Cars, Individualism, and the Paradox of Freedom in a Mass Society
The automobile squared perfectly with a distinctive American ideal of freedom—freedom of mobility.
George F. Will and the Decline of the Tory
Wichita, KS
I don't know how many people in the conservative public sphere read George F. Will closely any longer--maybe lots of them...
October, Momma, and Memory
It is a reminder that our own personal winter is coming. When you are daily reminded of your own bones by pains in your joints, seeing a skeleton dangling from someone’s front porch makes it all real.
There’s No Place Like Home
Absent is the self-examination of the person in the mirror and how we exchange with loved ones around the dinner table. Forgotten is how to live a life more thoughtfully, with reverence and veneration to community and creator.
Global Warming, Local Farming, and Naomi Klein: A Trip to the...
Wichita, KS
A couple of weeks ago some fine intellectuals, political figures, journalists, and activists associated with this blog gathered together to talk about localism,...
Front Porch Republic and the Communion of Saints
By Kim Daniels and Chad C. Pecknold
Wendell Berry might well be the patron saint of Front Porch Republic. Or at least –when we attended FPR’s first...
My Congressionally-Mandated Constitution Day Lecture
Wherein I respond to the federal mandate to "celebrate" Constitution Day. The text is taken from a lecture I gave at Northwood University, co-sponsored...
On Power
Every fall I teach a course called “Democracy.” One of the books we invariably read is On Power: The Natural History of its Growth...
A Question for David Brooks
Alexandria, VA On Monday night of this week, New York Times columnist David Brooks spoke at Georgetown University at the invitation of...
The View From Your Front Porch
Emmitsburg, Maryland - You can tell it's a small town when you know both of yesterday's candidates for mayor, and when the mayor-elect's margin...