Russell Arben Fox is a Front Porch Republic Contributing Editor. He grew up milking cows and baling 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."
Russell Arben Fox
Articles by Russell Arben Fox
Nicholas Carr’s Shallows, and the Death of the Book
I just completed Nicholas Carr's excellent book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and--because that's the sort of person I am--I couldn't resist writing a review-essay…
A Note on Right, Left, and Lasch at the Present Time
If Lasch couldn't express a way for leftists and localists to speak the same language, perhaps no one can.
The Passing of the Red Tory Moment (For Now)
The less-than-majority showing by the Conservatives make it likely that any power they do achieve will come through an alliance with the least Red Tory party of them all.
Big Societies, Christian Communities, and Tories (Red or Otherwise)
Whatever the results of the British election, the Red Tory ideal remains promising...and yet, absent a robust civic religion, also probably wanting.
Germany: Socialist and Conservative
Social democratic states can demonstrate frugality and responsibility, too.
Q: What Caused the Culture Wars? A: Globalization and the Pill
If there truly is a difference between how red states and blue states see the family, maybe it starts with how the economy and technology have changed how kids grow…
Thoughts on Teaching Wendell Berry
Teaching Wendell Berry to students today isn't a thankless task, but the victories are small and far between (which, one might say, is all the best victories always are).
Rod’s Divided Over Progress (And So Are We All)
Rod Dreher likes the iPad. What does that say about progress?
The Tragic Logic of Central Authority
Ross Douthat reflects on the way in which globalization, the mass media, and participatory democracy make local control so difficult to maintain.
Christian Democratic Communities and Teleological States: A Response to God’s Economy
If your religion--or at least your concept of the moral norms of the civil order--lacks a notion of grace, it therefore also lacks a notion of gifts; all it can…
Place, Limits, Liberty (In That Order)
Harvey Mansfield and William Galston disagree about liberty; from the perspective that insists place empowers liberty, Galston has it right.
Who Was at Rod Dreher’s Super Bowl Party?
I get somewhat frustrated, at times, with the language of compromise, because it seems to me that if you are, in fact, acknowledging a degree of compromise with modern life,…
Thinking About the States, Again
What if we had more states?
Still.
Wichita, KS I write a Christmas post every year. I'm actually quite fond of this year's entry, with its reflections on ghosts and spirits and other things in the wintertime…
Defending Local Prohibitions
Since Caleb wants to argue about it, I will comply. This is a post that I wrote back in November; nice to see it get some attention now... Jacob Weisberg…
Health Subsidiarity, or Solidarity, or Socialism (Take Your Pick)
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] 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)
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] 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 agenda…
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 be responsible for it--there is, I…
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 it. A third party candidate…
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 from marrying, stopping sick people from…
Sharing the Kids Equally
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] 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 of family life and child care…
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…
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, Medaille, and Iliff: How should a…