Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• Why Championing American Values May Not Be Enough

  

  [This is an expanded version of a column which appeared in The Wichita Eagle on Sunday, July 11.] When Mike Pompeo launched his "Championing American Values”... Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2021 SOCIETY

• Some Comments on the Possibilities for Mormon Socialism, Or Communalism, at the...

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]1) First things first: obviously, there isn't any real world possibility for the (re-)emergence of Mormon socialism, or... Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2021 SOCIETY

• Regarding Mutualism, Cooperativism, and Other (Interstitially) Anti-Capitalist...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]If future historians wish to find some silver lining in COVID-19, the rise in mutualism in response to the shut-downs and... Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2021 SOCIETY

• What Hath Bernie (Ideologically) Wrought?

  

  [The online magazine Current asked me to write something about Bernie Sanders, so I did. This is a slightly longer, slightly different, and more personal versio... Read more

  Posted on 27 May 2021 SOCIETY

• Teaching (or Cultivating) Sustainability (or Inhabitance), Ten Years On

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]For ten years now, I've been teaching one version or another of a class on personal simplicity and economic and... Read more

  Posted on 26 May 2021 SOCIETY

• Eight Inter-Connected Observations About Complexity, Liberty, and the City of...

  

  [Cross-posted to Wichita Story] 1) Cities are complex systems—that is, they are places where different groups of people organize, worship, trade, celebrate,... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2021 SOCIETY

• 20 and 15 Years, and More

  

  20 years ago today--May 12, 2001--I was awarded my Doctor of Philosophy in Politics from Catholic University of American in Washington, DC; I became a Ph.D. Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2021 SOCIETY

• "Twas a Matter of Timing and the Timing Was Right"

  

  Exactly one year ago--March 27, 2020--Bob Dylan dropped "Murder Most Foul," without any public announcement or preview or warning--his first work of original... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2021 SOCIETY

• Biden and (Some) Better Times for (Some Of) Wichita

  

  [Cross-posted to Wichita Story] When President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan (ARP) a little more than a week ago, I commented to some... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2021 SOCIETY

• Grace Olmstead's Uprooted Idaho, and My Own

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] Last summer my family and I drove right by Emmett, Idaho, the ancestral home of Grace Olmstead, author of the wonderful,... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2021 SOCIETY

• Century II, Home Rule, and the Problem (and Appeal) of States Pushing Cities...

  

  [Cross-posted to Wichita Story] On Sunday the Wichita Eagle ran two guest editorials--one by me on how state governments push cities around, and one by my frien... Read more

  Posted on 09 March 2021 SOCIETY

• Jazz and Me, 20 Years On

  

  One day during the Christmas holidays, I went downstairs to where our old television with its still-working DVD/VCR set-up stands, and I pulled out an old... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2021 SOCIETY

• Excavating Socialist Thought in Mormonism: Re-reading Hugh Nibley

  

  [This is a slightly expanded version of a review essay cross-posted to the Religious Socialism blog here; it is the companion of another essay which reviews... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2021 SOCIETY

• Two Pedantic Problems with Representative Estes's Post

  

  Dear Representative Estes,Thanks for sharing your reasoning about your January 6 challenge to the Electoral College results, thus your challenge to the... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2021 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Books I Read in 2020

  

  As always, in alphabetical order, by title. The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Injustice, by Frederik deBoer, is an odd book. Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2020 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Movies I Watched in 2020

  

  I seriously considered abandoning, or at least completely changing, this viewing list tradition of mine--between the pandemic, the general shift to streaming... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2020 SOCIETY

• Some Possibly Helpful Thoughts on Localism, Populism, and Proximity During a...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]The departure of Donald Trump from the White House [crosses fingers] will assuredly not mean the departure of Trumpism fro... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2020 SOCIETY

• Why The Cult of Smart is a Book for Every Parent in 2020 (Whether...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]This past summer a book was published, with little fanfare, that made what was, in retrospect, an argument that millions o... Read more

  Posted on 21 December 2020 SOCIETY

• What Happens When Parties Can No Longer Be Managed Moderately?

  

  [This is a somewhat expanded version of a piece that appeared in the Wichita Eagle over the weekend; I received an e-mail on Sunday which causes me to think mor... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2020 SOCIETY

• Messages of Gratitude from the Desert (and for It, Sort Of)

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent] For years, our family has had a "Thanksgiving Tree" tradition. We write on cut-out leaves something we are thankful for, the... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2020 SOCIETY