Politics & Power 485
Progressive Liberalism Or: How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Big Government
American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time by John McGowan. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007). Moorpark, CA. If the current administration is liberal, it matters what kind…
Dirt, Dollars, and Devices
Holland, MI. I confess: I hate farms. I hate everything about them. I hate the malodorous smells that take days to wash off. I hate the all-pervasive dirt which invades…
Theonomist Doesn’t Even Rhyme with Terrorist
A while back the History News Network featured part of a Harper’s interview with Max Blumenthal, the author of the new book, Republican Gomorrah (published by Nation Books). This snippet…
Is Economics a Science?
One salient fact about this recession is that 90% of the working economists missed the warning signs, and those who predicted a disaster were marginalized and ridiculed. This, however, is…
Making Progress?
Writing on the occasion of Ronald Reagan's death, the NY Times columnist David Brooks articulated the roots of Reagan's success in as accurate and succinct a way as I've seen.…
Ghostly Echoes: A Eulogy
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. October is here, the chill wind blows, leaves are on the ground, so it must be time to talk about ghosts. This essay first appeared in the…
Table Games and the Politics of Corruption
Jefferson County, WV. In December my county will hold a referendum to decide whether or not table games will be permitted at the local race track/slot machine palace. Only two…
Notes from the Canal Zone
Claremont, CA. On the flight home, I read an issue of Delta Sky Magazine that listed the Panama Canal as one of “70 Wonders of the World.” The canal was…
Who Was Richard Blaine? Myth, History, and the Great American Conversation
Moorpark, CA. The first time is not always the best, but it is often the most revealing. The first time I saw Casablanca I brought a borrowed memory of seeing…
Ten Key Questions Framing the Health Care Debate
“The burqa is not welcome in French territory,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a June 22nd speech at Versailles. He was referring to the head-to-toe garment worn by some…
The Other Side of China, and What It Might Say When It Speaks
As the heat of late summer subsides here in Nanjing and our university settles into the new semester, many look forward to the annual “Golden Week” holiday in early October. …
At Least Small Communities Are Human
That's the point made darn well by Stefan McDaniel as part of his response to globalization defenders (the link will take you back to the whole debate). A while back,…
Electrifying
This article caught my attention yesterday - our hunger for electricity to power our "personal electronics" has grown so insatiable that very soon the United States will need to build…
Go to the Ant
Jon Stewart's take down of ACORN is quite funny, but as a friend of mine said this morning, the real story is that anyone is shocked or suprised by this…
This Age of Christian Martyrs
Devon, PA. Everyone knows the "secularization hypothesis" of the West; the only difference between one person and another is whether one also knows that it is garbage. According to secularization…
The Rebirth of Conservatism
Kearneysville, WV. Barack Obama was swept into office as a firm and unmistakable repudiation of George W. Bush. After enduring the longest war in our nation’s history, after cringing at…
The Recovery of American Beauty
Holland, MI The present age remains haunted by the specter of “atheism,” with significant consequences for our understanding of politics. I think we can distinguish between at least three different…
Sensible libertarian points . . .
made once again by Jesse Walker, in re the prez and the kids. He says here in about 400 words just about everything that needs to be and should be…
9-11 and the Cloud of Overwhelming Force
Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, 9-11-09. Eight years ago today, and in the days immediately following, Americans found themselves bewildered. An unprecedented mood had fallen upon them, an unfamiliar atmosphere surrounded them.…
Mobbed Up: When Turning the Other Cheek Only Gains Another Slap
Washington, Ct. In his wonderful 1974 book entitled The Roots of American Order, Russell Kirk remarks upon the British and how they are able to "muddle through" periods of social…
Would Natty Bumpo Have a Crisis on his Hands if his Health Insurance Didn’t Cover Catasrophic Scalp Injury?
Washington, CT. The unanimously anointed Soothsayer of the American Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville is deservedly credited with divining the essential and lasting traits of the mythological American. That he did…
Crolier Than Thou
Almost lost among the bicentennial celebrations of Lincoln’s and Darwin’s births is the centenary of Herbert Croly’s The Promise of American Life, a child of theirs and one of the…
Closing the Circle: An Economy of Values, and Where to Look for It
It is no surprise that many of us connected with FPR welcomed the release in mid July of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. As John Médaille and…
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 differences between folks that write over…