Place. Limits. Liberty.
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local government 10

Localism as a Form of Government, or Localism as a Way of Life?

Consider that here at FPR we are at least as concerned with cultural issues as with political ones. If we are being honest, many of us are probably more concerned…
March 14, 2023

Local Stories, National Character

We always have been an unruly people, from the very beginning. It is a fact that gives us hope that our current disagreements and fights are not signs of our…

Lead for America: Encouraging Graduates to Return Home

Jackson, MI. As a college professor and reader of Wendell Berry, I've long been concerned about the dominant narrative of "upward (and lateral) mobility" that draws students to higher education.…
Jeffrey Bilbro
December 7, 2020

A Word With Worden’s First Lady

You just do it, and you do it because you know your place is a wonderful place and you want to keep it the way it is. It’s not because…

Monopoly House Rules

I love board games.  Truth be told, I am a sucker for games of all types, but there are a number of aspects to playing a board game that simply cannot…

To Make Housing Affordable, Act Locally

Even if you spend only a fraction of your day monitoring the news, you’ve probably caught wind of the nation’s affordable housing crisis. Disproportionately affecting both the poor and young…
October 19, 2018

History’s Long Road to Tyranny: Tocqueville and the End of Equality

Devon, PA. I have just finished teaching Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America with my freshmen students.  In a way I have not witnessed before, they were compelled by his…

The City of Bell and the Problem of Local Control

“It enabled us to create our own vision for the future. That was the way I look at it then and now.” I guess part of that “vision” was Tammany…

The “New Normal:” A Communitarian Moment?

It’s been almost exactly a year since the “Miracle at Polihale” occurred, and the answer to the “aloha question” is now clear: we are entering a “new normal.”

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