Articles

It’s the Land, Stupid

I'll take the old gal with a few well-earned wrinkles that fit soft and snug like a favorite glove. It's the land, stupid, and boy is she a thing of stunning beauty.

Pomo’s vs. Fropo’s Revisited

I will admit that I did not keep up with all of the discussion that ensued from various blogs that tried to discern the...

Walker Percy and Modern America: A Message from the Ruins

Earlier this year, several publications celebrated Walker Percy’s 100th birthday. However, for the most part, the occasion went largely unnoticed. Although Percy is still...

The End of Courtship

Today, there are no socially prescribed forms of conduct that help guide young men and women in the direction of matrimony.

Laughter is Courageous: A Review of Empire Between the Lines

As such, these papers provide the means for understanding how imperial concerns shaped the way Entente soldiers perceived themselves and the war. But even more importantly to my mind, the papers provide a window into the human soul and how humor springs eternal in the human breast, even in the most inhuman conditions imaginable.

The Pantheon of Ancient Wisdom

The liberty and justice which republics are erected to safeguard requires, as Milton and the Founders knew, a moral, virtuous, and religious citizenry. Without this moral and virtuous spirit, the citizenry is slothful and servile. Despotism takes hold once the bulwark of liberty and justice, moral love, has withered away. Welcome to the twenty-first century.

The Romance of Conservatism

Moorpark, CA.  This is the main body of a lecture I delivered at the ISI Spring Leadership Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, April 14, 2007.  This conference...

That Dog Won’t Hunt!

Whether hunting or watching TV at home, you will never be alone with a good dog by your side.  Dixie and I may never get another bird, but a bird hunt is a great excuse to get out of the office, away from a lunch at the faculty lounge, away from this or that electronically amplified human crisis and into the rhythm of nature. 

Call Me Lucifer

Alexa is no doubt low-hanging fruit for the readers of Front Porch Republic. It is a place-contaminating, unlimited tyrant. If you've purchased one, watch out. When the lights start pulsing and your smart speaker starts shrieking, it will be too late. The peloton of drone-wraiths will be only seconds away.

Resisting Romanticism and the Elision of Labor

I thus find myself in the odd position of resisting romanticism while, nevertheless, hoping that future conditions will create that temptation.