The Editors
Articles by The Editors
Their Time Up at State College
East Lansing, MI. Back home in the steady snows of Michigan, I came across an old poem of mine, the other day, that seems like an appropriate riposte to Jeffrey…
What Colour Is the Village Green?
Often the politics of the local turns on the “who” as much as the “where.” Switzerland showed as much very recently. The country enjoys some goodwill among the sort of…
Stopping a Streetcar with an Umbrella
It is autumn in Amsterdam and damp. The twilight is coming. I await a streetcar to take me home through the labored-over canals, the old working-class neighborhoods on the Amstel.…
Although it’s been said many times, many ways…
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY---Merry Christmas to all friends (and enemies, too) of Front Porch Republic! Don't you worry 'bout that quaffer-scoffer in the Quad Cities. Come December 24 he'll be reading…
The New Prohibitionists
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. Something is not right on The Porch. But on my porch, things are just dandy, so smoke 'em if you got 'em boys! Puff puff puff and…
Citizens of the World, Divide!
Moorpark, CA. We are told to be careful with our words, to be aware of how our words might make other people feel or of how we might be misunderstood. …
What Grandpa Knows
"Jaywalking" is a hilarious and terrifying sketch in which Jay Leno "tests" fellow Americans on their basic knowledge of history, geography, etc. Of course, we see the most outrageously incorrect…
Christmas Wish ’09: Repelling the Martian Invasion
Christmas celebrates the birth of the Prince of Peace. With all of the clerical cheering on behalf of recent wars, the intertwining of cross and flag, and the blessings bestowed…
Studies Show the PoMoCons are Wrong
Well, at least this is the suggestion of the perceptive Jason V. Joseph at "Musings in the Public Square," who offers a succinct and clarifying summary of the disagreement between…
It’s a Wonderful Subdivision
Tonight the classic Capra film "It's a Wonderful Life" is airing on network television, as good an occasion as any to re-publish here my reflections on the film. My…
What Does it Declare?
The Manhattan Declaration is almost a month old and it still a statement I regard with great ambivalence. My discomfort owes partly to the name. As a native of Southeastern…
Fifty Dollar Tomato
Hillsdale, MI. When I first thought about writing this it was the “Ten Dollar Tomato.” But historians are more or less required to tell the truth, and it now costs…
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…
When Left is Right
Some thinkers on the Left have sniffed the smelling salts and are emerging from their love-fest to notice that the New Boss is increasingly indistinguishable from the Old Boss. As…
Kill Your Kindle
Claremont, CA. When my mother came to visit last week, she brought a copy of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union with her. Before she departed for the airport this morning, she…
“There is No Peace on Earth,” I Said
The Prince of Peace---rather a seditious title in our age of Homeland Security and endless war, eh? "Love thy neighbor" and "Thou Shalt Not Kill" were no less subversive 95 years ago, when…
Crass Christmas
The celebration of Jesus Christ's birth gives us an opportunity not only to act upon the principles of peace, sharing, and selflessness, but also to pass them onto our children…
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…
Burn the Vineyard
I have just returned from one of the most remarkable journeys of my life, a ten day tour of Romania to promote an anthology of distributist and localist essays, Economic…
Homewreckers
County Kildare, Ireland. A couple I know – we’ll call them Bob and Nancy -- lived in a century-old house in the middle of their town, a few miles from…
Foreign Policy and the Gift of the World
Devon, PA. In February 2007, as the Iraq war crept to the end of its fourth year, I published this short essay, proposing a few notions on foreign policy that…
Packing for Montana
As reported in today's Washington Post, in an article entitled "In Debate Over Nation's Growing Debt, a Surplus of Worry." Leonard Burman, [a Syracuse University ] economist, says he has…
Chesterton on a Desert Island
In Greenwich at Rush Hour and thinking Kauffman's suggestion to go see Father Boyd speak his wisdom on Chesterton a good one, I reluctantly headed further into the maw of…
We Interrupt This Broadcast for a Moment of Rank Cynicism
Patrick just posted that the great man himself was heard describing Michelle ma' Belle's kitchen garden as the "most important plot of land in America." Patrick tells me that in…