Articles 355

Claremont, CA. The Big Apple dreams of the organic apple. Everywhere you look in The New York Times these days, somebody is talking about organic farming. A few examples -…

Readers of FPR will be readily forgiven if they have yet to reserve any time this year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth. (If you are tempted,…

Irving, TX. Somewhere, the Sage hath said, Philosophy is easy; plumbing is hard. The Sage is correct; we should be suspicious of systems that exist only in the mind, but…

Phoenix, Arizona. Because of my involvement with this darn site I have been attending to the blogosphere much more than heretofore, and lately have been trying to get a handle…

Alexandria, VA The other night I happened to catch the second half of an ABC special program, "Earth 2100."  The program was a "speculative history" of what the world might…

Check out this exceptionally fine speech http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-maxwell/on-the-occasion-of-presid_b_212674.html by film director Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg, Gods and Generals), who refused to allow William ("inherited utility monopoly wealth means never having to say…

Many involved in Front Porch Republic embrace the idea of a smallholder economy based on family production under conditions of widespread ownership of productive resources. This was the vision of…

Devon, PA.  Last week, Caleb Stegall's reprinting of his article on Community from the Conservative Encyclopedia excited a small objection that the genealogy of conservatism said article offered was untenable…

Claremont, CA.   Becka flew into my office, so excited that she was out of breath. "Professor," she asked, "have you heard about freedom?" I couldn't help laughing. "Why yes, Becka,"…

Devon, PA.  Thanks in part to the series of fine essays John Médaille has provided us during the last several weeks, the implicit economic vocabulary on the Front Porch has…

Blairsville, GA. The corporation is a central part of our economy. In fact, some have argued that our economic system is accurately identified as corporate capitalism, for the values and…

[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…

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…

Cold Spring, NY. Leopold Kohr, the author of the great classic, The Breakdown of  Nations, once said that his approach to the world--in favor of smaller nations, smaller institutions, smaller…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

GREETINGS FROM THE PROGRESSIVE POLICY WORLD It’s an honor and pleasure to be in dialogue with members of the Front Porch Republic. I heard about you from Patrick Deneen, who…

Erie, PA. Americans were reminded last month that since the time of the New Deal, it has become customary for presidents and other public officials to be judged by their…