The Editors
Articles by The Editors
Wasting Time
A friend of mine with a penchant for self-effacement said “There’s just not enough time to get the work done and procrastinate.” It is not that he only works well…
The Politics of Ingratitude
Here is the great secret of my generation: What our parents gave us as a gift we have received as an entitlement. No one is not grateful for an entitlement.…
The Symbolism of a White Sidewalk
I tend to think that slippery sidewalks are a sign of a broader pattern, in which people are less prepared to take responsibility for the inconvenience of ‘gray areas.’
The Heart of Light and the Heart of Darkness
He is resigned to the inertia of the old Spanish cult, and willing to just let it fade away. The voluptuousness of European culture had no way to gain traction…
The Roots of Originality
It is only our own town or neighborhood that is specific enough, and someday knowable enough, to enable a capable writer's imagination to imagine it clear and whole.
Local Bookstores and the Writers Who Love Them
Devon, PA. My old friend and classmate, Jeremiah Chamberlin, writes in to the FPR ombudsman of a new venture he has undertaken to help support, save, or at least treasure,…
Rogue Remnants: Sarah Palin continued
Here are some portions of my analysis of Sarah Palin and populism that are not included in my book review essay that appears in The American Conservative.
The Advantages of Dying Young
The listlessness of modern death is that you might not even get a chance to show courage before you forget who you are.
The Book You Should Read This Year
Claremont, CA. They call it the “Superman Syndrome.” People who use methamphetamine often believe that they are capable of doing impossible things. Like flying. Or walking through walls. Or earning…
Against Pessimism
Alexandria, VA My last post has led some to conclude that I am a pessimist. Even Ross Douthat, among the most perceptive commentators in print and on internet, suggested that…
Beauty and Other Transcendentals
Devon, PA. The penultimate installment of "Art and Beauty against the Politicized Aesthetic" has now appeared at First Principles. In Part V, I had treated of Jacques Maritain's theory of…
Ecce Homo: The Fleeting Treasure of a Mortal Life Within the Light that Envelops
Washington, CT. Puckish ad infinitum, I take it as my heathenish duty during this special time of year to preach at the choir boys and girls of ye Front Porch…
New World Order
Events of the past several years up close could be compared to individuated and discrete dots, each circumscribed by itself alone, each self-contained and even comprehensible. The housing bubble. The…
The Lost Decade
Here are some interesting numbers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in October of 1999 there were 109,487,000 non-farm, private-sector jobs in the United States. 10 years later, there…
The Economic Stork
The answers we get are dictated by the questions we ask, but there was one question which always grated on my wife's nerves, no matter who frequently she was asked.…
Jacques Maritain on Art and Work
Devon, PA. In the early pages of Jacques Maritain's Art and Scholasticism, he provides a philosophy of art that restores "art," in the sense of the fine arts, to its…
The Judge Recants
Karl Polyani noted that “Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not.” Planning was always an ad hoc response to the failures of capitalism and never constituted a single, rational response, but…
The Oklahoma Abortion Law and SUVs
If my friend Ike lived in Britain they’d call him a “one-off.” An avowed anarchist who thinks that things started going downhill when humans invented agriculture (and thus the need…
It’s the Family, Stupid
Hillsdale,MI. David the King ordered the beautiful Bathsheba to come to him because he could. He also could have her husband killed, and sent the letter that condemned Uriah the…
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…
Going to Bethlehem
Henry County, Kentucky. Most families who celebrate Christmas have their own favorite Christmas traditions. We like to go to Bethlehem. Bethlehem (Kentucky, six miles from us) is a place too…
But Is He More Popular than the Beatles?
An editorial in Politiken, Denmark's largest newspaper, states that Obama is greater then Jesus. And if you are perplexed by this remark, The Reformed Pastor, David Fishchler helps you understand…
Avatar: Reviewing the Reviewers
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. I am not a film critic and what follows is not a movie review. In fact, my movie tastes run decidedly to the petite bourgeoisie, and beyond…
Distributism and Global Warming
Not a Single Cube of Ice In November of 2008, the cargo ship Camilla Desgagnés delivered supplies to the Arctic village of Kugluctuk. It did so by traversing the Northwest…