Articles Archive
Conservatism as Literary Movement
Devon, PA. Last month, I alerted FPR readers to the appearance of the first part of my essay, "Art and Beauty against the Politicized Aesthetic," in First Principles. The primary…
The Old College Try
Claremont, CA. The New York Times has joined a host of other publications asking the question: Is college worth it? And again, just like every time I read an article…
Is Economics a Science?
One salient fact about this recession is that 90% of the working economists missed the warning signs, and those who predicted a disaster were marginalized and ridiculed. This, however, is…
Defending Lasch, Left and/or Right
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] 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 raison…
Making Progress?
Writing on the occasion of Ronald Reagan's death, the NY Times columnist David Brooks articulated the roots of Reagan's success in as accurate and succinct a way as I've seen.…
Eric Miller on The Lost Cause of the Midwest
Devon, PA. If you have not encountered Eric Miller's savage indignation elsewhere, here is a fine place to start: his review of David S. Brown's Beyond the Frontier: The Midwestern…
Happy Uniform Holiday Number 3!
“When a nation’s Holy-days are treated with indifference and neglect, it should be considered a sign of national degeneracy and decay.” --Walt Whitman Burned-Over District, NY. When tradition faces off…
Liberal Education, Stewardship, and the Cosmopolitan Temptation
Kearneysville, WV. When speaking of the proper care for the natural world, the word that best describes our efforts is stewardship. Stewards are care-takers. They lovingly guide, protect, and cultivate…
The Evil Empire
Bread and Circuses Baay-Be!
Allan Carlson in St. Louis on 10/15
For those of you in the vicinity of T. S. Eliot’s home town, FPR editor-at-large Allan Carlson will be speaking at Washington University in St. Louis on Thursday, October 15.…
The Nobel Prize
"When small men cast long shadows, you know the sun is setting." Lao Tzu
Nobel Gestures
The awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize on a man who has been President not even for 10 months (before that, briefly, a U.S. senator, and before that, briefly, a State…
Waiting for the Americans…
In the late 1970s, my grandfather’s older brother, already in his nineties, was pressing his almost deaf ears to a little portable radio still hoping to hear that “the Americans…
Ending Political Science?
A missive has gone out across the land and globe from the Director of the American Political Science Association urgently alerting members of the Association that Senator Coburn (R-OK) has…
Political Splenetics
A colleague directed me to a blog written by a leftist friend of mine—someone whose views on everything from metaphysics to politics are radically different from my own. We have…
Does Red Toryism Have an American Future?
Stephen MacLean thinks the answer is yes. Is he right? At the very least, would the movement need another name? As our economic future contintues to unravel, perhaps it's time…
Catholics Discover Distributism
Over at "Inside Catholic," one of their stable of writers, Eric Pavlet, expresses excitement in discovering thoughts on economics that eschew the contemporary statism vs. free market debate. FPR even…
Ghostly Echoes: A Eulogy
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. October is here, the chill wind blows, leaves are on the ground, so it must be time to talk about ghosts. This essay first appeared in the…
Last Call at Descartes’ Bar and Grill
Washington, Connecticut. The urge, some might say mania with which our species has attempted to distance itself from Nature is a defining occupation and it appears to be quickening in…
Table Games and the Politics of Corruption
Jefferson County, WV. In December my county will hold a referendum to decide whether or not table games will be permitted at the local race track/slot machine palace. Only two…
Prospect of Gold
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY---Via the Batavia Daily News, Tom Gahr's lovely essay on walking in Batavia: http://thedailynewsonline.com/articles/2009/10/03/opinion/letters/5993934.txt
I Can’t Read My New Book
My new book is an anthology of writings on economic liberty. Unfortunately, I'm not actually able to read the published edition, since it is in Romanian. My co-editor, Dr. Ovidiu…
Notes from the Canal Zone
Claremont, CA. On the flight home, I read an issue of Delta Sky Magazine that listed the Panama Canal as one of “70 Wonders of the World.” The canal was…
Who Was Richard Blaine? Myth, History, and the Great American Conversation
Moorpark, CA. The first time is not always the best, but it is often the most revealing. The first time I saw Casablanca I brought a borrowed memory of seeing…