidarity, or Socialism (Take Your Pick)

Wichita, KS The debate over health care reform in the Senate has moved into overdrive, with one possible compromise following another in rapid succession. The...

Localist Principles, Populist Words (or, The Problem Defined)

I suppose Front Porch Republic is experiencing growing pains, because all the talk lately is about "what's next?"--what cause, what platform, what principles or...

Ah, Let the Courts Do it

In the continuing argument over what should or shouldn't be the responsibility of the government--and what government, whether local or state or national, should...

Who Was the Real Winner in the New York 23rd Race?

There were several. But this biggest, I think, was: The American party process....The New York state GOP by-passed the primary process, and got slammed for...

Defending (Local) Prohibition(s)

Jacob Weisberg, in Slate, says that the spirit of Prohibition is dead, and those laws which still maintain elements of that spirit--stopping gay people...

Sharing the Kids Equally

Wichita, KS So, Melissa has flown the coop, escaping to Washington D.C. for the next four days to hang out with friends old and new,...

Update to Sharing the Children Equally

One of America's more interesting and less predictable feminist public intellectual voices, Arlie Hochschild, has a few things to say about the general topic...

Defending Lasch, Left and/or Right

Wichita, KS. No one, I think, has ever summed up the longing for a life with front porches--the localist longing which is this blog's...

So What if it was the States that Centralized Health Care?

Adding to the many discussions thus far here at FPR about the ongoing health care debate, an open question, especially directed to Messrs Stegall,...

Canaries in a Coal Mine? (APSA Reflections)

Wichita, KS I just returned from my near-annual pilgrimage to the American Political Science Association's annual convention...this year held, ironically enough, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada....

Can Health Care Be Local?

Wichita, KS Over the past couple of weeks, I've written a few things on the current debate over health care reform. A couple of smart...

Lessons from a Motorcycle Mechanic

Wichita, KS Let's pause a moment and be grateful that the job market for political theorists is so bad. Because if it wasn't, Matthew Crawford,...