Four Years of FPR

Mark Mitchell:

Our desire to promote the ideals of place, limits, and liberty through fostering political decentralism, economic localism, and cultural regionalism has touched a nerve. We have been praised in the pages of The New York Times and The New Republic, and we’ve have been dismissed as hopeless romantics (or worse!) by others.

Nevertheless, we remain convinced that human apprehension of the true, the good, and the beautiful through the cultivation of virtue is best realized within a dense web of meaningful family, neighborhood, and community relationships. For decades, if not centuries, a powerful and ever-growing centralized state, along with the cultural and economic institutions with which it exists in a mutually reinforcing network, has eroded these vitally important relationships—and diminished human liberty, community, and happiness as a result.

We believe that we are in the beginning stages of a “new traditionalist” moment that will help revitalize American discourse and community and civic life by reclaiming important aspects of the Western tradition long ignored—or detested—by most Western elites. Even though much in the news suggests that ours is a badly damaged republic, there are hopeful signs. It is our intent to highlight and nurture these good things as we seek to champion human scale, the “little platoons,” respect for the natural world, and reverence to God.

Mr. Lew Daly offers some more of his thoughts: Face Right, Move Left

This piece and the resulting discussion in the combox give two competing visions of distributism and Catholic Social Teaching? One that is more paleoconservative/paleolibertarian and one that is more progressive or statist?

Politics is the art of the possible, but if what is possible for the government to do are unjust acts, then is it not better for it to do nothing? Evil cannot be done so that some good may be brought about.