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Signs of the Times

in Bosnia, condemned the offensivernin a speech at the RoyalrnUnited Services Institute: “Therncontinual TV images of the VJest’srnhigh-technology systems causingrndeath and destruction to peoplernin the Third World will not berntolerated forever by civilisedrnpeople.”rnTurkey’s help—and the use of its airrnbase at Incirlik, in eastern Anatolia—rnproved fai’ more important to Washingtonrnthan the Kurds’ struggle. Ocalan’s capturernwas preceded...

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Wonderful Illusions

OPINIONSrnWonderful Illusionsrnby Fr. Hugh Barbourrn’The remembrance of death, like all other blessings, is a gift of God: otherwise howrnis it that often when we are by the very tombs, we are left tearless and hard?”rn— St. John of the LadderrnThe Medjugorje Deceptionrnby E. Michael JonesrnSouth Bend, IN: VideUty Press;rn385 pp., $19.95rnMore than 20 vears ago,...

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Wonderful Illusions

liturgical rubrics, current events in a biblicalrnperspective, and a Christian approachrnto psychotherapy.rnThe Fathers of the Egyptian Desertrnwould have recognized the problemrnright away: illusion. A self-conscious “orthodoxy,”rnespecially with all its hyphenations,rnis no guarantee against spiritualrndelusions, hi fact, in today’s Church, itrnmay become a proximate occasion ofrnthis sin. Perhaps a more precise, andrntherefore more charitable, title for...

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Wonderful Illusions

ence of the pan-orthodox, anything-goesas-rnlong-as-Fm-not-a-modernist minimalismrnin contemporary CathoHc Hfe. Jonesrnhas been combating this attitude forrnsome time, so it is surprising that he doesrnnot categorically indicate it as the fundamentalrn”permissive cause” of the Medjugorjernmess. For most of the book, he onlyrnhints at it. Perhaps he does so out of arncertain deference for authority, especiallyrnthat of the...

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The Secretary of Education Doesn’t

REVIEWSrnThe Secretary ofrnEducation Doesn’trnby Sir Hugh Lloyd-]onesrnThe Devil Knows Latin: ^STiy AmericarnNeeds the Classical Traditionrnby E. Christian KopffrnWibnington, DE: ISl Books;rn3 B pp., $24.95rnMonsignor Ronald Knox, whenrnasked to conduct a baptismal servicernin the English language, replied thatrnthe Devil knew Latin, dius supplying a titlernfor this lively, informative, and intelligentrnbook. Many of its chapters ha’ernalready appeared...

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Occupied Territories

1850), who is given respectfvil attention;rnone misses a mention of the story thatrnshe once declared that she had decidedrnto accept the universe, causing Carlylernto exclaim, “By God, slie’d better!” Anotherrnclwpter is devoted to the Scottishrnclassical scholar and poet DouglasrnYoung, who ended his career at ChapelrnHill, North Carolina, where Kopff andrnThomas Fleming were the two pupils...

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Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

secondary university, having swallowedrnup the original one,rnengages in systematic intimidation.rn. .. The first imposition, in thernclassroom, is merely an abuse of arnpower that generally may bernawarded by choice and in anyrnevent is not accomplished in secret.rnThe second imposition of thernshadow university is inescapablernand is an exercise in somethingrntruly chilling; a hidden, systematicrnassault upon liberty, including...

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Natural Woman

Ayn Rand herself, it is safe to say,rnwould have been appalled by nearly everythingrnproduced by the Brandens.rnOne may infer, moreover, how shernwould have evaluated the stilted, derivative,rnand unconvincing writings of herrnlatter-day followers, which lack the essentialrningredient she infused into all herrnwritings—passion—while undergirdingrna movement that has iirherited all of herrncrankier, more tiresome, and least interestingrneccentricities: her...

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Endurance

a protection mechanism against suchrnhurt: modesty. Modest)’ is what makes arnwoman instinctively pull back fromrnsleeping with a man of whose lasting affectionsrnshe is not sure. But a womanrnwho refuses premarital sex today is usuallyrncounseled to overcome her “hangups”:rnSociety no longer sanctions femalernmodesty. “Before,” as Miss Shalit pointsrnout, “it was a woman’s prerogative to sayrnno—she didn’t...

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Principalities & Powers

Principalities & Powersrnbv Samuel FrancisrnThe Un-Magnificent ObsessionrnAlmost precisely a year after the name ofrnMonica Lewinsky began to displacernthose of Princess Diana and Jackie Onassisrnfrom the headlines of snpermarketrntabloids, the one-time object of MissrnLewinsky’s more tender affectionsrnemerged triumphant over his foes inrnwhat are still laughingly called the “conservativernmovement” and the “RepublicanrnParty.” The conservative and Republicanrncrusade to...

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Principalities & Powers

bloated scale and power of the federalrngovernment, and both candidates agreedrnwith the Clinton-Gore policies on NAFTA,rnthe World Trade Organization, tradernpolicy generally, immigration, a globalistrnforeign policy, and civil rights and affirmativernaction. There was, as I recall,rnsome muffled verbal swordplay overrnabortion and budgetary matters, but atrnno point in the debates did either Republicanrncandidate reveal any fundamentalrndisagreement with...

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Letter From London

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Londonrnby Derek TurnerrnThe Strange Death of HerrnMajesty’s OppositionrnThe Conservative Party still has not recoveredrnfrom the disastrous general electionrnof May 1997, when many Britonsrnswitched their allegiances to Labour andrnan even larger number of Conservativesrnstayed at home, unwilling to vote for eitherrnthe Tweedledum that was John Majorrnor the Tweedledee of Tony Blair.rnTwo years after the...

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Letter From Florence

that has only been (partially) broken withrnby Mrs. Thatcher—capitulation to thernenemy.rnAt a time of radical upheaval, this isrnnot good enough. Britain is breaking up,rnand nobody is protesting. Her Majesty’srnLoyal Opposition must oppose, or theyrnare being neither loyal nor an opposition.rnNot only must they oppose, butrnthey must oppose uncompromisingly.rnThe patriotic opposition must regain itsrnconfidence and speak...

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Letter From Inner Israel

of his fighter plane to the team of an Armenianrnand a Jew, while Cosimo, whornpiously “emblazoned even the monks’rnprivies” with his heraldic balls, did notrnhesitate to embrace the “whoremongerrnand scrounger” Fra Filippo Lippi. Therernis the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with thernbastard condottiere Francesco Sforza,rnwhom Cosimo had shrewdly fosteredrnlong before his takeover of Milan wasrnconsummated in the marriage...

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Letter From Inner Israel

partment of Near Eastern Studies. ThernYale Department of Religious Studies includesrnin its Jewish studies anything Jewish,rnregardless of its bearing on the studyrnof the religion. So when universities dornorganize the subject, either they leave itrnout of the study of religion altogetherrnor they define it, within the study of religion,rnin a way utterly incongruent withrnthe way they...

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Letter From Mexico

astrian writers —again, the ethnic is in,rnthe rehgious is out.rnSo the proposed Cambridge Histor’ ofrnJudaism uses the word “Judaism” to referrnto an ethnic group: its material culture,rnits politics, institutions, demography, itsrn”life” (whatever that means). A CambridgernHistory of Christianity that dealtrnwith Roman imperial politics and foreignrnpolicy, pagan anti-Christianity andrnpersecution of Christianity, but not withrnNicaea and Chalcedon,...

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Letter From Mexico

WHA T DIVERSITY?rnThis past semester Accuracy in Academia’s John M. Olin Conference Series traveled to Columbia University and asked if conservativernideas were still welcome in higher education. The answer they received from Columbia President George Rupp was an emphaticrn”NO!” Rupp dispatched a team of security guards to keep students interested in conservatism from meeting on...

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Economics: Globalization and the Decline of the Family

VITAL SIGNSrnECONOMICSrnGlobalization andrnthe Decline of thernFamilyrnby William R HawkinsrnBy many important indicators, thernAmerican economy is soaring. Unemploymentrnhas hit a 30-year low, andrnproductivity is on the rise. These two factors,rncombined with low inflation, havernfinally started to push up real wages forrnmost workers. Yet below the surface,rnconditions are not so encouraging on therneconomic front and even less...

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Economics: Globalization and the Decline of the Family

on business. And Wall Street is right.rnThe core of the domestic social problemrnis linked to the international restructuringrnof the economy, though obviouslyrnthis is not its only cause. Economic theoryrntells us that full employment can bernreached at any level of income, and willrnmove toward this equilibrium in the absencernof external shocks if the labor marketrnis flexible...

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Politics: Restoring Families by Restricting Government

lization that can be admired in all of itsrnfacets.rnWilliam R. Hawkins, a fonner economicsrnprofessor, is Senior Research Analyst forrnU.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (RCA).rnPOLITICSrnRestoring Familiesrnby RestrictingrnGovernmentrnby David HartmanrnWhen we view the monumentalrnseats of government, the palacesrnand temples of ancient and medieval civilizations,rnwe are awed by their architecturalrngrandeur, the art and culture tornwhich they testify, and the...

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Law

increase of 38 percent in real output perrnman-hour from 1970 to 1993, the realrnmedian income of married familiesrnfailed to rise at all—despite the increasedrnparticipation rate of wives in the workforcern(from 40 to 59 percent). All of thernsurplus of the efforts of married familiesrnwas confiscated by government for distributionrnto its clients.rnGovernment conHnues its relentlessrngrowth, extending its...

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Law

consensual homosexuality, abortion,rnand sterilization, euthanasia and suicide.”rnStill, he voted to veto it.rnIn 1963, in Ferguson v. Skrupka, thernpendulum seemed to swing decisivelyrnaway from Harlan’s position. Writing forrna majority which included all justices exceptrnHarlan, Justice Black again affirmedrnthat “due process” does not justify courtsrnin substituting “their social and economicrnbeliefs for the judgment of legislativernbodies, who are...

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The Hundredth Meridian

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnThe View From Out HerernTliere is a stor^’ about the man who surprisedrnanother man in bed with his wife.rn”What did you do about it?” his friendrndemanded. “Hell,” replied the fellow inrndisgust, “the sonofabitch lied his wav outrnof it!”rnMy inclination, on this 1 Sth day ofrnFebruary 1999, is to take the...

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The Hundredth Meridian

can people so intermingled geographicallyrn—many of them more or lessrnforcibly so, by order of the federal governmentrn—possibly disentangle themselvesrnfrom one another and withdraw;rnassuming, of course, that they wished torndo so? So far no one has discovered suchrna means, but where the will is, there’s arnway. And if physical separation shouldrnever come to pass, the result...

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The Hundredth Meridian

Classic Works for Readers TodayrnVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATESrnWith Selected WritingsrnBy St. George TuckerrnForeword by Clyde N. WilsonrnAs professor of law at the College of William and Mar}’, St. GeorgernTucker in 1803 published View of the Constitution—the firstrnextended, systematic commentary on the United States Constitutionrnafter its ratification and later its amendment by...

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The Hundredth Meridian

“A l u i i effm to repairrnour umerstanding ofrnChristian truth.”rn—Josiph Sobran,rnNationally syndicatedrncolumnist;rnEditor, SOBRAN’Srn”This is a very significantrnbook, one thatrnis sociologically andrnhistorically wellrnresearched, theologicallyrnwell thought out,rnand forthrightly andrnclearly written. It deservesrna fearless andrnserious discussion.”rn— Thomas Weinandy,rnO.F.M., Cap., ThernWarden of Grey friars,rnOxford; Tutor andrnLecturer in Historyrnand Doctrine, thernUniversity of Oxford.rnS P E N C ErnPUBLISHING CO.rnWhy...

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Polemics & Exchanges

KDirORrn’ihomas FlemingrnSFAIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnMANAGING h;ni’i’ORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIREC;TORrnU. WardSterettrnCON’I’RIBiniNG KDITORSrnHarold O./. Brown, KatkerinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].(). Tate, Michael Washhiirn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Fivingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, Jacob Neusner,rnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEt;AI, AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. Presserrni;DrrORIAI. SECRETARYrnFeann DohhsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford histituternPDBIJGAnON DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRC II EAT ION MANAGERrnCindy FinkrnApublicalion o f l l...

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Polemics & Exchanges

Nazis conquered Western Europe.”rnWhen I read that Mahl’s book “penetratesrnthe propagandistic pieties promulgatedrnbv the court historians and exposesrnthe . . . utter immoraht)’ of ruHng cHtes,”rnI thought, “This guy was trained in therndisinformation office of the old SovietrnKGB.” In my opinion it is not court historiansrn(whatever they are) but Raimondorn(and Mahl, too?) who deserves indictmentrnfor...

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Cultural Revolutions

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnPRESIDENT CLINTON lied underrnoath as well as on television: About that,rnfew have disagreed. So wh- wasn’t lyingrnunder oath simply regarded as perjury?rnBecause weighty conservatives, famousrnfeminists, and legal scholars, among others,rnhave tended to excuse the President,rnclaiming that he was just lying to concealrnan affair. Said Arthur M. Schlesinger,rnJr., “A gentleman always lies about sex.”rnThis is...

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Cultural Revolutions

a symbol of order, something sorely lackingrnin the new Russia. For still others,rneven many CPRF voters, a continued respectrnfor Soviet-era symbols does not extendrnto “Iron Feliks.” The Lenin mummy,rnyes. The traditional Victory Dayrnparade, complete with the Red Bannerrnof Victory, yes. But “Iron Feliks”—well,rnhe was a Pole anyway. CPRF diehardsrnhave moved on.rnThe Russian squabble tells us...

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Cultural Revolutions

gy sectors in a common front to opposerncnltnral protectionism anywhere. Thisrn”American” juggernaut—the product ofrncorporate mergers and the convergencernof the information media — sees thernCanadian bill as a litmus test, since successfulrnCanadian resistance can be arnmodel for other countries. Canadian argumentsrnhave been echoed in Europernand Asia, where the ver)- notion of standingrnup to “American” cultural hegemonyrntouches...

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Cultural Revolutions

was set. Then I got a call from the panickedrnphysician: Bishop Favalora is comingrnto address the Jewish community;rnwliat should I do? I realized that the doctorrnhad committed the Jewish communitv’rnto a major public event, with no support,rnno backing, not even a location. Irnadvised him to go to the Jewish Communit}’rnCenter for a location, to the...

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The Great American Purge

PERSPECTIVErnThe Great American Purgernby Thomas Flemingrn^ tates’ rights? You can’t be serious! What do you wantrnk j to do—restore Jim Crow or bring back slavery?”rnAny serious discussion of the American repubHc alwaysrncomes aground on this rock, and it does not matter which kindrnof liberal is expressing the obligatory shock and dismay,rnwhether a David Corn leftist...

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The Great American Purge

while jesuitically insisting that he had not performed this orrnthat specific act of treason or terrorism, he accepted fuh responsibiht}’rnfor the fictional crimes attributed to his non-existentrnconspiracy. Americans accused of racism display thisrnsame Patt}’ Hearst syndrome, acting like the kidnap victimsrnwho end up collaborating with their persecutors. They darernnot oppose the revolutionary mentality of the...

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The Great American Purge

and William O. Douglas that would indicate their moral superiority’rnover, say, Verne Presley or the roughneck running thern”Zipper” at the county fair? Many of the good and wise menrnwho have destroyed the federal principle—John and Robertrnand Edward Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Martin LutherrnKing—were entirely despicable in their private lives. If we darernnot trust a politician to...

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Sisyphus and States’ Rights

VIEWSrnSisyphus and States’ Rightsrnby Stephen B. PresserrnCan a ten-year-old girl successfully sue a local school boardrnfor failing to prevent the sexual harassment of the youngrnlady by an elementary-school classmate? Should an Alabamarnstate court judge be able to display his hand-carved copy of thernTen Commandments in his courtroom? Can the people of arnstate decide that no...

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Sisyphus and States’ Rights

even greater jurist than Jolin Marshall, declared (almost certainlyrnincorrectly) that the 1787 Constitntion did not embracernan’ social theor)—neither that ai laissez-faire nor of the organicrnstate. Holmes’ admirers, most prominently at the lawrnschools of Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, soon pnt together a legalrnphilosophy, if one can call it that, known as “Legal Realism.”rnThe Legal Realists developed...

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Sisyphus and States’ Rights

would appoint judges who would interpret, rather than rewrite,rnthe Constitution, hi recent years, as Republican-appointedrnjudges have settled into a semi-permanent majority on thernCourt, there have been some signs of a return to a Constitutionrnwith content. Federalism flourished in the 1995 ruling in thernLopez case that the federal government had no business, evenrnusing its commerce power,...

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Decentralists or D.C. Centralists?

Decentralists or D.C. Centralists?rnOverthrowing the Tyranny of LiberaHsmrnby Donald W. LivingstonrnAs we approach the end of this century, and indeed of a millennium,rnthere is more than the usual tendency to reflectrnon things human and divine. One thing we should ponder isrnthat the 20th century, often praised as the most enlightened,rnprogressive, and humane period in history,...

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Decentralists or D.C. Centralists?

aftermath. The nations that fought this war all ieved themselvesrnas liberal and progressive constitutional monarchies orrnrepublics. For a centur)’, these would-be liberal regimes hadrnbeen concentrating power to the center. By 1914, this concentrationrnhad reached a critical mass and exploded into a war thatrnshattered the social fabric of Europe. Nazism and communismrndid not arise from a...

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Decentralists or D.C. Centralists?

mentalities necessary to maintain a bloated and monstronsrngrowth. With a population of 50,000, Athens produced such arndepth of culture that we still take some of our bearings from it.rnFlorence, the center of the Italian Renaissance (itself the workrnof small city-states) had only around 40,000. Monster citiesrnsuch as New York (eight million) or Sao Paulo (19...

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Cajuns Uncaged

Cajuns UncagedrnLouisiana Declares Itself a Sovereign Staternby Michael Dan JonesrnWhile many modern historians, hberal pohHcians, andrnmedia eHtes would like to think that the very concept ofrn”state sovereignt}'” died when Robert E. Lee offered his swordrnto Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9,rn1865, the people of one state recently gave state sovereignt)’ arnringing endorsement...

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Cajuns Uncaged

chita Parish (Monroe).rnAmendment 11 enjoyed widespread support among thernstate’s elected officials, including conservative RepublicanrnGovernor Mike Foster. (When Foster ran for governor inrn1995, he set himself apart from the crowded field of candidatesrnby strongly supporting Second Amendment gun-ownershiprnrights and a concealed-carn- law, which he signed into law afterrnbecoming governor.) All of the state’s 39 senators but...

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The Dead Poet

to be sent out of state without first checking to see if they arernneeded by citizens of the Pehcan State. The legislature alsornpassed a resolution directing state Attorney General Richardrnleyoub to challenge the legality and constitutionality of the federalrnregulation. The resolution stated that organs donated inrnLouisiana “are to be considered a state resource and used...

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Signs of the Times

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” igns! of tlje ®imes!rnVol. 1 No. 4 April 1999rnBack in 1994, a major news itemrnproved unfit for publication in any “mainstream”rnmedia outlets in the UnitedrnStates. It concerned the possibility—rnwhich turned into a virtual certainty—thatrnthe Bosnian Muslim government stagedrnthe infamous “marketplace massacre” inrnSarajevo, killing 66 of its own people.rnThe U.S. government...

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Signs of the Times

control of the village. They claimed that,rnon the previous day, police separatedrnwomen from men, taking the men to thernditch and killing them on the spot;rnThe AP TV j o u r n a l i s t s ‘ t e s ­timonies,rnas well the materrni a l they have filmed, givernan e n t...

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The Secrets of Liberalism

OPINIONSrnThe Secrets of Liberalismrnby William R. Hawkinsrn”A secret may be sometimes best kept by keeping the secret of its being a secret.”rn—Henry TaylorrnSecrecy: The American Experiencernby Daniel Patrick MoynihanrnNew Haven: Yale University Press;rn262 pp., $22.50rnIwas reading his new book whenrnDaniel Patrick Moynihan announcedrnthat he would not seek a fourth Senaternterm in 2000. A university professor...

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The Secrets of Liberalism

right’s claim to be the only source of patrioticrnsentiment. “If only the politicalrnliberals had known. If only those in thernuniversities had known,” he wails.rnKnown what? That the Soviets wererntrying to subvert the United States, alongrnwith the rest of the West? That the CommunistrnParty USA was a tool of thernU.S.S.R.? That those who were “duped”rninto taking...

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The Secrets of Liberalism

faced a similar danger before. TliernJapanese strategists who planned thernPearl Harbor attack were aware that theirrneconomy had only one-tenth the war potentialrnof the American one. Nevertheless,rnby concentrating their resources onrnthe military, they had attained regionalrnsuperiority and sought to convert that advantagerninto geopolitical gains by a preemptivernstrike against an unpreparedrnAmerica.rnThe Reagan strategy’, based on Sovietrnweakness rather...

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Biological Morality

REVIEWSrnBiological Moralityrnby David GordonrnConsilience: The Unity of Knowledgernby Edward O. WilsonrnNew York: Alfred A. Knopf;rn332 pp., $26.00rnEdward Wilson views the humanitiesrntoday with alarm. In the hardrnsciences, the pursuit of objective knowledgernremains the order of the day. Notrnso in literary studies, where decofistructionrndissolves hard facts into arbitraryrnperspectives.rnEach author’s meaning is uniquernto himself, goes the underlyingrnpremise; nothing...