Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• On Medicaid Misinformation and Missed Opportunities

  

  [When my own west Wichita representative in the Kansas House, Dan Hawkins, laid out some misleading and vaguely paranoid claims about Governor Laura Kelly's pus... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2022 SOCIETY

• Michael Austin, Vardis Fisher, and the Death of the Mormo-American

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent] Michael Austin, a fellow blogger and old friend, wrote an essay nearly 30 years ago that accomplished what most of us... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2022 SOCIETY

• Three Reasons Why Evan McMullin Might Not Be Greg Orman

  

  [This is an expanded, more contexualized version of a piece which appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune this weekend.]What does Evan McMullin's independent race... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2022 SOCIETY

• Hoping to Take Home Rule Seriously

  

  Many Kansas Republicans likely guffawed in disbelief when Governor Laura Kelly recently insisted "I am a major local-control advocate" and that she was opposed... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2022 SOCIETY

• Localism, Intentionality, and Utopia (Socialist Or Otherwise)

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]There is an accusation which has been flung over the decades (if not centuries) at practically every sort of intentional... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2022 SOCIETY

• On Simplicity, Transparency, and Educational Trust in Topeka

  

  [A shorter version of this essay appeared in the Wichita Eagle here.]There are several different ways to talk about the "Parent's Bill of Rights and Academic... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2022 SOCIETY

• The Potential Of, and the Problems With, Wichita’s (More) Partisan Future

  

  [Cross-posted to Wichita Story] (From left to right: Mayor Brandon Whipple; Mike Hoheisel, councilmember for Wichita District 3; Maggie Ballard, councilmember... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2022 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Movies I Saw in 2021

  

  As always, these are my choices among all the movies I saw in 2021, not my choices among the all movies released in 2021.Three of the films I'm ranking as... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2021 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Books I Read in 2021

  

  As always, these are my choices among all the books I read in 2021, not my choices among the books published in 2021.While I'm no scholar of St. Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2021 SOCIETY

• The Place (and Place-ness) of Occupy, Ten Years On

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Before 2021 comes to a close, let's remember the many tributes, found in many year-end wrap-ups written just about... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2021 SOCIETY

• The Osmonds' Christmas, and Ours

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent] The Osmond Christmas Album came out 45 years ago today, on December 18, 1976. I'm talking the original double-LP, of... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2021 SOCIETY

• Getting Get Back

  

  I spent a good chunk of Thanksgiving weekend watching Peter Jackson's superb and somewhat overwhelming Get Back, along with--according to my students... Read more

  Posted on 30 November 2021 SOCIETY

• Test Results (the Annoyingly Regular Crow-Eating Post)

  

  So, nearly everything I suggested was likely yesterday was proven wrong by late last night. So the Political Science 101 model failed the test, right?Yes and no. Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2021 SOCIETY

• A Local Test

  

  Let us assume that the local elections in Wichita today represent a test of basic Political Science 101. Probably a bad assumption, and one that would... Read more

  Posted on 02 November 2021 SOCIETY

• My Tale of Two (Actually One and One-Half) Dunes

  

  Why only two (or one and one-half, since Villeneuve's Dune is explicitly presented as the first to two parts)? Shouldn't I include Frank Herbert's original... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2021 SOCIETY

• When Kansas Republicans Become Libertarians, Sort Of

  

  [An article of mine in Current magazine, which is an updated approach to a column that originally ran in the Wichita Eagle and which I expanded upon here. Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2021 SOCIETY

• Taking (Democratic) Control of One's Own Traffic

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] That Charles Marohn is a friend to localist movements across the United States and beyond is indisputable. Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2021 SOCIETY

• Ideology, Abortion, and Schmidt's Confusion (or Not?) Over "Choice"

  

  On Sunday, The Wichita Eagle posted a column of mine online (it appeared in the physical paper on Tuesday) which attempted to describe--in less than 600... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2021 SOCIETY

• Fathers, Friendship, and Holding onto Your Platoon (or Not)

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]This old Cal Grondahl cartoon, from many years ago, has been on my mind for while: It first came back to my mind as I was... Read more

  Posted on 18 July 2021 SOCIETY

• Why Councilmember Brandon Johnson Matters

  

  [Cross-posted to Wichita Story] My title is pretentious, of course; Brandon Johnson—the councilmember representing Wichita’s heavily African-American and... Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2021 SOCIETY