Uncategorized 1270
Rifles Get Bad Rap. Fists and Knives are the Problem
Here's the FBI's Crime Statistics for 2011. In every state, more people were killed with hands, fists, and feet than with rifles. More were killed with knives than with rifles.…
Mitchell Interview with “Coffee and Markets”
Here is a recent podcast interview about my book The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place, and Community in a Global Age.
Scurrying toward Philly?
I have been engaged in a minor dust-up with my good friend Conor Dugan over reports that Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has been entertaining talks with the Philadelphia Eagles concerning…
Ken Myers Profiled by Andrew Ferguson
Andrew Ferguson has a very nice profile of Ken Myers, editor of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, in the most recent Weekly Standard. The interviews and commentary featured on Myers's…
From Culture to Party Wars?
Among the various postmortem evaluations of the November election, R. R. Reno's at First Things ("The New Secular Moral Majority," December 2012) caught my eye: The Democratic party is very…
Centralization and the Fiscal Cliff
The Gray Lady weighs in today on the so-called "fiscal cliff," correctly pointing out that even if a deal is reached, like the one on the "debt ceiling crisis" before…
NRA Proposes More Policemen
In a speech today, NRA president Wayne LaPierre called for a new initiative to place policemen in every school in America. It's curious that in attempting to defend one right,…
Do Conservatives Need to Belong to A Minority to Get an Academic Job?
Jonathan Zimmerman thinks the answer is yes (thanks to John Fea): At Columbia University, 650 employees wrote checks for the Obama campaign, while only 21 made donations to Mitt Romney.…
Excluding Religion from Public Life is Tricky
Protestant conservatives of the Religious Right variety may be surprised to know that the strongest arguments for undressing the public square (of religious garments) came from Protestants. Whenever Roman Catholics…
Do You Have to be Old to be Conservative?
Most readers know the line (attributed to Winston Churchill, I believe), if you're not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart. And if you are still a liberal at…
The New Domesticity
This is a highly confused article on the turn, particularly among women, to forms of "new domesticity." Its author, Emily Matchar, appears eager to deny that there is anything good to…
Is America Too Big?
Is the United States dysfunctionally large, and thus destined to go the way of the giant radioactive ants once seen in old sci-fi movies? That’s the question raised by this video…
Social Science and Human Liberty
At about the same moment I was reading David Brooks's third "Social Science Palooza," which is a summary of some recent, interesting findings in the study of human behavior, I…
Benedict XVI – Porcher
From an address calling for a renewal of agricultural work by Pope Benedict in November, 2010: "To this end, it is essential to cultivate and spread a clear ethic that…
Still on the Line
In which I attend a Glen Campbell concert. As a Christmas bonus, two tunes from the displaced Arkansan's haunting valedictory album: here and here.
Fleeing the Fearful Loneliness of Thought: Our Post-rational Age
Berwyn, PA. In the first weeks of FPR, when we authors dared commit to writing one essay a week, as if we could all be either as drunk or logorheic…
The Next Conservatism (redux)
Back in 2007, Republicans were smarting over a mid-term defeat. Paul Weyrich and Gary S. Lind offered an analysis that sounds like it could have been written today: The only…
FPR in NYT
In the NYT this morning, David Brooks has a column titled "The Conservative Future." While many on the main-stream right are despairing over the dismal results of the election, there…
Support FPR Today!
Dear Readers, In the coming months, Front Porch Republic will be investing more resources in our website, events, and other ventures. The site will feature more writers (including some that…
Monopoly
Harper's has an interesting history of the game "Monopoly." If the story is correct, it indicates an interesting form/content relationship inasmuch as the owners (who collect the fees) had nothing,…
Republicans and the Language of Citizenship
Berwyn, PA. I add my voice to the FPR symposium on the presidential election in this morning's edition of Crisis Magazine, where I assess the way in which President Obama…
Standing Athwart History Crying, “Me Too!”
The GOP strategists once again react to getting clobbered by calling for an embrace of their (alleged) opponents' policies. After all, if only Romney could've distanced himself from pro-life fanatics…
Science and Elections
There are any number of explanations for Tuesday's outcomes. My own sense is that the Republicans simply can't put together a national majority and won't be able to any time…