Place. Limits. Liberty.
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Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox is a Front Porch Republic Contributing Editor. He grew up milking cows and baling hay in Spokane Valley, WA, but now lives in Wichita, KS, where he runs the History & Politics and the Honors programs at Friends University, a small Christian liberal arts college. He aspires to write a book about the theory and practice of democracy, community, and environmental sustainability in small to mid-sized cities, like the one he has made his and his family’s home; his scribblings pertaining to that and related subjects are collected at the Substack “Wichita and the Mittelpolitan.” He also blogs–irregularly and usually at too-great a length–more broadly about politics, philosophy, religion, socialism, bicycling, books, farming, pop music, and whatever else strikes his fancy, at “In Medias Res.”

Articles by Russell Arben Fox

Place, Limits, Liberty (In That Order)

Harvey Mansfield and William Galston disagree about liberty; from the perspective that insists place empowers liberty, Galston has it right.
March 5, 2010

Who Was at Rod Dreher’s Super Bowl Party?

I get somewhat frustrated, at times, with the language of compromise, because it seems to me that if you are, in fact, acknowledging a degree of compromise with modern life,…
February 8, 2010

Thinking About the States, Again

What if we had more states?
January 28, 2010

Still.

Wichita, KS I write a Christmas post every year. I'm actually quite fond of this year's entry, with its reflections on ghosts and spirits and other things in the wintertime…
December 24, 2009

Defending Local Prohibitions

Since Caleb wants to argue about it, I will comply. This is a post that I wrote back in November; nice to see it get some attention now... Jacob Weisberg…
December 9, 2009

Health Subsidiarity, or Solidarity, or Socialism (Take Your Pick)

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS The debate over health care reform in the Senate has moved into overdrive, with one possible compromise following another in rapid succession. The…
December 7, 2009

Localist Principles, Populist Words (or, The Problem Defined)

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] I suppose Front Porch Republic is experiencing growing pains, because all the talk lately is about "what's next?"--what cause, what platform, what principles or agenda…
November 23, 2009

Ah, Let the Courts Do it

In the continuing argument over what should or shouldn't be the responsibility of the government--and what government, whether local or state or national, should be responsible for it--there is, I…
November 9, 2009

Who Was the Real Winner in the New York 23rd Race?

There were several. But this biggest, I think, was: The American party process....The New York state GOP by-passed the primary process, and got slammed for it. A third party candidate…
October 28, 2009

Defending (Local) Prohibition(s)

Jacob Weisberg, in Slate, says that the spirit of Prohibition is dead, and those laws which still maintain elements of that spirit--stopping gay people from marrying, stopping sick people from…
October 27, 2009

Sharing the Kids Equally

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS So, Melissa has flown the coop, escaping to Washington D.C. for the next four days to hang out with friends old and new,…
October 15, 2009

Update to Sharing the Children Equally

One of America's more interesting and less predictable feminist public intellectual voices, Arlie Hochschild, has a few things to say about the general topic of family life and child care…
October 15, 2009