Retrospective of Front Porch Republic

"No man is obliged to put his powers at the disposal of another, and no one has any claim of right to substantial support from his fellow man, [then] each is both independent and weak. These two conditions, which must be neither seen quite separately nor confused, give the citizen of democracy extremely contradictory instincts. He is full of confidence and pride in his independence from his equals, but from time to time his weakness makes him feel the need for some outside help which he cannot expect from any of his fellows, for they are both impotent and cold. In this extremity he naturally turns his eyes toward that huge entity which alone stands out above the universal level of abasement. His needs, and even more his longings, continually put him in mind of that entity, and he ends by regarding it as the sole and necessary support for his individual weakness." - Alexis de Tocqueville, intellectual forbear of Front Porch Republic

Front Porch Republic turns two today.  From Mark T. Mitchell:

On March 2, 2009, FPR was born. We’ve been going for two years now and our mission remains clear: to advance human flourishing through the promotion of political decentralism, economic localism, and cultural regionalism. The need is great and there is much work to be done. We are committed to fostering healthy communities and promoting discussions about policy and practices that will further this goal.

I am on board with this kind of conservatism.  I am sympathetic to both Austrian and institutional economics and political decentralism.  I think Big Food represents one of the gravest problems for humanity at several levels, and I hope to take up subsistence farming to some degree after moving to the United States.  I'm anxious to produce my own varieties of decidedly non-rubber tomatoes, red and white miso, and mountains of basil, with long-term aspirations to mushroom husbandry, craft dairy production, and bee-keeping.  I'm proud of and love traditional New England culture more and more everyday, and I hope to be a steward of that culture from this summer, when I will be returning to the United States with my family after almost five years of living in Japan.  

If this kind of conservatism seems like an impossible dream, don't take my word that it's not.  Go check out Front Porch Republic.  Here are some highlights from the first two years.

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Nuts, Sardines & Long Sticks (Warding off Demons in Japan)

I am in big trouble.

Something bad is staring me right in the face, and this time it has nothing to do with my son, my short attention span or personal injury (or, most recently, all three). It has nothing to do with anything I’ve done. In fact, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything that has even happened yet. But I am on a collision course with destiny, and there is no getting around it. That is why tomorrow I am going to jump on the horn and set a date with my local exorcist.

To most outsiders Japan is a safe, peaceful place, decorated with cherry blossoms and veiled in a kimono of serenity. Not true, my friends. This country is a dangerous, devilish place.

Take my friend Eriko. She’s a pleasant mix of gregarious, intelligent and modest. She works at a bank, travels abroad on her own and goes to the gym regularly. She’s confident and self-effacing, and has probably never crossed the street against the light. Yet recently she did something to warrant a trip up the road to Fudohsan Shrine for the ominous yakubarai ritual.

Recently, Eriko turned the dreaded thirty-three.

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A Diamond is Forever (from 1947)

American artist Lee Gainer has created a variety of images of engagement rings that can be bought by for three-months's salary. This synopsis is for a truck driver.Anyone who's seen the excellent HBO series, Rome, knows that the Romans were the first to give rings as a sign of engagement: at the beginning of Season 2, badass Titus Pullo, in proposing to his long-unrequited love, shy Eirene, because he spent all of his money on drinking and gambling, ties a blade of grass around her finger.  The Romans also smeared dirt on each other's faces. 

In the Middle Ages, as diamonds were seen to withstand both fire and steel, a platinum diamond engagement ring was given by princes to princesses as a sign of the unbreakable vows of marriage.  It wasn't until the discovery, in 1870, of the Kimberley Diamond Mine, that diamonds became "not so rare a gem after all."  The price of diamonds fell rapidly, and, as anyone with a really old grandmother knows (mine's 93), the birthstones phenomenon started.  At this time, it was far more common to give a potential wife an engagement ring with her birthstone as opposed to a diamond ring, because diamonds were seen as cheap and vulgur.

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