Obama 23
America Needs Another Bush?
Accusing President Obama of “caviling over chemical weapons in Syria,” The Economist insists that events in Syria are “exposing Mr Obama’s hubris,” his “overconfidence,” and revealing his foreign policy ineptitude.…
Crazy Quilt Conservatism
Hidden Springs, VA.Last week the Washington Post ran a story titled “Rethinking the Classroom: Obama’s Overhaul of Public Education.” The piece described the various ways Obama has asserted himself into…
Gays Acting Badly in the White House: A Comparative Study
Recently I read Up From Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. It is an inspiring story of hard work, perseverance, and clear vision. Washington fought an up hill battle…
Where Movement Conservatism Went Wrong–And How to Fix It
Freedom Requires Restraint
This Is My Son: Two Years Later
Devon, PA. Two years ago this week, President Obama delivered the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. Great numbers of students, faculty, alumni, and American Catholics protested the…
The Death of bin Laden: On Violence and Civil Religion
Holland, MI. Around 11:00 Sunday night I received a text from a friend informing me that Osama bin Laden had been killed by US military and intelligence units. I confess…
On Competitiveness
“Competitiveness” is the new “proactive” – the word, to paraphrase The Simpsons, that dumb people are using to sound important. Or, more precisely, it’s the word that ostensibly smart people…
TARP: RIP
TARP has expired. Are we better off for it?
Mobilizing on the Left: Progressivism, Populism, and the Language of Political Salvation
Progressives must re-learn to advocate for community self-determination, and work to link political activity on this level to national politics.
Exploiting Antiquities
To him, the created world is merely “resources” and fodder for “job creation.”
Talk To Me, Barack
Obama is suffering because whether or not it is true, he seems not to understand what is going on around the country. Whether or not it is true, he seems…
Stopping a Streetcar with an Umbrella
It is autumn in Amsterdam and damp. The twilight is coming. I await a streetcar to take me home through the labored-over canals, the old working-class neighborhoods on the Amstel.…
Is America Ungovernable?
Otto von Bismark, the 19th century Iron Chancellor and architect of modern Germany, once remarked that “If you like law and sausages, you shouldn't watch either being made.” One could…
Obama v. Fox News
Kearneysville, WV. It’s official. The Obama White House has declared that Fox News presents a slanted view of the news, one congenial to the Republicans and antagonistic to the administration.…
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…
Thrifty Americans Threaten Recovery
Kearneysville, WV. Things are looking up. According to the “experts” the global economy appears to be stabilizing. For what it's worth, the use of phrases like “economic Armageddon” are not…
Big Secrets
Claremont, CA. Yesterday I was walking past the post office in my latte-liberal, bohemian-bourgeois town, when I saw a picture of President Obama made up to look like Hitler.…
The Emperor’s Old Clothes
I wonder whether anyone else finds it, if not quite ominous, at least suggestive, that the National Constitution Center is now hosting a traveling show on the Emperor Napoleon. The…
Causes and Lessons of the Current Economic Crisis
ERIE, PA. As a new contributor to the Front Porch Republic, I would like to thank Mark Mitchell for his invitation to participate in what is shaping up to be…
Obama’s Small Town Values – Not
I posted this piece at What I Saw In America on Friday last; for any readers of both these sites, I apologize for the redundancy. However, I think this posting…
April 15
Princeton, NJ I have to admit, I have been finding it difficult to write much of anything of late. This is a fairly unusual condition - usually I find no…
Where is Our Perpetual Peace?
Devon, PA. At the root of American and, indeed, western public life rests a fundamental assumption: the specific is dangerous, the particular a menace, the exclusive "unfair." Local government is…
White House Garden
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_garden The White House is getting a garden. Will this inspire millions to do the same? Will Obama pull his own weeds? Can a First Chicken Coop be far behind?