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
The Case for Getting Married Young
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…
Solidarity Hall Asks Some Questions of George Weigel
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,…
Farming without Dirt (and with fish)
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…
FPR Conference. Save the Date
We are currently planning the 3rd Annual FPR Conference. This year it will be held on September 21 at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. Program details are coming soon, but…
W[h]ither the Family Dinner?
A recent study suggests that individualized and pre-packaged food changes the way families think about mealtime. Could there be a link between the kind of meal eaten for dinner and…
Speaking of Creepy Phone Commericals
Reader Deirdre points out that another phone commercial is at least at troubling as the Sprint Unlimited ad. According to this ad, The Droid is not an upgrade on your…
I Have a Right to be Unlimited
Hidden Springs Lane, VA. Sprint is running a new ad pushing the merits of its data plan. While it might be a mistake to make too much of an ad,…
FPR Turns Four
This week marks the fourth anniversary of Front Porch Republic. I recently looked back through these first four years and was struck by the wonderful group of writers who have…
Kids Playing in the Streets
Here's an intriguing example of how a community is attempting to create space for children to play. Opening the streets to children means closing them to cars, and that’s why…
Double-O-bama: Licensed to Kill
Conor Friedersdorf suggests an interesting thought experiment: Imagine that President Obama is visited by aliens who give him the power to kill any human being with his mind. Simply by…
Gay Marriage and the Right to Marry
Hidden Spring Lane. The topic of gay marriage is difficult to avoid these days, even for those who would try. Defending “traditional marriage” is seen by many as either a…
Plantinga Wins Rescher Prize
Perhaps one of the most influential philosophers of of time is Alvin Plantinga. He's just been awarded the prestigious Rescher Prize for his work. Here's a piece describing his work…
Thinking About Guns
Hidden Springs Lane. Guns have been in the news a lot recently. The dialogue, such as it is, is dominated by voices that seem ill disposed to consider the legitimacy…
Human Scale Discussion in Louisville
For those of you in the Louisville area, on February 7, the Mcconnell Center is hosting a discussion titled "reThink Big: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Search for Humane Scale." Here's…
Beyond Supply and Demand
Here is the video of a talk I gave January 21 at Northwood University. The title: "Beyond Supply and Demand: The Moral Foundation of the Free Market."
Rifles Get Bad Rap. Fists and Knives are the Problem
Here's the FBI's Crime Statistics for 2011. In every state, more people were killed with hands, fists, and feet than with rifles. More were killed with knives than with rifles.…
Mitchell Interview with “Coffee and Markets”
Here is a recent podcast interview about my book The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place, and Community in a Global Age.
Where Will You Die?
Hidden Spring Lane. “I plan on dying here.” The words came quite unbidden and surprised me. We were in the process of building a house on a few acres in…
Where was God?
Hidden Springs, VA. In the days following the horrific events in Newtown, a theological debate has arisen, a debate that goes well beyond theoretical musings and gets to the heart…
NRA Proposes More Policemen
In a speech today, NRA president Wayne LaPierre called for a new initiative to place policemen in every school in America. It's curious that in attempting to defend one right,…
The Founders on Taxation, Redistribution, and Property
Hidden Springs Lane. As the Fiscal Cliff looms, as Red States and Blues States stand more divided than ever, as the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest continues…
Opportunity in the Ruins
Hidden Springs Lane. The dust has hardly settled over the Great Campaign of 2012 and already the same people are arguing about The Fiscal Cliff. In other words, after suffering…
The Next Conservatism (redux)
Back in 2007, Republicans were smarting over a mid-term defeat. Paul Weyrich and Gary S. Lind offered an analysis that sounds like it could have been written today: The only…
The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age
Here is an excerpt from my recently published book: The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age. American politics is broken. One of the few things…