The Editors
Articles by The Editors
Wilhelm Röpke’s Swiss Front Porch
One of the few "Austrian economists" to give serious attention to familial, agrarian, and communitarian themes was Wilhelm Röpke , born in Germany yet long associated with his adopted Switzerland.…
Ken Myers on Our Culture of One
Ken Myers, editor of the brilliant Mars Hill Audio Journal (on whose board I serve, I should add), essentially offers something of an implicit critique of phenomena like FPR, not…
Men, Boys, and Guns
This past weekend, I was pulled away from the computer, from a sprinkler system that needs to be fixed, from a garden wall that needs to be built, from…
Localism vs. Globalism
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Mark Thompson has penned a challenging broadside against skeptics of free trade, including me, and he makes a number of arguments that deserve to be answered. There does…
The Surveillance State and Me
PHOENIX, ARIZONA. Three hundred sixty bucks. Two tickets. Over the course of one month. Handed to me not be an overzealous rookie or a peace officer with a quota to…
Regionalism in the NY Times
While the pickings are generally slim, the NYTimes can sometimes reveal a glimmer of localism, at least in the only section worth reading, the "City" section on Sundays. A few…
Deadly Vices
Alexandria, VA. In a recent column, E.J. Dionne precedes his praise for a new economic populism - anger of the populace directed at economic elites - with a somewhat gratuitous,…
Beer and Civic Life
Claremont, CA. The news is dreadful: According to the Census, since 2006 we have been living in a republic where, for the first time in the history of the republic,…
Farm Stories: Hog Killing
Let this day begin again the change of hogs into people, not the other way around, for today we celebrate again our lives' wedding with the world -- Wendell Berry,…
A Partially Localist Defense of Public Schooling
Wichita, KS President Obama's speech last week on the various hopes and goals his administration has in mind as they address the issue of public education in America gave rise…
Friends Abroad: Vandana Shiva
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. One of the structural evils of our two-party system and our editorial pages is the inherent bias of both towards two. If not A, then B. If not…
The Internet Won’t Feed You, and Neither Will We
Rod Dreher posts a letter from a young 'un asking about law school and farming. Similarly, a commenter here last week asked: I have only ever been acquainted, through my extended…
The Long Run
Alexandria, VA It has become a commonplace to observe that the thought of John Maynard Keynes is back in fashion. Keynes argued strenuously on behalf of government spending - including…
On the Agripositive Side. . . .
Milford, Indiana. We'll take what we can get. In this mysterious, sky-drenched land of contradiction--where letter jackets are still common and a tapas bar, of all things, has recently been opened…
Unreal Estate
Two news items of note that have recently caught my attention. The first, that China has been taking advantage of the global firesale of stuff, along with its massive cash…
Good for Gottfried
And good for Pa. State Rep. Samuel Rohrer, about whom I know nothing. Nor do I know why such a rally for states' rights came into being. Paul doesn't provide…
Politics in Kansas hasn’t changed much. Still a wild and wooly blood sport.
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/mar/23/00014/
It was 20 Years Ago Today…Edward Abbey Lives!
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--Edward Abbey died twenty years ago today. A product of the perfectly named Home, Pennsylvania, son of the conjugation of a Woman’s Christian Temperance Unionist and a Wobbly…
Political Friendship in a Facebook World
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. Everyone here seems to pretty much agree that we are in a pickle. The symptoms are there for anyone to see. The root causes are perhaps more…
Douthat to the Times
Phoenix, Arizona. Catapulted by his inclusion on the exclusive FPR blogroll, Ross Douthat has been tabbed as a new opinion columnist for the New York Times. This is good news.…
Write Home
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY. Via the University Bookman, herewith my introduction to its recent special issue on Regionalism, which featured contributions from Frank Bryan, Kate Dalton, Jeff Cain, Jeremy Beer, Jesse…
Octo-Us
Claremont, CA. Here in southern California, local woman Nadya Suleman has been holding her own on the front pages, alongside arguably more pressing stories about the flailing economy. It's easy…
Death of a Farmer
He traveled the three miles to the mill 63 times during the 87th harvest of his life, his old International pulling the wagon my uncle filled with beans or corn.…
Bernard Madoff, the Novel
Those of you who didn't lose your life savings with Mr. Madoff, and who can think about him with equanimity, may be interested in a very fine novel about his…