Articles 356
Modesty’s Retreat
Over a drink with a fellow Canadian ex-pat about a month ago, I rather wistfully (and irresponsibly) indulged in some wishful thinking as I expressed my longing for the solid…
The Twenty Seven
Marbledale, Ct. I was travelling back from a meeting in the Hudson Valley when the news of the Newtown Rampage reached me. The shell-shocked radio disc jockey tearfully announced the terrible…
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and the Ground on Which Communities Are Built
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] The final sentence in Behind the Beautiful Forevers--Katherine Boo's wonderfully written, devastatingly detailed narrative of several fascinating, despairing stories that took place over the period…
Where Will You Die?
Hidden Spring Lane. “I plan on dying here.” The words came quite unbidden and surprised me. We were in the process of building a house on a few acres in…
Life Under Compulsion: Bad Universality
I had not thought that the tsars of education could possibly have come up with another idea as inhuman or stupid as have been their many innovations in the past…
The Pickup Truck and the Tommy Gun
During the Republican primary, Newt Gingrich joked that “you can’t put a gun rack on [Chevy] Volt.” Newt was, of course, trying to identify himself with a rural culture while…
Where was God?
Hidden Springs, VA. In the days following the horrific events in Newtown, a theological debate has arisen, a debate that goes well beyond theoretical musings and gets to the heart…
Of “That Great Furnace, the Heart of Dickens”
A perennial question in this season: which version of Dickens’ Christmas Carol to watch? Somehow I can’t seem to muster much interest in any of them but one. After viewing…
The Culture of Guns? What About the Culture of Narcissism?
It is predictably American for Americans to obsess over an object used to perpetuate a crime, rather than examine the perpetrator and consider the people surrounding the perpetrator. The massacre…
Continuing to Argue Against Abortion
“Yet because the decision will not allow the question to remain silent, and yet sounds an ambiguous note as to how it would be answered in terms of our contemporary…
Life Under Compulsion: Curricular Mire
In my last essay, I took issue with the inescapable computer, that costly thing on the student’s desk in “good” schools, inducing the itch for instant “information” at the expense…
Conservative Wisdom from an Original Radical
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Last Friday, Tom Hayden, co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society, principal author of 1962's Port Huron Statement (or, if you Big Lebowski fans…
The Founders on Taxation, Redistribution, and Property
Hidden Springs Lane. As the Fiscal Cliff looms, as Red States and Blues States stand more divided than ever, as the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest continues…
I’ll Take My Economy Black, Please
I woke up early last Friday morning, still in a slump from my post-Thanksgiving food-coma. Not too keen on the idea of braving an icy north wind just yet, I…
God and Country
The splendid university where I’ve been privileged to spend the past semester proudly proclaims its commitment to “God, Country, Notre Dame” and means what it says. If not identical, God’s…
Why Isn’t Romania Rich?
An address to the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, June 22, 2012 It is puzzling to note that somewhere between 4 million and 8 million Romanians have left the country.…
Opportunity in the Ruins
Hidden Springs Lane. The dust has hardly settled over the Great Campaign of 2012 and already the same people are arguing about The Fiscal Cliff. In other words, after suffering…
Life Under Compulsion: Human-Scale Tools and the Slavish Education State
When he was governor of Maine, Angus King made sure that there was a computer on the desk of every middle-school child in the state. As I write these words,…
The Politics of the Clothesline
Yesterday I ambled towards my cottage, returning from putting the cattle out to pasture for the evening. The sun was sinking low in the Texas sky, turning the clouds to…
On ‘The Fall’ and That Obama Video
Yes, yes. I know the election is over and, as a third-party voter myself, I don’t believe I’ll smell like sour grapes here regarding the results, but still there’s something…
The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age
Here is an excerpt from my recently published book: The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age. American politics is broken. One of the few things…
Reflections on the Revolution in America
This article first appeared in Ethika Politika, the Journal of the Center for Morality in Public Life. To all appearances, nothing happened. On Monday, we had a Democratic President, a Democratic…
What’s Wrong with the Republican Party?
An ill-fitting presidential nominee led to an election loss. A better nominee might win next time--but is winning enough?
On Thanks-Giving
Hidden Springs Lane. It’s been a long political season. Some Americans are excited about the prospect of an Obama second term. Others are despondent. Many on both sides are exhausted.…