nistic toward another; it is something elsento dismiss your antagonist as having nonvalid claim to a group identit}’ and needing,ntherefore, to form a bogus “collectivit)’.”nThe willingness to accept such a contemptuousndefinition of white Christiannsociet}’ is what per’ades multiculturalismnand its multicultural conser’ative progeny,nall of whom expend great effort tonfind some middle ground between thenWASP self-loathing essential to multiculturalismnand the conservative dut)’ to perpetuatena cultural and political legacy.nNo matter how far the conservativenmovement bends or swerves toward thenmulticultural left, the accommodationnwill never be enough. (It is hardly as ifnthat movement has not tried to offernenough, even to the point of expelling itsnown traditionalist wing.) The problem is,none can never catch up to the demandsnof those who regard the inherited civilizationnof the West and the descendants ofnthose who built it with unmixed revulsion.nUnlike the meritorious collectivitiesnof designated victim groups, the identitynDillard believes the conservativenmovement is protecting is “constrictive”nand “artificial.” There can be no validndistinction, from her point of view, betweennsound and unsound conservatives;nFACULTYnTOPICSnPLACEn32/CHRONICLESnGood people are determined to cast asidenMosaic morality and open the floodgatesnto Third World immigration; bad peoplenoppose this progress.nhi realit)’, no such thing as “multiculturalnconsen’atism” could exist, but therenare genuine l^lack conservatives who defendnthe same positions white conservativesndo. These are not inauthentic multiculturalistsnbut cultural and religiousnWesterners who happen to be black.nElizabeth Wright, Jay Parker, and othernblack traditionalists have turned theirnbacks on tribalist m}’ths inx’cnted for designatednvictims. And though there cannbe conservatives who have not masteredntheir homosexual inclinations, there cannbe no conser’atism that extols homosexualnlifest’les —or treats them as anythingnbut aberrant.nFinally, there is an unbridgeable gulfnbetween Western conservatism and thenpolitics of guilt. Although WesternnChristian civilization (from which thencommunists and Nazis fled) has, at itsnworst, behaved like other civilizations, itnhas also achieved an incomparable richnessnof forms. Out of respect for thenWest’s conception of the spiritual worthnof the individual, its invention of constitutionalngovernment, and its creation ofnSixth Annualnalmost inexhaustible wonders in philosophy,nliterature, and the arts and sciences,nsane Westerners must feel pride in thencivilization now being attacked by its ungratefulnbeneficiaries, as well as by outsiders.nAlthough Americans are linkednculturally and institutionally to theirnEnglish cousins, it is not just the Britishnpart of the Western heritage that commandsnour admiration. All major Europeanncountries contributed remarkablynto world civilization and (as Burke perceptivelynobserved) produced overlapping,ninventive rearrangements of thenHebrew, Christian, classical, and Germanicncomponents of their identity.nWliy the heirs to these traditions shouldnthink tiiey must don sackclotii and ashesnto appease non-Westerners defies rationalnunderstanding. Unfortunately, whatnpeople like Dillard demand —namely,ncultural and moral self-obliteration —nAmericans and Europeans are all toonhappy to provide.nPaul Gottfried is a professor of humanitiesnat Elizabethtown College in Elizahethtown,nPennsylvania, and the author,nmost recently, of After Liberalism: MassnDemocracy in the Managerial Staten(Princeton).nLEAGUE OF THE SOUTH INSTITUTE SUMMER SCHOOLn”Total War and Reconstruction”nJuly 23-28, 2001nAbbeville, South CarolinanDr. Thomas di Lorenzo (Loyola College in Maryland), Dr. James Kibler (Universit)’ of Georgia),nDr. Clyde Wilson (Universih’ of South Carolina), Roger Busbice (Nicholls State University),nDr. Michael Hill (President, League of the South Institute), John Ghodes (Author and Dramatist),nDr. Donald Livingston (Emory University).nA Philosophical, Moral, and Legal Examination of Total War and Reconstruction; Was the LincolnnAdministration Guiltv of War Crimes?; The South’s Experience of Total War and Reconstruction;nThe Beginning of American Imperialism; The Imposition of a Nationalist System of Education onnthe South; How Reconstruction Continues Today.nAbbeville is the birthplace of John C. Calhoun, and the place where he first practiced law. Visitn”Secession Hill,” where the act of secession began, and the Burt-Stark House, where the ConfederatenCabinet met for the last time and dissolved.n$250 (includes banquet July 23); $275 after June 1. Open to students of all ages. A limited numbernof scholarships are available to college and graduate students, and college-bound high-school seniors.nSend all inquiries concerning registration, scholarships, and accommodations to Dr. DonaldnLivingston, Director, League of the South Institute, 478 Burlington Rd., Atlanta, GA 30307;nphone and fax (404) 377-0484.nnn