The Frank Forum Turns Two!
When I launched The Frank Forum in March of 2023, I wanted to create a space for communitarian-minded thinkers to be able to freely engage in ideas that were heterodox and truly counter to the prevailing neoliberal consensus of autonomy-maximizing libertarianism. We mustn't lose sight of the fact that civil society is a prerequisite for democracy in the fullest sense of the word. That is, an atomized citizenry - much like a sick fish that loses its slime coat, the protective layer that aids in thwarting off disease and bacterial infection - will invariably fall ill and, therefore, susceptible to dangerous, meretricious ideologies and regimes. A society typified by robust levels of civil society, however, is far less likely to be seduced by illiberalism and flimsy utopian claims. American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Tim Carney makes this point in his must-read book, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse (Harper, 2019). Th...
