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Uncategorized 898

The Government Can (Corrected)

It just makes me laugh: Government Can NOTE: MY APOLOGIES. Somehow or other the wrong link showed up on that. Thank you anymouse for correcting me. I deeply apologize to…
Jeff Polet
March 15, 2012

In the National Cathedral

On Sunday I was the invited speaker at the magnificent National Cathedral in a series devoted to the exploration of political themes. The subject was "The State of Political Language."…
Patrick Deneen
March 13, 2012

Rob Koons: Attacking Iran Would Be Unjust

Since the first Gulf War, it has been popular among many Christian (especially but not exclusively Catholic) conservatives to justify American military interventions via just-war theory -- which conveniently always…
Jeremy Beer
March 7, 2012

“Get” Out of Here

Rabbi Herzfeld of the National Synagogue has petitioned the House Ethics Committee to discipline a House staffer who appears to be recalcitrant as to one of the finer points of…
Jeff Polet
March 5, 2012

A Scar on the Soul

This is a powerful piece describing the consequences of some fertility techniques that involve selective reduction of embryos. I will never fully recover from what I've seen, and done.  For…
Mark T. Mitchell
March 5, 2012

Marriage…Whatever?

David Brooks weighs in on the latest data regarding marriage. The poor man. I know of no one who is more tied in knots over contemporary notions of autonomy than…
Jeff Polet
February 21, 2012

“‘Marriage has become a luxury good.'”

Along with the recent debate over contraceptive coverage, it is clear that not only has sex permeated our politics and cultural life (Kristof couldn't be more disingenuous), but it has…
Jeff Polet
February 18, 2012

Our Libertarian Future

I was invited by the good people at "Minding the Campus" to write a response to the recently released 2011 American Freshman Survey. My brief essay is now available on…
Patrick Deneen
February 17, 2012

Mallon Time

I was delighted to see that Thomas Mallon, a superb novelist whose subject is often American politics (my favorites are Henry and Clara and Two Moons), has just published Watergate:…
February 16, 2012

“Slaying the Dragon”

The indispensable Tony Esolen, invoking the themes of place, limits, and liberty with great eloquence.  
Jeff Polet
February 10, 2012

Protest and Tradition

Jesus without religion is like thinking without tradition.
Jeff Polet
February 6, 2012

A Day Late, and a Mint Julep Short

I had previously thought that Ground Hog Day was strictly a holiday for the residents of the virtuous commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Turns out that the day is celebrated far and…
February 3, 2012

What is a Conservative?

The Atlantic offers characteristics of conservatives. How does the Porch fit in?
Jeff Polet
January 31, 2012

Monsanto vs. Family Farmers

Today in New York City the oral arguments will be heard. You can read more here and here. On January 31, family farmers will take part in the first phase…
Mark T. Mitchell
January 31, 2012

On Wisconsin

My friend Paul Buhle, the great historian of the American left, has edited, with his wife Mari Jo Buhle, It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the…
January 27, 2012

Ciceronian Society Meeting at UVA: Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: CICERONIAN SOCIETY  2012 ANNUAL MEETING AT UVA The Ciceronian Society will be holding its annual meeting at the University of Virginia, March 29-31, 2012. This will be…

Saul Alinsky, Localist

Well no, not exactly. But as anyone who has ACTUALLY READ ALINSKY KNOWS--in contrast to those who simply parrot his name as part of rather stretched smear of anyone they…
January 26, 2012

Seen Your Video

This is the last audience to which I should announce such a thing but after fumbling an editing gig or two because I lacked a one-stop site containing my bio,…
January 26, 2012

Super Cuts

Brian (no relation to Lefty) Frizzell, Brooklyn's archivist of Americana, sends a link to Matt Morris's Pickin' & Trimmin' http://vimeo.com/31066145, a lovely documentary short film about a barbershop in Drexel, North…
January 9, 2012

Hope for Peace and Quiet

This piece from the Sunday Times serves as a reminder that the claims made for technology, progress, and modern conveniences are too overblown, and that human beings have fundamental longings…
Jeff Polet
January 4, 2012

Huzzah for the Montana Supreme Court!

This is the kind of states' rights I like: Montana’s Supreme Court has issued a stunning rebuke to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 that infamously decreed…
January 3, 2012

A Jeffersonian Kansas

Here is an article describing how Kansas is leading the way toward a less centralized future. The “revolution in a cornfield” that is happening today in Gov. Sam Brownback's Kansas…
Mark T. Mitchell
January 2, 2012

New Symposium on Distributism

Porch readers will be interested in the new online symposium on distributism that is now on ANAMNESIS, A Journal for the Study of Tradition, Place, and 'Things Divine.' This includes…

The Big Lie (From an Insider)

In this essay, former Wall Street Investment Banker, Michael Thomas, expresses his frustration and disillusion with our current economic system. His credibility comes from three decades on Wall Street. In…
Mark T. Mitchell
December 28, 2011