pean ethnic lobbies that never see the forestrnfor the trees, but it will jeopardize Europe’srnchances of long-term siuvival.rnThe United States should understandrnwhy some former Soviet satellites have arnvested geopolitical interest and an evenrnmore acute psychological need to treatrnRussia as the enemy, but it should neverrnallow itself to be seduced by their obsessions.rnTake Czech President VaclavrnHavel,...

VITAL SIGNSrnCHRISTIANITYrnChurch andrnDemocracyrnby Thomas MolnarrnThere is no docunientan- evidenee ofrnan’ period in the histor- of tlicrnChurch when dignitaries such as bishopsrnworild hac been “democratically” electedrnb’ the assemblage of “‘oters.” On tiiernoriier hand, popular election was neerrnexcluded in die form of acclamation Arnfamous ease of acclamation was that ofrnSt. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who, beforernhis eleation,...

day’s “conciliarists” —the various critics,rnwhetlier laymen or theologians —demand?rnThere is no question that, all told,rnthe Church resisted democratization underrnan’ political climate—whether underrnpagan tribal chiefs. Renaissance princes,rncritical intellectuals, modernist currentshutrnthat She managed to do so by adoptingrna nondemocratic structure. The roots otrnthe Church’s rejection of change may bernfound in Chrisf s legacy to St. Peter, but...

world vill follow Christianity at all.rnWell, setting aside Orthodox suspicionsrnthat papal supremacy is likeK’ to remainrnless negotiable than other differences,rnand that any prospective unionrnwould mean, as it always has in the past.rnOrthodox subordination to Rome, andrntherefore precisely a question of whatrnbrand of Christianity the union produces,rnthis seeming indifference to dogmahcrnquestions is indicative of how littlernthe...

Americans, on the otlier hand, professrn”American exceptionalism.” They assertrntliat the United States is unique amongrnthe countries of the world because shernalone has successfully funcHoned underrnthe same Constitution for more than 200rnyears. According to “American exceptionalism,”rnthe government of the UnitedrnStates has never been overthrown, andrnthe U.S. Constitution has never beenrnchanged — except through the amendmentrnprocess, as...

from his stormy role in French “musicalrnpolihcs and his battles with the corruptrnestablishment, and his reputation wasrntied to the famous Dore caricature—flyingrnwild hair and coattails. Those whornwanted to listen to what Berlioz created,rnrather than to what the critics said ofrnhim, had little more to go by than a fewrnrecorded excerpts from the Damnation ofrnFaust, and...

In The Darkrnhy George McCartneyrnThe School of SavageryrnThe 1968 film Planet of the Apes wasrnbased on b’rench novelist Pierre Boulle’srn196^ Swiftian satire. On sereen, thernadaptation beeame a wildly popular and,rnnot coincidcntallv, satirically tamer narratirne.rnThe moie resembles an expandedrnTwilight “Lone episode. That’s not surprising:rnRod Serling worked on thernsereenpla’. Charlton Heston plays an astronautrnwhose roeket takes a...

mongerers —by rigorously limiting thernfilm’s point of view. We see the world entirelyrnthrough the eyes of Enid and Rebecca.rnThe view is chastening, especiallyrnsince they are far more innocent thanrnthey would dare admit.rnThe friends wander about their Californiarnsuburb’s strip malls, trucking theirrnway along the sidewalks in clunky platformrnshoes and laughably abbreviatedrnskirts. Their getups unflatteringly accentuaterntheir wide...

The Hundredth Meridianrnbv Chilton Williamson, jr.rnGetting SomewherernJackson Hole is burning up. GerryrnSpence liad to evacuate his ranch aheadrnof the wildfires, and Dick Cheney couldrnbe next. I lere above timberline in thernSnow Range of the Medicine BowrnMountains, 400 miles to the southeast,rnthe breeze is cool, the grass is fresh andrngreen, and the ponds of standing waterrnare...

spaced trees over mainly level ground,rnmade for easy travel and echoed the horses’rnfootfalls like a drum. We rode onrnthrough the woods a mile or so beforerndaylight broke through the treelinernahead and we came to an open park borderingrnthe willowy bed of a creek and risingrntoward granite cliffs across the stream.rn”This is what I like best,”...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf vou think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, vou need to read this book....

^le^^o/in f7la/i€fo//:>A GlitA Gonie^ to^xx^/ofu/rn2001: the 225thrnanniversary ofrnthe AmericanrnRevolution and thern25th anniversaryrnof Chronicles andrnThe RockfordrnInstitute.rn.>*1»-^rn<^°;<^^^^rnThe Rockford InstituternandrnChronicles: A Magazine of American CulturernPresents:rnThe 12th Annual Meeting ofrnTHE JOHN RANDOLPH CLUBrn”Tyranny and Revolution”rnNovember 9-10, 2001rnSince the Revolution, limited government, personal liberty, and states’ rights have beenrnground away by the forces of the counterrevolution that concentrated political powerrnin...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton V/illiamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilih Jenkins, J.O. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL-AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternA...

nally does triumph, but by that time, thernmain characters have been shown to bernfar less than admirable and wholly susceptiblernto one or another form of moralrncorruption. This includes the tailor’srnwife, whom McCartney wrongly describesrnas “entirelv immune” to the appealrnof the womanizing agent. Hence,rnthe apparent message praised b}’ McCartneyrn—that good exists and that bad deedsrnhave bad...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnPRESIDENT BUSH wants to do forrnchurches and Cliristian charities whatrnthe Department of Education has donernfor pubUc schools; Attach them so firmlyrnto the teat of big government that itrnwould be impossible to unlatch themrnwithout financialh’ crippling them. Thernfunny thing is, this does not appear to berna concern for most Catholics, evangelicals,rnand mainline Protestants, as long...

as the law dictates. Thus, the tvvo first witiiessesrn— Lloyd Cutler, White Houserncounsel to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton,rnand Boyden Gray, White Houserncounsel to the first President Bush andrnpresumably an advisor to tlie second —rnseemed to surprise Senator Schumer atrnthe first of these hearings, held June 26,rnwhen they argued that it was wrong tornconsider ideology...

group Akin Gump. Strauss, who gainedrna reputation as a man-about-tovvn inrnWashington while a Democratic Partyrnfixer, helped American businesses profitrnfi’om the insider privatization deals of thernYeltsin era and, like Bunker, knew a goodrnlobbying opportunity when he saw one:rnAkin Gump suddenly discovered it wasrnvery concerned about “freedom of thernpress” in Russia and enlisted Toby Goti,rnfreshly retired chief...

free-market liberals —the sort who willrnimpose free-market solutions beforernthere is a market—and ex-communistsrnlooking for jobs in economic administration.rnThe theory satisfies the bureaucraticrnneed for an orthodoxy.rnThe Yugoslav economy was ruinedrnlong before 1991. It was in shamblesrnwhen Tito died. But the invocation ofrnEurope is simply implausible. Europernnever really wanted to deal with Yugoslaviarn—and it still doesn’t. It...

PERSPECTIVErnFriday Breakfastrnby Thomas FlemingrnShakespeare and the CannibalsrnRobinson Crusoe, as the lit boys would say, is an “iconic”rncharacter, whose mastery over nature —and over the savagernFriday—expresses the West’s sometimes contemptuousrnsense of superiority over other cultures, hi the 500-ear-longrniconoclashc age that is just now coming to an end, icons arcrnmade only to be broken, and in such...

purpose, however, is to debunk the entire coneept of higher andrnlower civiHzations, declaring that “there is nothing barbarousrnand savage in this people . . . except that each man calls barbarismrnwhatever is not his own custom.”rnThis ulterior motive explains the curious beginning of the essay,rnwhich invokes King Pyrrhus’s famous observation that thernRomans might be barbarians...

Crusoe’s place, they would have begun by indoctrinating Fridayrninto the theory of class struggle and ended by having him forrnbreakfast. Shakespeare, by contrast, understands human weakness,rnand he holds out hope even for the savage Caliban, oncernhe comes to his senses and realizes that, in following a butler insteadrnof a duke, he was “an ass ....

Breaking Glassrnby Philip JenkinsrnObligatory HolocaustsrnI feel sorry for Afrocentrists—those weirdrnand wonderful folk who claim that civilization,rnphilosophy, and science wererndiscovered in ancient Africa, before beingrnstolen by the white man. True, membersrnof the movement are cranks, withrnnothing worthwhile to support their positions,rnbut they are no more ridiculousrnthan many other historians who dominaternthe intellectual mainstream.rnTo illustrate this, let...

hymns. Cornish choirs quickly became a part of life in Westernrnmining towns. The Grass Valley Cornish Choir gained nationalrnrenown by the 1890’s and eventually performed for seeralrnAmerican presidents.rnThe Cornish introduced and made the pasty a staple of therndiet of miners working long hours underground. Consisting ofrna hearty helping of meat and vegetables in a crimped...

crease range and conserve lead. They enlarged and strengthenedrnthe trigger guard to withstand rough handling. They increasedrnthe size of the sights to ensure good aim over greater distancesrnon the frontier. They made the hickory ramrod andrngrease patch standard.rnThe result of all these innovations was the famed Kentuckyrnrifle. Known at first as the Long rifle, the...

its heroic chivalry, and . . . you get the picture. Literally everyrnone of the crudest stereotypes ahout medieval Chrishanity sHllrnflourishes, but it has been transferred en masse to Islam in thernsame period.rnBeyond question, medieval Islam did possess a glorious civilization.rnMuslim scholars did a superb job of preserving classicalrnwritings, and they made significant progress in...

the massacres of Jews and heretics diirirrg the crusading era, andrnespcciallx’ the great pogroms during the Black Death. Presumabl’,rnscientificall’ adanccd Muslims did not need to findrnscapegoats for the plague. Chrishan Europe is equally condemnedrnby its invoK ement in the Crusades, those acts of religious-rnbased militarism that foreshadowed the worst brutalitiesrnof later imperialism. Tlie contrast between...

Sic et Non?rnAgreeing Not to Disagreernby Harold O.J. BrownrnAnumber of years ago, when I was teaching a ninth-grade rehgionrnclass (in Switzerland, where religion is taught inrnpublic schools), one of the boys said to me, “All religions teachrnthe same thing.” Although only 15, he was, without knowing it,rna witness for multiculturalism —not in the descriptive sense,...

fcred a helpful insight. Virtually every human societ}’ has somernidea of transcendence, despite the obvious fact that there arernast differences among them. However, Del Noce argues inrnThe Epoch of Secularization, transcendence no longer appearsrnin the once-Christian West. It is not that it has been abolished;rnit is, rather, as though the culture as a whole has...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn EducationrnCOLLEGES WITHOUT WALLS: BREAKING THE HIGHER EDUCATIONrnMONOPOLY—September 2000—Mary Pride explains how homeschoolers willrnchange higher education, James Patrick discusses ihe reemergence of colleges in Christ,rnand Donald W. Livingston thinks that the future of education lies outside of the academy.rnPlus Jacob Neusner on Judaism and abortion and Sean Scallon on globalist...

by cinephiles. Where Danger Livesrn(1950) is prime noir. His Kind of Womanrn(1951), an extravagant pre-postmodernrnnoir experiment, remains highly appealingrntoday. (Ironing his money, Mitchum’srncharacter declares, “When I’mrnbroke, I press my pants.”) Angel Facern(1952) is high on the list of ?7o/rs—it wasrnone of Jean-Luc Godard’s favorite Americanrnfilms. The Night of the Hunterrn(1955) is remarkable for many reasons.rnThe...

gory of film noir, which may seem eitherrnan obvious or a weak suggestion—but it isrnnot a suggestion I have seen anywhere.rnThunder Road is not listed in any book onrnnoir I know, not even in Silver and Ward’srnencyclopedic account. But noir saysrnsomething about Mitchum’s imagination.rnAfter all, Mitchum was one of the stalwartsrnof film noir; add to...

b }olin Major (who wanted to equalizerneervone downward, to assuage his ownrnfeehngs of soeial ineptitude) is close atrnhand.rnDumbing down is also helped alongrnbv egalitarian politicians and cultinalrnprominenti seeking to open up culturalrnlife to the “socially excluded” (anotherrncontemporary cliche, normally used torndescribe potential clients or voters). Accordingrnto these people, the human ides,rnthe arts, and polities are...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnBreakin’ Up Is Hard To Dornjfter the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court ofrnAppeals officially declared that the Rockfordrnschool-desegregation lawsuit wouldrncome to an end on June 30, 2002 (seernletter From Rockford, June), many Rockfordiansrnsimply assumed that a return tornlocal control would soke all of our problems.rnBut even when court-orderedrnspending has ended, the...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWliitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Englandrnby Michael McMahonrnCredit Where Credit’s DuernTony Blair’s promised target before beingrnelected to his first term in office was “Education,rneducation, education”; somernmonths into his second term, it is clearrnthat his promise has been honored, andrnthat his target has been hit—clean betweenrnthe eyes. English education liesrnunconscious on the canvas. If there isrnany real learning going...

to “study” one of his plays; it is almost alwaysrnRomeo and ]uliet or A MidsummerrnNight’s Dream, chosen for their relaticrnaccessibility. But such study is hardly rigorous.rnThe giveaway is in the examrnscripts: Candidates write not of the eventsrnof the play, but of scenes from the film,rnhi the case of Romeo and Juliet, answersrnfrcc[uently refer to such...

see the pictures on TV) and is either ignorantrnof, or numb to, the hardships hisrn”compassion” may be imposing on hisrnown people. Allegedly the President of arnrepublic, he is making a grand gesturernakin to an emperor opening the templerngranaries for the luckless lower castes.rnHe apparently has no idea what the traditionalrn”conservative” view of the state’srnproper role...

cent inflation.rnMyths and hypocrisy aside, the case ofrnChile poses some tough moral problems.rnAlthough it’s true that the leftists broughtrnthe repression on themselves, the brutalityrnof the military government is difficultrnto justify.rnIn mid-March, near the end of my trip,rnI rented a car in Iquique and drove to thernfar northern seacoast hamlet of Pisagua.rnWedged onto a strip of...

in the Union, reject their business leaders’rnpromise of economic progress? Andrnwhy make such a controversial choice forrna symbol, a mere flag?rnNon-Southerners habitually underestimaternthe importance that Southernersrnattach to their heritage. No doubt thernp.c. crowd thought it would be a simplernmatter to use the media monopoly tornpropagate the notion that the current flagrnis a symbol of racism,...

casm of a croupier asked to accept a betrnafter the ball had dropped, said that herrnfloor was not dirty, it was just covered inrnpaint.rn”Painting in art schools is more or lessrnout now,” writes the English criticrnMatthew Collings in his intentionally irreverent,rnand often unintentionally revealing,rnencyclopedia of contemporaryrnart. “You could easily go through your artrnschool years today...

The systematic and deliberate destructionrnof the Yugoslav democratic revivalrnby the “international community” and itsrnBelgrade minions following the fall ofrnSlobodan Milosevic may not be the mostrnimportant news unfit to print of the year,rnbut it is certainly the biggest untold story.rnAs we approach the anniversary of thisrnevent, the hme has come to tell it as it is.rnhi...

patible programs and philosophies, tornsubmit to a real test of their electoralrnstrength. He was strongly urged to do sornby many friends and polihcal allies. Kostunicarndid not heed their advice, andrnsome of his supporters now claim thatrnthis was a fatal mistake. Other DOS partiesrnwaited for this decision with markedrnnervousness, as it was obvious that onlyrntwo of...