Articles Archive

Moorpark, CA.  This is the main body of a lecture I delivered at the ISI Spring Leadership Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, April 14, 2007.  This conference focused on the work of Russell…

Irving, TX. The Front Porch Republic has been graced by two contributions from Mark Mitchell and Caleb Stegall on the political agenda for front-porchers. And while one may quibble with…

State's rights, state legislatures, repeal of 16th and 17th, constitutional convention, and even nullification, coming back into the so-called mainstream discussion.

Washington Park, Arizona. It used to take seven hours to get here by car, even though the journey was only some 90 miles from Phoenix. R. J. and the family…

“I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing one another by argument.  I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, and shooting one another.” --Thomas…

From the Pogues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqN1glz4JY

Detroit is a mess. The auto industry is collapsing. Crime is rampant. Anyone who could get out has left. Buildings are vacant. Large tracts of land, once formerly known as…

Devon, PA.  I'm pleased to announce that FPR will be holding a panel discussion at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture's Annual Conference -- Summons to Freedom: Virtue,…

{This column appears in today's Hoya, Georgetown's student newspaper.  My column is published fortnightly.} If there is one thing about which we are certain that we are pursuing at Georgetown,…

Devon, PA.  For those FPR readers interested in keeping up with my ongoing series, Art and Beauty against the Politicized Aesthetic, the third and fourth parts have appeared on First…

Kearneysville, WV. The race for New York’s 23rd Congressional District’s open seat has garnered national attention. The Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, is currently running a few points behind Doug Hoffman,…

With all the talk about "what is to be done," in terms of a decentralizing political agenda, I thought I'd throw some ideas out there, with the intent only of…

Hamilton, Ontario. The other day I was standing in a cavernous mega-chain hardware store looking for gardening supplies. This was not an easy task because the store, which we can…

As the old saying suggests, be careful what you ask for, because you may get it.  The hubristic here in China are well on their way to discovering some uncomfortable…

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 it. A third party candidate…

Philadelphia, PA. If you have read just one of Wendell Berry’s novels or short stories, then you have glimpsed this Kentucky farmer’s love for family, place, and story.   In a contemplative…

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 from marrying, stopping sick people from…

Claremont, CA. If you don’t want to read the new report from Harvard Business School, titled “Understanding Users of Social Networks,” you can just listen to the song from Avenue…

"I love Old October so, I can't bear to see her go---" ---James Whitcomb Riley Via The American Conservative: http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/dec/01/00050/ Subscribe, won't you? And your favorites.....?

Hillsdale, MI. A Mormon friend of mine once argued that the LDS prohibition of alcohol was right and proper not only because it was revealed, but because he had tried…

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KS.  In light of Rod Dreher's kind "shout out"---that is, I believe, the proper blog parlance---it seems appropriate to re-run this essay that appeared in Rod's paper three years ago…

American Liberalism:  An Interpretation for Our Time by John McGowan.  (Chapel Hill:  The University of North Carolina Press, 2007). Moorpark, CA. If the current administration is liberal, it matters what kind…

As a founding editor of this here social club---the site's name is derived from the subtitle of one of my books---I just wanna say that the contributions and fellowship of…

"Straussians in basic agreement with Kristol answer yes to the first question. Though no great critics of Plato, pro-Tocquevillian Straussians must concede that Tocqueville’s vision of democratic despotism significantly qualifies…