The Editors

IRS says they want power to decide who prepares your tax returns. H$R Block cheers.

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, Kansas We feared that we'd missed out on fresh strawberries this year, both because there was an early April freeze and snowstorm that killed…

Dallas, TX. In the last installment, we maintained that the only means to economic equilibrium was the just wage: unless each person gets a fair proportion of the wealth he…

Alexandria, VA Andrew Cherlin - the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University - has written an important new book on marriage in…

This past Friday I attended a USDA-sponsored “listening-session” concerning the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS is, in the words of USDA, “a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers…

When hipsters like the former lead singer of the band Talking Heads are coming out in favor of the "pedaling revolution", can the masses be far behind? It's a sign…

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  "Community" is a recurring word and theme on this stoop, but it's invocation can come in many undesirable forms: as a talisman against perceived ills; as a marketing device appealing…

Matthew Crawford - political philosopher and motorcycle repairman - has published an important new book entitled Shop Class as Soul Craft.  The book has already been exerpted in the New…

Claremont, CA. Outside of Los Angeles County, few people have heard about the latest dangerous idea in public education. Two local public school districts have adopted a "legacy admissions" policy.…

  Henry County, Kentucky.  Every Memorial Day my husband takes our children to visit three cemeteries in our county.  We take grass from the family farm for a great-grandfather, rhubarb for…

Thanks to Brian Frizzell, Brooklyn patriot and Americana music maven, this link  http://www.reverbnation.com/manofsomebodysdreamsatributetochrisgaffney to a new album paying tribute to the late Chris Gaffney, a dolefully beautiful voice of the American…

Irving, TX. A friend of mine sent this to me. It is a modern morality play, if the term “modern morals” is not itself a contradiction in terms. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3128543&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 It…

Authors and readers of FPR should spend some time reading this extraordinary essay by Roger Scruton, from the most recent issue of Intercollegiate Review.  Scruton is that rarest of academic…

Allow me a moment to bask in some regional pride. Kavya is from just down the road, and I love her Kansan's dialect, flat midwestern accent, and plain manner of…

BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--One of the precious and few political campaigns in recent years to embody Front Porch (or, rather, front stoop) principles was Norman Mailer's 1969 candidacy for mayor of…

Someone send Sly to the VA DMV!  

It's not a difficult argument to understand. You have a responsibility to your community because, among other things, you are not your own. So act like it. It ain't hard.…

What Does an Economy Do? If what we said in the last installment is correct, then the first task of any humane science is to determine what its purpose is.…

Take heart though, for most of your triumphs, large and small, lie in front of you as well. Which is just to say that you stand at a grand beginning,…

PHOENIX, ARIZONA. (Note: this post has two pages, thanks to webmaster Lundy's new-and-improved FPR technology.) I am gratified by the many responses, here and elsewhere in the sphere, that were…

On Amtrak Regional Train 130 Daniel Larison has written a number of related postings here (and here) and elsewhere that have insistently raised and sought to answer the question: what…

Wichita, KS. I'm more than capable of putting on my localist and communitarian hat(s) during the fall, winter, and spring: I defend the public schools, speak out in favor of…

Science, Normative and Positive Some wag somewhere has remarked that economists suffer from “physics envy.” One could certainly make that charge against W. S. Jevons (1835-1882), one of the founders…

Washington, CT. Winter was a hard-nosed professional this season just past. It sunk its icy teeth in long and hard and mocked us with a one day January thaw that…