Piketty’s Challenge: A Past That Consumes the Future
But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prosperity, and fall with the declension of the society. On...
Vulgar Adolescent Bigness Fetishizers
I reflected what a Mortification it must prove to me to appear as inconsiderable in this Nation as one single Lilliputian would be among...
An Alternative to Cosmopolitanism
When people use the term today in casual conversation, “cosmopolitan” generally refers to a person whose disposition is one of urbane sophistication, not blinkered...
The Ailing Parson Malthus Project and the “New Sin of Pride”
Anyone who's had the good fortune to spend time reading Christopher Lasch might be able to identify with the specific experience of risable joy...
Riverboat Pilots and Economists
In “Life on the Mississippi,” Mark Twain recounts his earnest desire to become a Mississippi steamboat pilot, and his struggles to master the pilot’s...
The Demise of Virtue in Virtual America (Front Porch Republic Books)
Entrance:Virtual America’s Convention Hall
Demise—1) the conveyance of an estate 2) transfer
of the sovereignty to a successor 3) a: death b:...
Life in the Kolache Belt: Reflections from the Intersection of Food,...
In some ways, the little farming community of Hallettsville where I have spent a writing sabbatical still resides in a simpler time. Czechs and...
Archimedean Points, Above and Below
“To the famous Archimedean boast: ‘Give me whereon to stand and I will move the world.’. Rabelais answers: ‘I move with my ship; and...
Thanksgiving Reflection II: Modestly Thankful
I am ambivalent about Thanksgiving. Giving thanks is not a problem though I am sure I could show more gratitude especially when stuck behind...
The Little Way of Raymond Chandler
Or, "Shaken and Stirred: The Cosmopolitan, the City, and the Regime of God"
Queens, NY
The following essay was presented at FPR's annual conference in Louisville...