Articles 355
Dinner, Anyone?
In Dr. Mark Mitchell’s recent post on Front Porch Republic, “W[h]ither the Family Dinner?”, he asks the question, “Are family meals important?” My short answer is: yes. But why is it important? In…
What Then Must We Do?: Worker Ownership Redux
The following is an excerpt from from Gar Alperovitz's What Then Must We Do? (Chelsea Green, 2013) and is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Learn more about the book here. By the way, and…
Horse Burgers and the Lives of Others
If you could boil our global problems down to seven words, they might be these: we don’t see where stuff comes from. Most of us grew up staring at glowing…
Telling the Truth about Immigration
Berwyn, PA. Nobody wants to. Most politicians would rather appeal to platitudes about America as a "nation of immigrants" than confront their responsibility to attend to the common good of…
The Problem of Undertheorized Agrarianism in Most Actually Argued Localism
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] That's a terrible title for this post, I know. But hopefully it'll make sense, if you actually make it to the end. First of all,…
Unsolicited Advice for the Republican Party
Hidden Springs Lane. It is clear that the GOP is in disarray. The recent CPAC conference only served to highlight that the Republicans are bereft of ideas. Railing against “big…
The Pythagorean Temptation
Berwyn, PA. In his Degrees of Knowledge, Jacques Maritain argues that one central fault of the modern mind has been its propensity to think of mathematics rather than metaphysics as first…
Mark Mitchell’s Politics of Gratitude (Theoretical and Otherwise)
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] To continue with the excellent discussion begun by R.J. Snell, Mark Mitchell's fine and thoughtful book is filled with important insights and challenges, which do…
A Prophet of Goodness: Review of Mark T. Mitchell’s The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age
At my worst moments, I succumb to thinking that we have become utterly trite, absorbed by ephemera, thin of character, quick but scattered of intellect, weak of will, and just…
Capital Offense
Washington, DC I’ve been spending my semester in exile in our nation’s capital. My apartment is in Arlington, on a ridge overlooking the city. From that spot I have a…
From the Trinity Capital
Beyond the purple velvet drapes, the skeins of billowed gossamer, my hotel window looks down on the back gates of Trinity College. Up three floors and pierced by a late…
A Long Repentance: A Decade of Turning Away from (a Part of) the American Dream
Including “repentance” in this title might lead you to believe that it is a theological reflection of some kind. After all, repentance is a religious word, is it not? And…
Ruthie Leming’s (and Rod Dreher’s) Little Way
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Rod Dreher's 2006 manifesto, Crunchy Cons, was an inspiration (and provocation) to many, on both the left and the right. It wasn't that the book…
U.S. ‘Intervention’ in Syria Unlawful
Proponents of Syria “intervention” did not seem to notice any irony as Secretary of State John Kerry, on the one hand, chastened Iraq for letting Iran use its airspace to…
Our Slippery Slope into the Age of “Big Love”
Berwyn, PA. Many of us will recall the criticism Rick Santorum endured regarding this passage from a 2003 interview: And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right…
Eating Local–Or Local Enough
If I earn ten pennies in heaven for being a local food supplier, do I get five for being regional?
Second-Hand Sex
Hillsdale, Michigan. Perhaps it is a function of having been reared by two alums of Bob Jones University -- where, let's be clear, I did NOT go -- but I…
Whither the Public Library?
Despite constant speculation about public libraries’ “relevan[ce] in the digital age,” and serious budget cuts caused by the recent recession, the American public library is not in crisis. Local governments…
Piers Sits Ryan in the Corner
Ryan Anderson may be the most courageous person in America. Who would willingly place himself in the company of Piers Morgan and Suze Orman for the sole purpose of being…
The Case for Getting Married Young
Hidden Springs Lane. A couple months before my wife and I were married, a friend ask me "why do you want to get married so young?" My fiance and I…
Democracy Is A Racket
War and Democracy by Paul Gottfried Arktos Media Ltd 170 pp., $21.00 In this slender volume Paul Gottfried addresses everything from the influence of ancient Greek thought on Oswald…
In Defense of President Obama’s Syria Policy
Myriad calls have been made for intervention in Syria. President Obama has been blamed with everything from “feeble paralysis most foul” to subcontracting “foreign policy to the likes of Qatar”…
Deleting the Individual: Big Data and Presidential Campaigns
The following is an excerpt from David Masciotra's new book, Against Traffic: Essays on Politics and Identity. For sale exclusively at Amazon. Looking back over the 2012 Presidential Election, it…
Going Home Again? Not Likely.
If I am correct, it seems there is a certain kind of arch-typical narrative that has become quite popular here at FPR, and in some sense, emblematic of its defense…
