Author: The Archive (The Archive)

PERSPECTIVErnX2K: aut Christus aut nihilrnby Thomas FlemingrnPut Christ back in Xmas” was the slogan of a popularrncampaign to cloak America’s prime commercial holicla’rnwith Christian decenc). Its promoters meant well, ofrncourse, even though the offending “X” was nothing other thanrnthe Greek letter chi, the first letter of Cliristos, and a commonrnsymbol both for Christ and the...

thc’ ever learn to read and think.rnIam telling Christians something that man of them know alread’rnsomewhere in their hearts, that American culture hasrnreplaced Christ and St. Nicholas with the cargo cult of SantarnClaus who drops relief packages down chimneys and has reducedrnweddings to the level of Las Vegas productions —partrnhigh-school prom and part Dating Game...

niemi in Chi Chi’s, they despise Mexicans, whom they lumprntogether with Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and BraziHans into therngeneral categon,’ of “wetbacks.”rnTliese bourgeois obsessions, bv themselves, do not especialKrntrouble me. I was brought up to believe that it is ungentlemanly,rnif not unmanly, to pry into other people’s moHves. But I preferrnto sec racialism for what it...

by the amazing Carl Gustav Jung, vho operated unabashedlyrnon the classic model of a cult leader, complete with solar ritualsrnand the language of secret broUierhoods: Anyone wishing to understandrnthe thoroughlx’ mstieal and charismatic roots of psychoanalysisrnshould begin with two eye-opening books brnRichard Noll, The ]ung Cult (Princeton IJniversity Press, 1994)rnand ‘The Aryan Christ (Random House,...

The c()ntroeri- hroke along predictable lines —religious eonserrnaties versus liberal defenders of artistie freedom —untilrnsomeone raised the telling question of vvliat would happen ifrnthe media offered a demeaning picture of someone who wasrnuni-ersallv agreed to be a holy person, beyond taint or crihcism.rn)csus, clearly, did not fiill into this category, nor did the arch-patriarchalrnnemesis John...

The Coining of the Third AgernNext Month: Utopiarnby Harold O.J. BrownrnIn the early winter of 1999, much of the world is looking forwardrnwith eager anticipation or uneasy apprehension to therndawning of the Third Millennium. It is the third millenniumrnA.D., of course, the beginning of the third thousand of the Yearsrnof the Lord, and thus directly...

Part at the Harvard Universit}’ Commencement. M}’ eightminuternaddress was entitled “The Coming of the Third Age.” Irnused the vision of a 12th-centur)’ ItaHan friar, Joachim of Floris,rnto suggest that our world might once again be on the verge of arnmomentous transformation beyond our power to anticipate orrnplan.rnJoachim believed that there was a first age, the...

aetcma ;iiid the Holv Roman Empire.rnCommunist Russia’s dream of becoming the center of a newrnworld civiHzation appears to have foundered with the breakuprnof the Soviet empire in 1991, 927 years short of a millennium,rnblitler’s ‘ision turned to nightmare and ended in blood and ashesrnafter onl- 12 years. Thus this last centun’ of our millenniumrnhas seen...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn Christianity and Its EnemiesrnHEALING THE SCHISM—December 1998—Father Hugh Barbour lays the groundrnfor an anti-ecuinenical ecumenism, Harold O.J. Brown presents the Protestant view ofrnchurch unity, and Wayne Allensworth explains what’s wrong with Western evangelism inrnRussia. Plus Thomas Fleming on ecumenism, universalisin. and empire and SamuelrnFrancis on palco-Mallhusianisin.rnBack Is.sue #: T98&...

CHRONICLES INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTrnBanking on Borisrnby Sergey BerdyaevrnOn Wednesday, September 1, a homemade bomb explodedrnon the third level of the Manezh Square undergroundrnshopping mall —dubbed “lAizhkov’s pyramid” by eritics of thernMoscow mayor’s taste in architecture — in the heart of Russia’srnancient capital, only yards away from the red brick walls of thernKremlin. Fort)-one people were injured,...

l()gilc ich, known as “Sca,” now lics in Ilungan and is arnboss ni (he Solntsc() mafia organization, as an .lnscoitcrnfonkl luic tokl the B?Oi’. Sea is a sitting uicnilier of an informalrncommission ot VSV mob lx_)sscs that was estabhshcd hv thernfather of I’Sf I organized crime, V’yachcshn- hankcn, known asrn”^aponchik” (“the )ap”) for his skinted...

Kremlin’s worst niglilniarc: [slaniic rcxoluHoii inside llussia.rnTlie Dagestan militants hae long threatened Moseow with arnwave of terrorism if the infidel persisted in resisting the eiieroaehmentsrnot “]5ure Islam ” on Rnssian territor. ThernMoscow explosion ma hae mercK’ been the first warningrnfrom BAB and iiis Islamic friends.rnThere is another area where ByB can damage the Kremlin.rnHis media...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” isnsi of tl)e QCtmesirnVol. 1 No. 12 December 1999rnDuring the Indonesian crisis in September,rntlie American media faithfully toedrnthe U.S. government line. “East Timor isrnnot Kosovo!” declared Albright, Berger,rnand Cohen; “Amen!” responded thernFourth Estate. But commentary on America’srnhypocritical diplomacy was abundantrnabroad. In the Toronto Sun (Septemberrn14), Lorrie Goldstein wrote:rnIf East Timor...

we know it will be obsolete;rnall states will recognize arnsingle, global authority. . . .rnA phrase briefly fashionablernin the mid-20th century-“citizenrnof the world”-will have assumedrnreal meaning by the endrnof the 21st . . . All countriesrnare basically social arrangements,rnaccommodations tornchanging circumstances. Nornmatter how permanent and evenrnsacred they may seem at any onerntime, in fact they...

in mind when he discnssed the membersrnof small, niral, organic communities deliberatingrnand conducting their own go-rnernnrent. Mr. Morris may be a whiz atrngetting nincompoops and scoundrelsrnelected to high office and making snrernthey remain popular, but that does notrnmake him a Jefferson or a Madison, letrnalone a Machiavelli.rnDespite its flaws, Mr. Ledeen’s bookrnis far more interesting,...

1941 WLis inspired by the samernMiicliiax’cllian logic.rnOne would iiave thought that the resultsrnof the latter example might weaken thernforce of the “Machiavellian logic.” Thernattack on Pearl Harbor involved Japan inrna disastrous war widi the United Statesrnthat it could not win. Mr. Ledeen has abstractedrna particular insight of Machiavellirnand blown it up into an “iron rule”...

Wolfs Fang, Fox’s Tailrnby Wayne Allensworthrn”War is war. Guns are not just for decoration.”rn—V.I. LeninrnRed Victory:rnA History of the Russian Civil Warrnhy W. Bruce LincolnrnNew York: Da Capo Press;rn602 pp., $18.95rnBy March 1920, Russia’s \/liites-anrnodd and disparate conglomerationrnof monarchists, anti-Bolshevik socialists,rnjaded liberals, reactionary clerics, frightenedrnnobles, disinherited landowners,rnand loyalist army officers and soldiershadrnturned what looked like...

kisioned with Bolshevik dictatorship. Herndid all these things and even brieflyrnmounted a renewed assault on SovietrnRussia, trying to convince his Westernrncontacts that he was worthy of supportrnand hoping to convert the sea of Russianrnpeasants to White republicanism with anrnattractive array of slogans. He did allrnthese things, and failed. Within a year ofrndie eacuation to the...

from his estranged wife’s death in a carrnwreck vcars before.rnComplicating all this are the Mc-rnCaskill sisters, Mariah and I.exa. Mariah,rnthe elder, is a snccessfnl globe-trottingrnphotojournalist. She is middle-aged, divorced,rnbut still retains a wild, red-hairedrnbcanty that can “cloud men’s minds.”rnMariah talks the reluctant Mitch intornpermitting her to photograph the willingrnLvle’s last days for a newspaper photo...

books, followed by a gradual rise in thernpercentage of the population which hasrnacquired permits. The larger the percentagernof the population with permits,rnthe greater the drop in crime. (That percentagerntypically ranges from one to fivernpercent.) Intereshngly, Lott also found arnsmall but stahshcally significant increasernin nonconfrontational property crimesrnsuch as larceny. Apparently, while concealedrnhandgun laws do not reduce...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Yorkrnhy R.C. Sproul, Jr.rnThe League Against the SouthrnYork, Alabama, is a sad little Southernrntown. Though it is small, it lacks the hpicalrnchami of the South. Not much happensrnthere, but what does happen happensrnin the typically Southern way. Thernwheels of justice grind not with somethingrnas tacky as money, but with thernmore genteel means of...

Wliy do the nations conspire andrnthe peoples plot in vain? The kingsrnof the earth take their stand and thernrulers gather together against thernLord and against His AnointedrnOne. “Let us break their chains,”rnthey say, “and throw off their fetters.”rnThe One enthroned in heavenrnlaughs; the Lord scoffs at them.rnThen He rebukes them in theirrnanger and terrifies them...

vcr’ much about politics.rnThe failure of the Canadian media tornpublicize the absent maple leaf was nornsurprise. From false assurances that thernseparatists lack political support tornspecious arguments that Quebec has nornlegal grounds to separate from Canadarneven if a referendum were approved, thernmedia and political elite of Canada arernmodels of denial.rnThe legalit)’ of secession was supposedrnto have...

a jeep. After two weeks, tired and ratherrndepressed, I could have used a bit of securityrnand peace. Maybe the packagerntourists are right.rnArriving in Kingston, I was struck byrnthe contrast between the image conjuredrnup by the famous figures who had Hvedrnon the island and the unnerving squalorrnand dense traffic of a Third World cit}’.rnIn the 1940’s...

the iine en steps. Port Antonio also liasrnthe Blue Lagoon, setting for the film ofrnthat name, in which Brooke Shields andrnher adolescent companion, on a desertrnisle far from the restraints of socieh, discorner tlie innocent ios of sex.rnThe lobb’ of the Trident Castle nearrnPort Antonio exhibited a with’ and fantasticrnpainhng in the nai’c shle enhtled...

at our luxury-priced but quite funky liotelrnin Treasure Beach with a cockroachrnhunt, competing intensely for the largestrnbag. I’hough the place had advertised arnbeach, the sand had disappeared in thernlast hurricane and left jagged rocks thatrnmade it difficult to enter the water, hispiredrnby the well-intentioned but naivernconcept of Conununity I’onrisni, thernmanagement encomaged the local inhabitantsrnto wander...

like a loose dumbbell, and then I sinipl}’rneouldn’t keep it in an’ longer and out itrntumbled: “The invisible hand, x)virnmean.” Those v’ho sympathize with mrnpredicament will appreciate my reasoning.rnThe patrons are mosth’ businessmen,rnright? And business makes yourndiink ot Adam Smith, and Adam Smithrnmakes ou think of the invisible hand,rnand the idea of biting a hand...

VITAL SIGNSrnRELIGIONrnInterpretingrnCompassionrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnBecause the New York limes is a continualrnsource of annoyance andrnamazement to me, I was predictablyrnstunned and incensed to read last Mayrnthat this most self-important of publicationsrnwas presenting as news the followingrninformation: “[T|here is no evidencernof an anti-poor mentalit)-, at least as measuredrnby reported [financial | giving,rnamong political and theological conservatives.”rnTo...

ment stress on science and factnalih hasrndistorted Christianitv’. Borg critiques thernEnlightenment as a postmodernist mystic,rnwhile Wright does so as a Christianrnclassicist.rnTheir arguments have been publishedrnin USA Today and aired on NationalrnPublic Radio, and their debate over Jesusrnis hyped as Something New. Actually, itrnis about 2,000 years old. Wright, althoughrntrying to speak the language ofrnthe academy...

proposed regulator)’ measures that he feltrnunderuiined the First Amendment andrnpaved tlie way to censorship. I anticipatedrnhis position; however, 1 didn’t anticipaternKoch’s reply. The former mayor pointedrnout that the slipper)’-slope argument thatrnthe TV honcho was making was exactlyrnthe same as that made by those who sawrnall attempts at gun control as underminingrnthe Second Amendment and pavingrnthe...

Will, who should know better, andrnMichael Gartner, who call for the repealrnof the Second Amendment, the Bill ofrnRights guarantees rights that thernFounders assumed to be natural; consequently,rna government that didn’t grantrnthem can’t repeal them.rnIncidentally, a government that monopolizesrnweaponry can, among manyrnother things, tell pundits to take their preciousrnFirst Amendment and the rights itrnguarantees and stuff...

“You mean influenza, don’t you?”rn”No, aflluenza, flic disease of afiluentrnAmerica. Always more. Glut. The shortsightedrnview that things will get betterrnand better, bigger and bigger. Buy now,rnpa later. Forget what we’ve alvaysrnknown: Things that go up alwas comerndown. Those who forget history are condemnedrnto repeat it, with all the bumpsrnand bruises.”rn”Do I have to wait for...

of personal respoiisibilih’ for unacceptablernacts is encouraged, while guilt,rnshame, or embarrassment arc consideredrndetrimental to a child’s psychologicalrnand social development. Additionalh,rnteachers are discouraged from ever sa-rning “no” or usingan negahxe commentsrnwhen communicating with children.rnDuring class discussions, any answer isrncorrect.rnChildren, especiall)- adolescents, arerneager to learn. It is their natural tendenc.rnChildren need and, indeed, craxernstructure and rules. Proof...

Intimations ofrnMortalityrnby George McCartneyrnStir of EchoesrnProduced by Gavin Folone, JudyrnHofflund, and Michelle WeiskrrnDirected by David KoepprnScreenplay by David Koepp, baaed onrnthe novel by Richard MathesonrnReleased by An Artisan EntertainmentrnThe Sixth SensernProduced by Spyglass Kntertainmentrnand Hollywood PicturesrnDirected by M. Night ShyamalanrnScreenplay by M. Night ShyamalanrnReleased bv Buena Vista PicturesrnThe ghost skin’ has an honorable tradition.rnWriters as...

tive’s literal mystery while resonatingrnpowerfully with the film’s larger, if somewhatrnundernourished, ambitions.rnDirected and written by M. NightrnShyamalan, The Sixth Sense has beenrnmarketed as a horror story. But likernEchoes:, it uses its hocus-pocus to mesmerizernus in order to suggest more thanrnwe would expect from a thriller. Oncernunder its spell, we discover a story as oldrnas the...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnBliss MeadowsrnMost of the 50 states having been designedrnas pohtical nnits rather than therngeographical ones John Wesley Powellrnainh’ nrged Congress to consider in therncase of the Western territories, there’s nornparticular reason why sontheasternrnWyoming should be much more thanrnthe place where Nebraska, Colorado,rnand the Cowboy State fit together. Andrnin fact, it...

tly ascending meadow, plunges steeplyrndownhill by switchbacks through thickrnforests cut by deep ravines. Pulling thernpacks from the gelding I noticed him staringrnacross the park to the treeline, wherernan elegant bowed form, something like arnHomeric harp in appearance, appearedrnto rest in the grass beside a young tree.rnThe form turned itself slowly, becomingrna massive set of paddles:...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnNewly PublishedrnVolume 1 of The Collected Works of James M. BuchananrnTHE LOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTYrnBy James M. BuchananrnIntroduction by Geoffrey Brennan, Hartmut Kliemt, and Robert D. ToUisonrnThe thirty-one papers presented in this volume offer scholars and generalrnreaders alike a comprehensive introduction to the work of one of...

Italy and the United States Share a Common Story:rn1860’srnForged in civil wars:rnThe War Between the States andrnthe Risorgimentorn1930’srnOvercentraHzed by strongmen:rnFDR and MussohnirnTodayrnEach country faces seriousrnchallenges from regional andrncultural separatists.rnParticipants will stay at the delightfulrnHotel Asnigo, located on a hilltop in thernresort town of Cernobbio (playground ofrnFiat execs; ten minutes from downtownrnComoj, where they will enjoy...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnMANAGING EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Livingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLIGA riON DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy lAnkrnA publication...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnT H E F B I / B A T F RAID on the DavidrnKoresh home (not compound) has beenrnthe subject of controversy since the firstrnda’ the BATF zealots tried to storm thernhouse. All along, the FBI and the JusticernDepartment have fabricated stories andrninformation with an effrontery thatrnwould astonish even the Clintons: Koreshrnwas stockpiling...

job that Kimba Wood and Zoe Baird hadrnfailed to land, dne to extracnrricular embarrassments?rnWhatever virtue Renornhad in 1993, she lost fest. After all, thafsrndie big boss’s specialty’—moral deflowering-rn— William MurchisonrnTHE TEACHING OF EVOLUTIONrnis back in the news, in a case that the mediarn—with their usual sensationalism —rnarc comparing to the Scopes trial of 75rnyears ago....

ationism that thcv fear, but democracy.rn— Stephen B. PresserrnFLINT, MICHIGAN, is the birthplacernof botli General Motors and the UnitedrnAuto Workers union (UAW), whichrnmakes the recent demise of Buick Cit’,rnits last automobile assembly plant, morerndian a little ironic. In June, GM closedrnBuick Cih’, idling 2,200 hourly workersrnat a plant that once employed 28,000rnbuilding Buick I.cSabres and...

comeback, the struggling oligarch mayrnneed a new base of operations, perhaps inrnthe Caucasus. At any rate, the word is outrnin Moscow that it was BAB as much asrnBin Ladin who inspired the Dagestanrnfighting: If the fighting got out of control,rnYeltsin could declare a state of emergencyrnand call off the next elections. At thernvery least, BAB...

iitors is apparently crowded witl: Albanianrnnames — has called upon his terrorist/rnlieroin-trafficking buddies to go easy.rn”The news is filled,” Dole confessed inrnUSA Today, “with ominous reports ofrnpower grabs, town-hall occupations,rnnuirderous reprisals, black marketeering,rnextorhon, violent intimidation of Albaniansrnand Serbs alike, and property confiscafionsrnby self-appointed Albanian ‘commissars’rnreputedlv acting with thernknowledge or approxal of Hakim Thacirnand others among...

PERSPECTIVErnReturn of the Alienrnby Thomas Flemingrn”The whole world, without a native homernIs nothing but a prison of larger room.”rn—Abraham CowleyrnThe fonner offices of the Tmmies Socieh’.rnHis father used to sav that the country was good; it was onl}’rnthe people that made it intolerable. Now his father’s sonrnwas headed up to that north countr)-, where he...

nearer to the lake, into coarse brown sand, good only for growingrnmeadow flowers and trees blasted by the force of the northrnwinds that blew from Canada.rnAt the end of July, the winds came only from the south, andrnthe people of the North Woods were dying in the 95-degreernheat. In Iron River, they stopped at the...