Mark T. Mitchell is the co-founder of Front Porch Republic. He is the Dean of Academic Affairs at Patrick Henry College and the author of several books including Plutocratic Socialism, Power and Purity, The Limits of Liberalism, The Politics of Gratitude, and Localism in Mass Age: A Front Porch Republic Manifesto (co-editor).
Mark T. Mitchell
Articles by Mark T. Mitchell
Save Detroit. Start a Farm.
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…
Third Party?
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,…
Obama v. Fox News
Kearneysville, WV. It’s official. The Obama White House has declared that Fox News presents a slanted view of the news, one congenial to the Republicans and antagonistic to the administration.…
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…
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…
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…
A Lost Job and a New Life
Kearneysville, WV. At 10:00pm on New Year’s Eve 2008, just as his shift was ending, Patrick McCarron was asked to turn in his badge and keys and to clean out…
The Rebirth of Conservatism
Kearneysville, WV. Barack Obama was swept into office as a firm and unmistakable repudiation of George W. Bush. After enduring the longest war in our nation’s history, after cringing at…
Thrifty Americans Threaten Recovery
Kearneysville, WV. Things are looking up. According to the “experts” the global economy appears to be stabilizing. For what it's worth, the use of phrases like “economic Armageddon” are not…
Was Reagan Conservative?
If you listen to mainstream "conservatives" in America today, the poster-boy for the movement is, of course, Ronald Reagan. "We need a new Reagan revolution" they spout. "We need to…
Without Borders, Ltd.
Kearneysville, WV. Question: what do these two books have in common? A Garfield the Cat book and My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands. Or what about these:…
Who is Phillip Blond?
Here is an interview from The Guardian. Blond has the ear of David Cameron, calls himself a Red Tory, and is launching a new think tank in the fall. Do…
An “Industrial” Farmer Challenges Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan doesn't know what he's talking about and neither do the millions of his soft-handed readers. So says a farmer here. One wonders, though, what Wendell Berry and Joel…
Family Matters
Kearneysville, WV. The debate, such as it is, between liberals and conservatives frequently centers on issues pertaining to that oldest of institutions, the family. On the one hand, there are…
E.F. Schumacher on Buddhist Economics
Here is Schumacher discussing Buddhist economics. He admits that he could have called it Christian economics, but then no one would have read it. H/T The Western Confucian.
Of Games, Gadgets, and God
Coeur d'Alene, ID. One evening our family and two cousins were playing Uno. It’s a simple game requiring nothing more than a deck of Uno cards. We’ve played this game…
The Tacit Dimension of Shop Class
Kearneysville, WV. Whenever I pick up a book dealing with ways of knowing, I invariably flip to the index to see if the author refers to the work of Michael…
Sarah’s Palin’
Kearneysville, WV. One of the stars in the Republican galaxy (notable today mostly for its lack of stars) pulled a surprise move last week that has plenty of people scratching…
Cultivating Gratitude
Blairsville, GA. Recently I was with a friend whose oldest son, having just completed his junior year, is home from college. The young man has not yet found a summer…
Corporate Capitalism and the Loss of Virtue
Blairsville, GA. The corporation is a central part of our economy. In fact, some have argued that our economic system is accurately identified as corporate capitalism, for the values and…
GPS, Security, and Freedom
Blairsville, GA. Recently my wife and I took a trip to New York City. To alleviate the trials of navigating an unfamiliar city, my sister offered to let us use…
A Nation of Slaves?
Difficult economic times force people to confront the problem of economic security. In fact, it’s easy to imagine that, in an ideal world, economic insecurity would be a thing of…
Pope John Paul II Defines Capitalism
This is from Centesimus Annus. Here John Paul II reflects on two meanings of the word "capitalism." "Returning now to the initial question: can it perhaps be said that, after…
Nation at the Crossroads
RINGOES, NJ. The world is hunkered down. For some months now we have been holding our collective breath, waiting to see if the financial meltdown is going to stabilize or…