Tag: progress

On the Front Porch with Ursula Le Guin

Those who do know her work might be a bit surprised if I suggest that Le Guin has a real porcher sensibility.

Why I am a Conservative

If you love place, limits, liberty, and think they are words that have meaning, you are probably conservative, and should honor that word also.

But I By Backward Steps Would Move

“The dwarf sees farther than the giant, when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on."

From Olive Trees to Overcapacity

A homogeneous global consumer culture flattens its victims. And, perhaps in the same vein, our meanderings around the dying furniture capital of Yecla turned up nothing: virtually everything on display fitted what has become the decorative style of contemporary Spain: the sort of stuff one might find in a Copenhagen dentist’s office.

After the Econolypse

Hamilton, Ontario. When remembering a family-owned grocery store in rural Virginia, a first image comes to mind, even though I did not actually witness...

Against Pessimism

Alexandria, VA My last post has led some to conclude that I am a pessimist. Even Ross Douthat, among the most perceptive commentators...

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...

Notes from the Canal Zone

Claremont, CA. On the flight home, I read an issue of Delta Sky Magazine that listed the Panama Canal as one of “70 Wonders...

Voices Against Progress: What I Learned from Genovese, Lasch, and Bradford

The following is excerpted from Paul Gottfried's Encounters: My Life with Nixon, Marcuse, and Other Friends and Teachers, recently published by ISI Books. I met...

Abraham Lincoln and the Destruction of Place

In case you missed it, 2009 is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Earlier this week I participated in a roundtable discussion on Lincoln’s...