The Brass Spittoon

Adam Smith, a philosopher at the University of Dubuque, counterattacks the disenchanted War on Suffering. FPR President Mark Mitchell goes biblical to bring down a heightened politics of insanity. Brass Spittoon podcaster John Murdock looks at a key architect of religious politics and wonders what might happen if his blueprints were followed. Gerald Ford groupie and FPR perfect attendance award winner Jeff Polet opens by reflecting on political goats. Highlights Jeff Polet: Introduction 1:30 Statistical sirens 3:00 Humane oxymorons 5:15 Dirty politics 6:15 Animal farm 9:45 Oh yeah, the intros! Adam Smith: “The Politics of Reenchantment” 10:15 A reading from St. Aldo’s almanac 11:45 Frontlines in the War on Suffering 20:00 Enchanting politics with fairies and green fire 24:00 Institutionalizing flatness 31:00 Supernaturally small Mark Mitchell: “Politics in Babel” 33:00 Towers trump? 38:00 Name callers 42:00 Crashing symbols 46:00 Abraham skips the bricks 47:15 Hope in failure John Murdock: “Back to the Future of the Religious Right” 51:45 “The Poll” and holy holes 57:00 Franciscan biography 62:00 White and wrongs 66:00 The limits of integrity 69:00 Polyface politics and ravines made for walking Resources Speaker bios and conference videos FPR Books and bookshop Conference co-sponsor Plough Thanks to Wendell Kimbrough for our theme music

Eric Miller, biographer of Christopher Lasch and a professor at Geneva College, plus longtime porcher Jason Peters of Hillsdale College address the role of imagination in shaping our shared reality. Matt Stewart, an associate editor of the FPR website, introduces this duo that has impacted his life in important ways. Highlights 1:00 Matt Stewart, teacher’s pet/pest and herb connoisseur Eric Miller: “The Instructed Imagination” 6:00 Hannah Coulter v. Mark Heard 13:30 Collegiate conscience and imagination 16:00 Augustine’s commonweal 20:00 O’Connor’s name calling 23:00 Walker and Wendell looking for hope Jason Peters: “Imagination: Not Whimsical but Fatal” 27:45 Last year’s speech and this year’s joke 29:30 The propositions begin 35:00 Stoves and stand-up 38:00 Rainbows on the run 43:00 Unified Kauffman and computerized thinking 50:00 Fatalities and old farts Resources Speaker bios and conference videos FPR Books and bookshop Conference co-sponsor Plough Thanks to Wendell Kimbrough for our theme music

Paul Kingsnorth, the keynote speaker at the 2023 FPR conference in Madison, Wisconsin, begins things with a bonus talk on the power of prayer in a desecrated western world. Highlights 1:15 Mark Mitchell’s welcome 4:00 Paul flies in 5:30 A long list of labels 7:30 Roots and power 8:15 My neighbor Vinny (and his dying cousins) 12:30 Centering work 14:00 Citizen culture 19:00 Two trinities 23:00 Our like will not be here again 24:30 Candles to blow 37:30 The still point in the turning world 30:00 An Orthodox Texan’s sermon 32:45 Closing hymn Resources Paul’s Substack and an interview at FPR “The Cross and the Machine” Conference videos Wendell Kimbrough helps us find our way home

The After Virtual conference podcast series closes with a focus on civics and cemeteries. Mark Mitchell, author of Plutocratic Socialism, talks on, well, plutocrats and socialism (plus the importance of property ownership to maintaining the republic). Rachel Ferguson, author of Black Liberation Through the Marketplace, highlights the historic role of roads in undermining minority communities and current efforts at neighborhood stabilization. Regular conference closer Bill Kauffman regales the crowd with tales from the crypts of Batavia. Speakers: Mark Mitchell, Rachel Ferguson, and Bill Kauffman Highlights 2:30 Mark Mitchell — Why Property Matters 3:15 FPR, born in apocalypse 9:00 Plutocrats and socialists, a love story 19:30 What would the Founders do? 22:15 Rachel Ferguson — What’s Wrong with the Roads? 23:30 Housing many things in the Black Church 26:30 Eugenics, red lines, and roads 30:00 Cars explained, Ike appalled 38:00 Neighborhood Stabilization (and its All-Stars) 46:30 “Paid to talk to me” v. the Jesus people 50:00 Bill Kauffman —The View from the Cemetery 51:00 Grave matters with Walt Whitman 54:00 Masons and monuments 58:30 Wings are overrated 1:00 Barry Goldwater and friends 1:04 Ontologically speaking 1:07 Baseball R.I.P. Resources Speaker bios Conference videos Save the (new!) date: 2023 Conference in Madison, Wisconsin (October 21, 2023) Thanks to Wendell Kimbrough for his musical talents

Chris Arnade, the keynote speaker at the After Virtual conference, has traded global finance for skid row photography. Chris discusses his journey from Wall Street board rooms to a booth at McDonald’s and the associated rejection of careerism and self-definition. Speaker: Chris Arnade—An Address in the Universe of Meaning Highlights 3:00 Prayer time around the world 6:45 The liberal emancipation project (of destruction) 10:30 Transcendent values first seen in a traffic jam 16:00 “Everything we believed was wrong” 27:00 Place and the giant sucking sound of NAFTA 30:00 Family ties 32:00 The “meaning” address and its replacement Resources Speaker bios Conference videos Save the date: 2023 Conference in Madison, Wisconsin (October 21, 2023) Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America The Substack home of a traveling man An NPR story on Chris Arnade Arnade’s work at The Guardian and The Atlantic Thanks to Wendell Kimbrough for his musical talents

For the first of our episodes from September’s FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods, we go to church. Carl Trueman, Gregory Hogg, and Charlie Cotherman share thoughts on technology and embodied worship in a time of pandemic. Speakers: Carl Trueman, Gregory Hogg, and Charlie Cotherman Highlights 1:15 Carl Trueman 3:00 Is it all Protestantism’s fault? 4:00 How to take over an empire 6:15 Reformations and technology 11:00 Overlooked revolutionary sausages 13:45 Our age of social acceleration 16:45 A challenge to holy time 19:00 A challenge to community 20:00 Gregory Hogg 20:15 Christians and plagues 23:00 Masks and noble lies 26:00 Vaccines and Canadians 28:00 Virtual worship? 30:00 Body and Church 31:30 Charlie Cotherman 32:00 Elisha’s physical engagement 35:00 Resurrection, proximity, and presence 39:00 Community and COVID tech 42:30 To the statistics 46:00 Invasive species and unholy shortcuts Resources Speaker bios Conference videos Save the date: 2023 Conference in Madison, Wisconsin (October 7, 2023) Thanks to Wendell Kimbrough for his musical talents

Matthew Stewart, author of The Most Beautiful Place on Earth: Wallace Stegner in California, sits down (literally) with host John Murdock to discuss Stegner’s complicated relationship with the American West. A mobile youth left Stegner yearning for deeper roots. In the 1940s, he landed in the hills surrounding San Francisco Bay, an area soon set for expansive growth. Stegner’s interplay with the region and his own personal history led to the Pulitzer Prize winning Angle of Repose, a National Book Award for The Spectator Bird, and his masterful final work Crossing to Safety. Stewart, who received his Ph.D. in history from Syracuse, digs deeply into Stegner’s prose, places, and personal archives to document this quest for home. Host: John Murdock Guest: Matthew Stewart Highlights 2:00 Stewart, man of Geneva and Idaho 5:00 Wallace Stegner 101 7:00 “Geography of hope” and other famous phrases 7:45 A sharp dressed man in the eyes of his student, Wendell Berry 9:30 Ranking the novels 11:30 Mary Hallock Foote controversy 14:00 Life story of a Silicon Valley pioneer 16:45 Family’s outlaw life and death 18:30 California here he comes 19:45 Utopian suburban dreams 22:15 Searching for substance in a “formless non-community” 26:00 Anguished questions of the 1960s 30:15 Fan mail from frustrated parents 33:00 Stuck in Vermont 36:00 Edward Abbey sets the scene 38:00 Finding beauty in the places we know Resources Buy the book Stewart’s bio at FPR Stegner’s Wilderness Letter Mary Hallock Foote matter still controversial in 2022 A piece on Stegner and his students Wendell Kimbrough helps us find our way home

Chuck Marohn, the founder of Strong Towns and author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, discusses streets, roads, “stroads,” and the perils of the American traffic system. A trained engineer himself, Marohn once imbibed the discipline’s dominant dogmas. Today, he advocates for cities and towns where slower moving cars can get us where we want to go faster. Host: John Murdock Guest: Charles “Chuck” Marohn Highlights 1:15 A boy from Brainerd 3:45 Strong Towns explained 6:30 What’s an engineer good for? 8:45 Breaking through with talking bears 13:15 A need for speed 16:45 So, what’s a “STROAD”? 17:45 The futon of transportation 20:30 Walking to die in the land of Dr. Seuss 27:00 Philando Castile and traffic trolling cops 36:30 I-49, $700M, and the saints of Shreveport 45:30 Lightning Round with Elon Musk, destroyed stop lights, and more 50:00 Wrapping it up, early in the morning Resources Strong Towns website Chuck’s late-night video that goes viral Steve Martin the barber is here to help Allendale Strong fights I-49