The Editors
Articles by The Editors
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…