At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significancernThe Nonpatriotic President: A Surveyrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LernThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf vou think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book. With her inimitablernwit and devastating logic, Janet Scott...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Proletarian WeaponrnNo sooner had George W. Bush enteredrnthe White House and its previous occupantsrnpadded off to Harlem —with asrnmuch public swag as they could pack intornthe helicopters—than the news mediarnsuddenly began to discover “layoffs,”rn”downturns,” and a looming economicrncrisis that threatened to strip the fleshrnfrom the eight fat years that the...

one of their favorite television stars getsrnconvicted or one of the celebrities theyrnhave decided to hate is acquitted. That isrnexactly how the underclass in Americanrnsociety and, indeed, in most societies behaves;rnand as corrupt, degenerate, arrogant,rnand narrow-minded as our rulingrnclass is, most of its members don’t behavernthat way.rnThe point that Mr. Murray seems tornhave missed —and,...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnNot in Your Back Yardrn”Why is the traffic stopped?”rn”Is that a cop car?”rn”Yeah, there must’ve been an accident.”rn”No, he’s directing traffic. They’re allrnwaiting to get in the parking lot! Therngym’s going to be packed!”rn”He’s not letting anyone else in,” Mar)-rnsays, deftly turning the minivan aroundrnin the freezing rain. She pulls...

mother municipalih’.rnWhile it has heen gratifying to see 900rnpeople standing in opposition to a biggo’rnernnient boondoggle, the crowd isrnnot the reason we won tonight. ThernPernville extension is dead bceause TomrnHawes and the Roseoe Township Boardrnof Trnstees saw it coming seven vearsrnago, and thev ealmh’, quiedv, and deliberatcKrnlaid the gronndwork (quite literal-rn1) to sto)) it. Think...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Parmarnby Andrei NavrozovrnLeningrading VerdirnForeigners often think of life in Italy asrnoperatic, which shows that reinvestmentrnin the obvious is not always a losingrnproposihon. If only more foreigners hadrnfollowed Nietzsche in asking “If it is truernthat evil men have no songs, how is it thatrnthe Russians have songs?” then perhapsrnthe world would not have become...

talian {andate is idite), while shared etynologiesrnensure that occhi (eyes) doesrnrot look all that different from ochi in a lil^rnretto. Thus I challenge any Henry Higginsesrnout there to guess that a Russianrnsinger stinks to high heaven on the basisrnof his elocution alone. Because, as herernat midnight, when Amelia goes to gatherrnher magic herbs in the...

If tlie value of a currency depends onrntlie confidence of its users, then the depressingrnpHght of the euro shows thatrnmost Europeans have no confidence inrnit The woes of the euro hear witness tornthe faikirc of the “Monnct method” ofrnEuropean unificahon. Against tlie federalistrnvision of Altiero Spinelli (1907-rn1986), based on a constituhonal assemblyrncharged with creating a...

otels. (Mcdgar F-vers might have conidercdrnPerkins’ notions of “redneck big-rn)tr” somewhat dilettantish.) finally, hern)btained a researcher’s post at the FcderilrnOffice of Aboriginal Mfairs, his mainrnpower base for Hie rest of his career, hirntiiis role, he piibliclv castigated meml^ersrnof the Oough Whitlam Cabinet^mostrnuotabK’, his own department’s minister atrnthe time, Sen. )amcs C>aanagh. WhenrnPerkins’ superiors lost pahencc...

ty, or, as Albert and Shaw argued, primarilyrna rhetorical threat serving to maintainrna statist elite. The skeptics have a strongrncase: Two decades of polls, for example,rnconsistently show that over one third ofrnFrancophones believe that a “sovereign”rnQuebec would still be “part of Canada”rnwith almost as many beheving it wouldrnstill send MPs to Ottawa. Sovereigntv’ isrnnot like...

>isns of the “CiMSrn”All the News Unfit to Print”rnThe Rockets’ Red GlarernWhile the Bush administrahon is still inrnits early days, commentators of reputernabroad and at home —never wavering orrnunsound in the old Cold War days —arerncomplaining (sometimes bitterly) thatrnthe new administration’s foreign policyrndefies reason and experience.rnWriting in the Toronto Star (Februaryrn18), Richard Gwyn imagined whatrnwould...

VITAL SIGNSrnRELIGIONrnCatholic Romernby Roberto de MattelrnSt. ‘I’homas Aquinas maintains tliatrnour intellect cannot grasp anthingrnexcept through our senses. Recognizingrnthis truth is esscndal to understanding therneit}’ of Rome and —beyond Ronrc —thernCatholic Church, because Rome meansrnnothing without the Chmch, and thernChurch loses her identit}’ if is deprived ofrnher Roman character.rnThe Church has five characteristics:rnShe is One, Holv,...

i liinibs, came to the capital of tlie Romrnempire to proclaim the Gospel.rniring Nero’s reign, he underwent thernincnt of the cross, like his Divine Masr.rnPeter was niarhred in Nero’s circusrn• the VaHcan and buried nearby.rnAs a man, Peter lived and died like thern.’st of tlie saints and apostles; as Pope,rn• t. Peter remains at the...

The task force claims to have particiatedrnin the conviction of 305 defendantsrnonnected to 224 arsons or bombings. Asrnhe task force points out in a news release,rnhis arrest rate of 36.2 percent is morernthan twice the national average for arsonrncases. About one-third of the 948 arsonsrntracked b- the task force since 1995 in-rn olved black churches....

ing the U.S. Supreme Court to fix thernelection for Boy George. They are justrnrelying ou media sources, the sanre as thernrest of us. If thev are willing to base themselvesrnentirely ou one-sided parti pris documentsrnto reconstruct the affairs oi annorn2000, what earthly hope do we have thatrnthe’ will be more pcrceptie when stud-rning the issues...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnDinner Is ServedrnThe original newspaper advertisenrentsrntor Hannibal (director Ridley Scott’srnadaptation of Thomas Harris’s nocl) dis-rn])laed a ghonlish-looking close up of therneponvmous protagonist, a more-thanusualhrnmad pschiatrist who has an unfortunaternpenchant for dining on hisrnpaHcnts. hi the person of Anthony Hopkins,rnHannibal the Cannibal glared at usrnnialeolentl, a crazed smile creasing hisrnaging face.rnA week...

the species of its louts. Louts may berntroubling, but filleting them wholesalernseems a trifle draconian. Besides, howrnappetizing would they be?rnThis kind of thing might work as comedyrnnoir; but the script, crafted by thernusually reliable David Mamet, is singularlyrnwifless, and the novel is even worse.rnHarris takes Lecter so seriously that hernhas him setting up house with...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnNow Hear This!!!rnoil could say it isn’t easy being a liberalrn1 the most conservative state in thern’nion if it weren’t for the fact that in therniiost conserative state in the Union, therniberals occupy all the best bully pulpits.rnThis means that, in Wvoming as in thernest of the SO states, DemocraHc...

newed legislative assault, following therninstallation of George II, is intended notrnas a challenge to the new administrationrnbut a facilitator of its agenda regardingrnthe disposition of the public lands in thernWest, and elsewhere. It makes sense,rndoesn’t it? The columnists suspect thatrn”priatization” is a code word for a sell-offrnwhich would be disastrous for the veryrn”agricultural interests” who...

You 5hal( not (Ji-esirnJown o>>on +h€rnfrrow 0^ (atorrncrown 0^rnt^oi-nr, VO”rnihad notrncrucifyrnMankrndrnof>on a ‘foiJrnof jo((J.rnFeaturedrnWritersrnand Poets:rnLouis BromfieldrnHamlin GarlandrnBooth TarkingtonrnGlenva’ VVescottrnLaura Ingalls WilderrnSherwood AndersonrnErnest Hemrn,.55rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnFOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrn”The American Midwest’rnJuly 24-28, 2001rnDr. Thomas FlemingrnPresident of The Rockford histitutc and editor o’i ChroniclesrnWilliam MillsrnAuthor of The Arkansas: An American River and the forthcoming Black Sea SketchesrnJustin...

‘^ ^Sr^-.’-i.^-Wrl^’L-f’,rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnThird International ConviviumrnTHE UNSINKABLE ISLANDrnNorsemen, Anglo-Normans, and Celts came to conqner and ended up going native.rnThe capacit}’ of the Irish to endure conquest and convert their “masters” makes a greatrnstory—told incomparably by their poets, novelists, dramahsts, and pub raconteurs withoutrnwhom (if you believe them) English literature would have been a paltry affair.rnJoinrnChronicles...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, j.O. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, ]acoh NeusnerrnFILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL-AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O./. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe...

Paul Gottfried’s short article rebuttingrnLocke’s concept of the “social contract”rnis unfortunately not as complete as herncould have made it, despite his introductionrnof David Hume into the argument.rnTo be specific, he failed to mentionrn”spontaneous order.”rnJust when the idea of “spontaneous order”rnarose is uncertain, but we do knowrnthat it was a central feature of the thoughtrnof the...

can raise crops that the government hasrnto buy to keep consumer prices high.rnTaxes collected in other states pay for therncostly light rail that is supposed to makerncommuting easier for residents of Easternrncities. If your town needs a new highway,rna waste-water treatment plant, orrnmore teachers, ask the feds. After all, ifrnthe funds were raised locally, some...

join us. Wrong. The lefties were againstrncompelling America’s youth to go forthrnto fight capitalism’s foreign wars; at arndeeper level, however, they also believedrnthat society had the power to confiscate arncouple of years of the same youths’ livesrnby imposing mandatory national servicernto assist the oppressed, poor, downtrodden,rnand other victims of the capitalist socialrnorder. Fortunately —not muchrnthanks...

cy, when anyone who can drive a car isrnprononnced fit to exercise the franchise.rnThere’s a wonderfully enlighteningrnchapter in William Alexander Percy’srnLanterns on the Levee —A too-much-neglectedrnwork of literature —concerningrnthe downfall of Mississippi’s gentlemanlyrnU.S. Sen. LeRoy Percy (the author’s father)rnat the hands of the distinctly nongendemanlyrnJames Vardaman. The votersrn—and this was 1912 —didn’t want arngentleman; they...

of Yugoslavia ended abruptly and acrimoniouslyrnon January 23. After an hourrnwidi Kostunica, an angry-looking MissrnDel Ponte, the chief prosecutor of ThernHague war-crimes tribunal, rushed pastrnassembled journalists and refused to giverna scheduled statement. Her “list of demands”rn—topped by the extradition ofrnthe former president, Slobodan Milosevicrn—did not sit well with Kostunica. Hernraised objections to secret indictmentsrnand the...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Conservative War on Propertyrnby Thomas FlemingrnPerhaps it is a delusion, like snow blindness, caused by therntons of dirty snow shoved into my driveway by the cityrnplows and the sun’s annual disappearing act that drives evenrnnon-Scandinavians into melancholy and occasional fits ofrnberserking frenzy, but I am beginning to be persuaded by ourrnChicago friend Tom Roeser...

Grotius, and ultimately Epicurus) and declare that privaternpropert)’ is a “natural right” —in other words, a theoretical claimrnderived from a hypothetical state of nature.rnYou see, the “conser’ative” holy men will tell you, once uponrna time long, long ago when dinosaurs walked the earth, menrnand women lived on a free-and-easy basis of equality. Unfortunatel}’,rnsome wicked people...

Turner’s Watercolour:rn’Holy Island—Northumberland”rnby Peter HuntrnA steep, sharp, rocky shore, a low cHfF-sidernPale-gold with sunlight cutting down from skiesrnIn tumult on the fringes of a storm aroundrnThe Holy Island. Castle towers loomrnBroken, massive, rough, their colour paledrnBy North-Sea winds and ghostly, silver light,rnWliile shadowing the further shore, and overrnBlue-black sea, the upper realms of Eastern skyrnAre...

The City of Rockford is using eminent domain to help a private developer acquirernthe land on which the Torres Market sits.rnchain willing to move into the area. Rather than approachingrnthe Torreses and offering to bny their store, the developer goesrnto the cit)’ government, which begins eminent-domain proceedingsrnon the Torres property- and a half-dozen others. Oncernthe...

But the seeds of this expanded use of eminent domain werernthere from the beginning. The construchon of roads and canalsrn(and, later, railroads and the Interstate Highva Sstem) wasrnnot an unadulterated public good, and not simply for the reasonsrnthat Bill Kauffman oudines in his book. With Good Intentions?rnReflections on the Myth of Progress in America. In...

Tom and Jan Ditzler survey Winnebago County’s destruction of their land.rnnionetan,- value on something that should be as invaluable as arnfamily member, or one of our limbs.rnWhen he wrote one of his finest poems, “Do Not BernAshamed,” Wendell Berrv was thinking not simply ofrnproperh’ rights but of the growth of a broader political and economicrntotalitarianism....

So this is the real use of our “civil rights” laws, supposedlyrncharged with protecting the rights of the “oppressed”: as a bludgeonrnagainst a lowly waitress, who dared protest her humiliahonrnat the hands of rude customers.rnT he followers of Martin LutherrnKing, Jr., succeeded wherernLenin’s heirs failed.rnDenny’s management denied the claims of the complainants.rnSteve McManus, senior vice...

ing gay-rights mo’ement would latch onto the rhetoric first popularizedrnby Martiu Luther King, Jr., and the black civil-rightsrnmovement. For opposing this extension of the civil-rights principle,rnconservatives are smeared as bigots, just as Goldwater wasrnfor voting “nay” on the first federal Civil Rights Act. Goldwaterrnstood on principle, but todav’s conservafives do not have a leg tornstand...

who attended 30 or more years ago) learned about the separationrnof powers and checks and balances —although few seem familiarrnwith the idea of dual sovereignty-rnFewer shll understand a third set of constitutionally dictatedrnsafeguards that have largely been discarded. One of these wasrnimplicit: Members of the House of Representatives were to bernselected by the exercise of...

been called, is untenable,” McDonaldrnwrites, and he treats sympathetically thernvarious conflicts in American history thatrninvolved the rights of the states that followrnfrom the compact theory. This positionrnplaces him—with respect to states’rnrights, if not to other issues—on the sidernof the Confederacy as opposed to Lincoln,rnCalhoun and Hayne as opposed tornWebster and Jackson, and Jefferson andrnMadison as...

REVIEWSrn”Psst-CanWeTalk?’rnby Richard D. LammrnThe Race to the Bottom:rnWhy a Worldwide Worker Surplus andrnUncontrolled Free Trade Are SinkingrnAmerican Living Standardsrnby Alan TonekonrnBoulder, CO: Westview Press;rn222 pp., $25.00rnThere is a story, perhaps apocryphal,rnabout a Chinese scholar who wasrnasked by a student, “What is the longtermrnimpact of the French Revolution?”rnHis answer: “It’s too early to tell, it’s simplyrntoo...

the president of Ignatius Press, FatherrnJoseph Fessio, S.J., agreed to pubHsh thernentire work in one vokime. As someonernwho has been involved in this project forrnten vears, I do not make the sHghtest pretensernto impartiaht)’. I have bhirbed thernbook, written a sales letter for it, andrnwould not dream of calling this essay arn”review,” though Chilton Williamsonrnhas...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnA Month in the Life of thernIndustrial MidwestrnNews Item: “Motorola Inc. will close itsrnonly U.S. cellular-phone manufacturingrnoperation, putting 2,S00 of 5,000 peoplernout of w ork to ease sagging profits amidrnincreased global competition. Employeesrnwho will remain at the 1.3 millionsquare-rnfoot plant that opened in 1996rnwill focus on research, marketing andrnother activities...

News Item: “The domino effect of manufacturingrncutbacks at DaimlerChryslerrnand Motorola has reached another employerrnin the Rock River Valley—Textron,rnwhich is laying off 75 people fromrnits fastener operations. . . . Textron hasrnhad its own problems of late, having registeredrna loss of $218 million in the fourthrnquarter of 2000. Last fall, the companyrnsaid it would close up...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Romernby Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnRome as We Found ItrnIn horse-and-carriage days, foreign visitorsrnto Rome, after an arduous Alpinerncrossing, commonly entered the cityrnfrom the north, by the Milvian Bridgernwhich has existed since the second centuryrnB.C. Here, on October 28, 312, Constantinernhad a vision of Christ on the evernof his victory over his rival, Maxentius.rnSince that...

back to the hotel. The Romans stay outrnlate at night, sauntering past the openrnshops, the restaurants, the hostarias, birrerias,rnand trattorias, all of them filledrnwith eminently purchasable, edible, orrnpotable things. (“So much to eat, so littlerntime to do it in,” as Clyde Wilson later remarked.)rnFrom being raised in Manhattan,rnI’ve acquired the survival instincts ofrnan Apache warrior,...