Author: The Archive (The Archive)

night spots all but drowned out the thunder of the organ of Trinit}-rnChurch and the voices of the traditional past.”rnThe city prospered, became meretricious. Rouged andrnslinky, she had a fat purse for several years: Sampson madernGeneva a Goliath. But Uncle Sam tired of this particularrnwhore, and in 1956 he moved on. Geneva never quite recovered,rnthough...

Every Neighbor a LitigantrnThe Individual Versus the Communityrnby Stephen B. PresserrnGoethe taught us that true happiness comes from being engagedrnwith others in productive projects, and we havernknown since Plato and Aristotle that man is a social animal, butrnwe would be hard put to reach these conclusions if our onlyrnguide were the current state of American...

by the federal government, rendered property insecure andrntransferred the wealth of one class of society involuntarily to another,rnwhile creating a vast national bureaucracy which seeks tornsustain itself by maintaining the mechanism of wealth transferrnand a high level of taxation. The 17th Amendment, by mandatingrnthe direct election of senators, removed an essentialrncheck on democracy and led...

which can require considerable expense and can seem anythingrnbut “reasonable” to an employer sued by a disgruntled orrnrejected employee.rnWhen the ADA was passed, it was conceded that it mightrngive causes of action to more than 40 million Americans; as thisrngoes to press, the Supreme Court is trying to decide whether thernwearing oi eyeglasses might constitute...

government had to be endowed with indivisible, infallible, andrnirresistible sovereignty. Only if government had this powerrnwould it be able to crush those independent social authoritiesrnthat pose a threat to the individual’s autonomy. The individualrnwould have to obey, without question, the law of the sovereignrn(whether a monarch or democracy), but both the individualrnand the sovereign knew...

joyment of autonomy—and only at the expense of tradition,rnprovinciality, localism, and prejudice. He failed to notice thatrnthis process of destruction and consolidation concentrated unprecedentedrnpower in the state —power that could be put to usesrnquite other than that of being an umpire in the game of conflictingrnautonomies. The rich tapestry of independent socialrnand political authorities had...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn Individualism, Community, and FreedomrnPRIVATE JUSTICE—January 1998—Thomas Fleming on the rctarn of revenge,rnMichael Hill on justice in the Celtic world, Barry Baldwin on Albanian blood-feuds, JeremyrnBlack on government’s monopoly on violence, and David Kopel on why owning arngun makes everyone safer. Plus Stephen Halbrook on Switzerland’s armed neutrality andrnFrank Schicr...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” igns; of tlje tKimesirnVol.1 No. 10 October 1999rnTwenty years after being exiled fromrnthe Soviet Union, Alexander Zinovyev—rnone of the most prominent living Europeanrnauthors—has decided to leave hisrnadopted homeland, France, and to returnrnto Russia. His reasons are summarized inrnthe title of a long interview in Le FigarornMagazine: “The West has become...

operation. “The objective ofrnIPI is to synchronize the informationalrnobjectives, themesrnand messages that will be projectedrnoverseas . . . to preventrnand mitigate crises and torninfluence foreign audiences inrnways favorable to the achievementrnof U.S. foreign policy objrne c t i v e s , ” the charter says.rnU.S. o f f i c i a l s...

OPINIONSrnChicken SouprnStarring: The Marx Bros.rnby J.O.Tatern’How can tyrants safely govern home I Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?”rn—William ShakespearernGideon’s Spies: The Secret History ofrnthe Mossadrnby Gordon ThomasrnNew York: St. Martin’s Press;rn354 pp., $25.95rnThere is something compelling inrnreading about spies and somethingrncompelling as well about spying, or wernwould not have so many spies to readrnabout, fictional...

his wife, Sara, who, claiming to followrnthe example of Hillary Rodham Clinton’srninterest in the CIA, particularly interestedrnherself in details of PresidentrnClinton’s sexual activities. This offliandrnnon-point is made early to foreshadowrnthe revelation that the Mossad interceptedrnphone-sex calls between the Presidentrnof the United States and Miss Lewinskyrn— as Clinton himself indicated tornLewinsky, referring to a “foreign embassy,”rnas...

or endlessly rerun situation tragicomedyrnof our time. After all, why should thernprime minister of Israel not despise thernUnited States? Americans do it all therntime. But Americans do not hate Israel.rnQuite the contrary. Indeed, somernAmericans love Israel to the point of idolatry.rnThomas has shown that the Mossadrnhas long known how to take advantage ofrnthat great affection....

tion of the otherwise inexplicable. Accordingrnto Watson, because no onernnowadays actually reads what the socialistsrnwrote, by a collective act of amnesiarnwe have forgotten what they actuallyrnstood for. Returning to the founders,rnWatson has traced the origins ot socialismrnto an intensely reactionary fear of therndestabilizing effects of industrial capitalismrnand its attendant liberalism:rnLike conservatism, socialismrnsought to justify the...

more comfortable things to believernthan this.rnWatson’s own hope seems to be that, withrnthe demise of socialist theory, we will allrnrediscover the humane, skeptical liberalismrnwhich he has found in writers likernTocqneville and Mill.rnOther, probably gloomier conclusionsrnmight be reached. The bad philosophy,rngoofy pseudoscience, and sheer neurosisrnthat powered the worst socialist regimesrnof our Hme became a habit of...

What a Swell Party This IsrnThe final presidential election of the millenniumrnis still more than a year away,rnbut by last summer rumblings of discontentrnwith the plastic dashboard figurinesrnv’ho are the leading candidates of the h’0rnmajor plastic dashboard political partiesrnwere already audible. The rumblingsrnfirst attracted national notice when PatrnBuchanan, in the course of his third campaignrnfor...

ing the damage to the Constitution inflictedrnby a generation of Supreme Courtrnjustices (the most dangerous of whom —rnEarl Warren, WilHarn Brennan, HarryrnBlackmun, Sandra Day O’Connor, AnthonyrnKennedy, et al. —were all appointedrnby Republican presidents). On thernmajor issues of the era—globalist foreignrnpolicy and recklessly aggressive militaryrnadventurism, free trade, the erosion of nationalrnsovereignty, and the Third-rnWorldization of America—the...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnMichiganrnby Greg KazarnDownriver BluesrnI’he paint is peeling on the exterior wallrnof the United Steelworkers Hall inrnSouthgate, Michigan, a symbolic reminderrnof the dangerous times fiiced byrnAmerica’s 700,000 steelworkers. Workforcerndownsizing; the emergence of mini-rnmills to complement the old integrated,rnhot- and cold-roll production process;rnand price deflation and mnltilateral tradernagreements like NAITA have combinedrnto make the steelworkers’ world...

portant, if overlooked, aspects of the globalrneconomy. FPE rests on the idea thatrnsupply and demand eventually equalizernproduction factors such as capital and laborrnbetween nations by combining themrninto one market. Wage rates for steelworkersrnin capital-intensive nations likernthe United States are bid down by thernmarket, while rates for those in labor-intensivernnations in emerging economiesrnare bid up over...

tion, though of course the noble ApuHanrnrace may not be blamed for the fact thatrnthe scheduled connection from Romernhad departed long before the flight fromrnLondon was in the air. All I can mention,rnhopefully, is that this morning I breakfastedrnon perfectly ripe damson plumsrnoverhanging the stone table on the patio,rnand that the coffee was good. In...

ally, unobtrusively, yet irreversibly andrnfirmly. No more restaurants serving foreignrnfood, no more playing with cardsharps,rnno more American Express billsrncomputed in euros, no more Germanrnlasagna, Belgian shopping, and Russianrndemocracy, no more conversations aboutrnnothing. No more leaving Venice.rnA big red and yellow butterfly has justrnalighted on my Toshiba portable computer.rnIt must be an omen, a sign that...

been made: maybe pro-Davis, maybernpro-Jordan. Whatever the result, therncommunity would have known that representativerndemocracy had, in some importantrnsense, had its innings.rnWe all know that sort of thing was neverrnin the cards. Honesty regarding race,rnand especially race in history, no longer isrnpossible. Those who attempt to display itrnget flayed. Why, the chief of New Jersey’srnhighway patrol...

not learn about all the things the “peoplernwithout a land” have done for the “landrnwithout a people”? Or about how democraticrn(technically true, inside the confinesrnof pre-1967 Israel) and religiouslyrntolerant (unless you want to risk fines andrnjail time by proselytizing on behalf ofrnChristianity) the new nation is? Indeed,rnwhy endure all the expense and jetlagrnv’hen you could...

if they had been forsaken by the rest ofrnChristendom, especially AmericanrnChristians. For several decades, AmericanrnChristian attitudes toward Israel havernbeen dominated by the dispensahonalistrnschool of fundamentalist theology, whichrncontinued in the tradition of Britain’srnturn-of-the-century Christian Reconstructionists.rnUsing a Gnostic interpreta-rnHon of Bible passages, they conclude thatrnthe final battle of Armageddon will be arnnuclear exchange between America andrnthe land...

VITAL SIGNSrnOedipal Angstrnby George McCartneyrnAmerican PiernProduced by Universal PicturesrnDirected by Paul WeitzrnScreenplay by Adam HerzrnReleased by Universal PicturesrnSummer of SamrnProduced by 40 Acres & a MulernFilmworks and Touchstone PicturesrnDirected by Spike LeernScreenplay by Victor Colicchio andrnMichael hnperiolirnReleased by Buena Vista PicturesrnEyes Wide ShutrnProduced by Warner Bros., Hobby Films,rnand Pole StarrnDirected by Stanley KubrickrnScreenplay by Frederic...

parts. There’s much nudity and somernbrief sexual activity. (All this looks almostrnchaste by today’s film norms.) If you dorndecide to see it and you’re a Y chromosomer,rnyou should bring a womanly companionrnas your guide. The ladies will getrnthis film a lot quicker than those of us sufferingrnfrom X deficiency, which explainsrnwhy I’m much indebted to...

what they should do about their disturbingrnexperiences of the previous night.rnDoing so, he signals his submission tornher maternal influence. Alice answersrnnearly word-for-word as Alberhna does:rn”I think we ought to be grateful that wernhave come unharmed out of all our adventures,rnwhether they were real or only arndream. . , . We’re awake now,” she concludes.rnWith evident...

such as David Lloyd George and WinstonrnChurchill visited Prussia to see howrnits system worked. Labour membersrnnumbered several dozens in that parliament,rnand they showed no interest whateverrnin such reforms. They had beenrnelected with one purpose only: to changernthe laws that restricted the unions. A welfarernstate meant nothing to them.rnBetween the world wars, conservativerngovernments widened welfare provisions,rnand...

cratic heritage run broad and deep.rnMore than 70 years of Soviet life instilledrnattitudes that worked against democraticrninstitutions. And, except for a fewrndecades before the Revolution of 1917,rnRussia’s historical experience under thernRomanovs followed the same course.rnRussia’s historical legacy calls upon itsrnleaders to command and its people tornobey. Taking responsibility for their nation’srndestiny is not something that...

serve as many narrow personal interestsrnas possible. It became ever)’ citizen’s taskrnto negotiate directly with the state for thernsmall perquisites that could make lifernbetter.rnA better apartment, a free vacation,rntickets to the opera, and access to specialrnstores became each person’s urgent concerns.rnFor what separated poverty fromrnluxury in Soviet Russia was neitherrnwealth nor talent, but the favor...

The Hundredth Meridianrnhy Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnBacktracking for HomernI was gone from Wyoming less than twornyears, not so long as to forget, just enoughrnfor the shock of recognition to bernpoignant. The cold northern skies, therntilted mesas tinged green with sagebrushrnand purple with lupin, and how theyrnsmell after rain; the dark, distant mountainsrnwhose mottling snows above timberlinernmerge...

cleared as I came off the east slope into arndifferent weather system and the old, familiar,rnwesterly Wyoming of dry skies,rnbroken sagebrush plains, and tors andrnoutcrops of pulverizing, antelope-coloredrnsandstone and shale.rnSaratoga, with a population of onlyrn1,969 people, has some pretty highflyingrnones among them. Two Lear jets and another,rnmuch larger, private one stoodrnparked at the end of...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnAREOPAGITICAAND OTHERrnPOLITICAL WRITINGS OFrnJOHN MILTONrnForeword by John AlvisrnAs poet, statesman, and pamphleteer, John Milton remainsrnone of the singular champions of liberty in the annals ofrnhistory. Even in his mediations on theology Milton strove torndemonstrate that liberty—of conscience—is one of therninviolable rights of free peoples. In his theological writings...

UsTASA: CROATIAN SEPARATISM AND EUROPEAN POLITICS,rn1929-1945rnBy Srdja Trifkovicrn(London and Aiken, SC: The Lord Byron Foundation:rn323 pp.; $19.00; ISBN 1-892478-01-3)rn”^1^ T ations cannot be invented, but even authentic nations, inrnI^LI asserting their identities, often rely on myths and down-rn.JL. m rijht lies. Up to a point such myths are harmless and exercise irnpositive influence. But nationalist...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnMANAGING EDITORrnScott p. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnJ.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Livingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, ]acob NeusnerrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O./. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of...

stitiition through their state governments.rnA more delicate matter is Gutzman’srnassertion that “the flag is not sacred.”rnThe pieces of cloth themselves are not sacred,rnof course, but what the flag representsrnto many Americans —the sacrificernof the lives and limbs of loved ones to preservernAmerican liberty—is surely sacred,rnin the same sense that the signers of thernDeclaration pledged their...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnB O R I S Y E L T S I N , SO the conventionalrnwisdom goes, is an impulsive Slavic peasantrnwhose motives are as inscrutable asrnthe enigma that is Russia. Some, probablyrnmost, observers also think Yeltsin isrncrazy. Not crazy like the holy fools of oldrnRussia or the smug suits who make NATOrnpolicy. No,...

2000 census. Since this count is used torndetermine congressional representation,rnmany Republicans feared statistical samplingrnwould be used to create more districtsrnwhere Democrats could win. JusticernO’Connor correcdy pointed out thatrnthe words of the Constitution expresslyrncall for an “actual” enumerahon for thernpurposes of determining congressionalrndistricts, but the marvel was that fomrnSupreme Court jusHces shll believed thatrnstatistical sampling was...

On the other hand, this sorry staternof affairs may be changing. Whetherrnor not congressmen hsten to statesmen,rnthey undeniably pay some attention tornwrought-up voters. The words they arernhearing about the estate tax grow angrierrnand angrier, and you know what angerrncan mean in pohtics.rnSmall wonder so many are ticked.rnThe bull market on Wall Street has propelledrninto the...

teachers were all assigned to the lowerrngrades, this would leave only 527,000rnteachers for the 13.6 million students inrngrades nine through 12. For them, thernstudent-teacher ratio would soar to almostrn26 to one, thus crippling the personalrnattention that might help lessen thernalarming high-school dropout rates.rnPeople in general, and politicians inrnparticular, are overly impressed withrnnumbers, and in education,...

PERSPECTIVErnGrow Old Along With Mernby Thomas FlemingrnI grow old learning many things,” said Simonides, a poetrnX well known for his wisdom and for his longevity: He livedrnto be almost 90. Although, as my old teacher Douglas Youngrnpointed out, Simonides’ statement might be interpreted tornmean “too much education makes one prematurely old,” thernpoint is clear enough...

must be disciplined and prepared for careers in the 21st centun,’.”rnIt is true. Ever)’ socieb,-, whether of rats or Rotarians, has itsrnrules and its system of discipline, and part of everyone’s educationrnmust be tiie trial-bv-ordeal in which we learn the penaltiesrnfor robbing the neighbors or chewing with the mouth open, andrna nation whose business is...

his public-school counterparts. The problem lies not so muchrnwith the actual fact of studying at home as w ith the character ofrnhomeschooling parents, who are just as ignorant, just as self-indulgent,rnand just as muddleheaded as anyone else born sincern1940. They cannot discipline their children (they can’t evenrntrain their dogs) because they refuse to discipline themselves.rnMany...

worry for New Republic warriors and diplomats.rnNothing is more important in the Star Wars universe thanrnfamily and fidelity. Some, though not all, bad gu’s can be redeemedrn(e.g., Darth Vader), but redempHon includes payingrnfor your evil deeds. Even scum care for their families and recognizerndebts of honor.rnSadly, in the hands of the less-competent writers of Star...

child cracks up under the pressure or flunks the all-importantrnpre-universit)’ exams.rnHere in the real world, we seem to be moving in the directionrnof Star Wars-style educational freedom and out ofrnthe Star Trek educational straitjacket. About 1.75 million childrenrnare currenfly homeschooled. The movement has grown atrna rate of at least 15 percent per vear for over...