Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 630 )

• 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

• 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