Articles 355
What’s Local?
Hillsdale, MI. A Mormon friend of mine once argued that the LDS prohibition of alcohol was right and proper not only because it was revealed, but because he had tried…
Populist Revival?
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KS. In light of Rod Dreher's kind "shout out"---that is, I believe, the proper blog parlance---it seems appropriate to re-run this essay that appeared in Rod's paper three years ago…
Progressive Liberalism Or: How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Big Government
American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time by John McGowan. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007). Moorpark, CA. If the current administration is liberal, it matters what kind…
Obama v. Fox News
Kearneysville, WV. It’s official. The Obama White House has declared that Fox News presents a slanted view of the news, one congenial to the Republicans and antagonistic to the administration.…
The “One Salvation” of Ludwig von Mises
There is no doubt that the Catholic Church supports the idea of a just social order, and has expounded on that order in the great Social Encyclicals. However, and despite…
The Final Word On Cell Phones
Rock Island, IL In the early days of FPR, and then again more recently, I was impertinent enough to write disparaging remarks about cell phones, which as everyone knows are…
Swine Flu’s Real Exposure
Claremont, CA. The most haunting, awful scenes in Thucydides’s history of the Pelopponesian war are those describing the Athenian plague. The plague emerged in the second year of the war,…
John Gardner’s October Night
"I think a writer who leaves his roots leaves any hope of writing importantly"---John Gardner Those so favored by the Good Lord as to be within listening distance of Batavia,…
Basque in It
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY. I have never really given a damn about my own mongrel ethnicity—I care about place, not race—and besides, there are many mysteries to which I don’t particularly…
Subsidizing Localism?
A great post over at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen by "Will." Beyond his reliance on a clearly excellent source (ahem), I strongly endorse his closing reflection: Given the inter-connectedness…
The Booth Tarkington Appreciation Society
Hillsdale, MI. I propose the creation of TBTAS, “The Booth Tarkington Appreciation Society.” If we take the liberties some have with the Tetragrammaton (Y*H*W*H) and pronounce it “yahway,” we could…
My Hair, My Self?
Cincinnati, OH. Standing before the dripping bathroom mirror while the shower haze slowly melts, I’m startled once again that my beard’s gone missing. It lasted seven years – longer than any…
Sharing the Kids Equally
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS So, Melissa has flown the coop, escaping to Washington D.C. for the next four days to hang out with friends old and new,…
Academic Porn
The latest from the University of Maryland is a brohaha over the effort by a state legislator to discourage (through the threat of withholding funding) the showing of pornographic films…
Frank Rich Slams Harvard
Frank Rich goes after the "go-go" ethos that has been deeply etched in our elite institutions and advanced by the cultural elite - regardless of Party - over the past…
Dirt, Dollars, and Devices
Holland, MI. I confess: I hate farms. I hate everything about them. I hate the malodorous smells that take days to wash off. I hate the all-pervasive dirt which invades…
The Bar Jester Chronicles 7: Morning Cyanide
Rock Island, IL “Morning Cyanide” is a fun game for the whole family. The best thing about it is this: not everyone has to be awake at the same time…
Theonomist Doesn’t Even Rhyme with Terrorist
A while back the History News Network featured part of a Harper’s interview with Max Blumenthal, the author of the new book, Republican Gomorrah (published by Nation Books). This snippet…
Conservatism as Literary Movement
Devon, PA. Last month, I alerted FPR readers to the appearance of the first part of my essay, "Art and Beauty against the Politicized Aesthetic," in First Principles. The primary…
The Old College Try
Claremont, CA. The New York Times has joined a host of other publications asking the question: Is college worth it? And again, just like every time I read an article…
Is Economics a Science?
One salient fact about this recession is that 90% of the working economists missed the warning signs, and those who predicted a disaster were marginalized and ridiculed. This, however, is…
Defending Lasch, Left and/or Right
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS. No one, I think, has ever summed up the longing for a life with front porches--the localist longing which is this blog's raison…
Making Progress?
Writing on the occasion of Ronald Reagan's death, the NY Times columnist David Brooks articulated the roots of Reagan's success in as accurate and succinct a way as I've seen.…
Eric Miller on The Lost Cause of the Midwest
Devon, PA. If you have not encountered Eric Miller's savage indignation elsewhere, here is a fine place to start: his review of David S. Brown's Beyond the Frontier: The Midwestern…