Author: The Archive (The Archive)

presence an offense to their “national”rndignity. Is there any doubt that, amongrnnon-minority Americans, there would berna nationalist reaction, not only over therntreatment of dispossessed “Americans” inrnthe minority-ruled statelets but againstrnthe dismemberment itself?rnThis, roughly, is the position that Russiarnand the Russians now find themselvesrnin, with the dismantling of the SovietrnUnion. To be sure, as Wayne Aliensworthrninsightfully...

want many children of their own, thernquestion of whether “the Germans arerndying out” (the subtitle of a Giinter Grassrnnovel) will remain pertinent.rnFrench intellectuals and politiciansrnhave been grappling with a sense of demographicrndecline for much longer:rnSince the Revolution, France’s populationrnhas grown more slowly than that ofrnits neighbors (though it is now higherrnthan Germany’s) and her relative...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnGleichschaltungrnWhen a new religion displaces an oldrnone, the gods of the old faith become therndemons of the new. So it is with therndemigods and heroes as well, and as newrncultures, races, and nations begin to blossomrnwhere once the fruits of Europeanrnand American civilization flourished, itrnis not surprising to see the myths...

the senator had never been involved withrnthe CCC at all, merely succeeded inrnmaking a fool of himself when the Postrnpublished a picture of him speaking imderrnthe Council’s banner at a 1992 nationalrnconvention. Had both men simplyrnsaid, yes, they had spoken to therngroup; no, they did not necessarily agreernwith everything it stood for; but they sawrnnothing...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Texasrnby Bill MurchisonrnDon’t Mess With thernTexas ConstitutionrnThe constitution of the state of Texas, myrnfriends, is not what you carry to thernbeach for hght summer reading. Light?rnNot at 90,000 words and 377 amendments.rnAs Dr. Johnson said of ParadisernLost, “No man ever wished it longer.”rnYet longer it gets, election year by electionrnyear, as the sovereign...

more thinks coming.rnTexas has produced its share of dynamicrnand/or effective governors—JimrnHogg, Allan Shivers, John Connally,rnAnn Richards—but they don’t get thatrnway by the exercise of raw power. ArnTexas governor enjoys minimal power—rnnot even the ability to appoint a cabinet.rnHe may propose, suggest, recommend,rnwheedle, propagandize, but no one hasrnto listen. All he can do, basically, to advancernhis...

Kirk lectured on “Education in an EgalitarianrnSociety,” mentioning that therernwere still a few good universities for graduaternstudy in the humanities. I rememberrnhis brief account of InternationalrnCollege, a “university without walls”rnwhich offered an alternative to the typicalrnAmerican graduate-school programrnby reviving the old tutorial method,rnputting the student in direct contact withrnthe scholar. When I wrote to Dr....

be in the country) made up for anythingrnthat was lacking in the town: picturesquernswamps, meandering creeks and rivers,rnhundreds of httle lakes; stands of newrnpine with meadows wandering in andrnout of them; sugar maple, oak, tamarack,rnand white birch trees; deer, beaver, porcupine,rnherons, Canadian geese. It wasrna sportsman’s paradise, a nature-lover’srnheaven.rnYet to me, Mecosta was a bit...

ing: SERITARBORES QUAE ALTER!rnSECULO PROSINT (“He plants treesrnto benefit future generations”). Dr. Kirkrnwas a tireless planter of trees, vines, andrnshrubs. The testimony of his work surroundsrnthe Piety Hill properties, formingrnboundaries and lining walks, providingrnwind breaks and privacy, beauty and fragrance.rnAnd Russell and Annette cultivatedrnother sorts of trees. They providedrnthe good soil for the growth of...

and “Freezing.” Later that evening, inrnthe library, just as the Western, resiHentrnrest of me was beginning to thaw out inrnfront of the fire with a dry grappa, a perfectlyrnpassable Tuscan cigar, and a volumernof Winston Churchill’s war-timernmemoirs, my Eastern, decadent side resumedrnits suit. With perfect timing, itrndrew my attention to the description ofrnSir Winston’s stay...

VITAL SIGNSrnThe Necrosis ofrnLimited Governmentrnby Douglass H. BartleyrnThe words “general welfare” havernhad the greatest significance inrnmodern American life of any in the Constitution.rnOriginally regarded by its 18thcenturyrnFederalist creators as a restraintrnon federal power, the brake of generalrnwelfare has been transformed, retooledrnby the U.S. Supreme Court into a hugernturbine, a supercharger that drives today’srnimmense federal power...

bra in which discretion is at large.rnThe discretion, however, is notrnconfided to the courts. The discretionrnbelongs to Congress, unlessrnthe choice is clearly wrong, a displayrnof arbitrary power, not an exercisernof judgment.rnThe constitutional text shows bothrnButler and Helvering to be wrong. First,rnthe clause grants no spending power.rnThe power is a taxing power: “to lay andrncollect Taxes...

specify punishment for counterfeitingrnand piracy? Can anyone seriously maintainrnthat punishment of those crimesrndoes not benefit the general welfare?rnMadison was clearly right in representingrnthe “common defense and generalrnwelfare” clause as being descriptive,rnnot expansive, of the powers of Congress.rnMadison’s 1792 summation said justrnthat: The clause is “a sort of caption, orrngeneral description of the specified powersrn. ....

publican presidential candidate BobrnDole was debating President Clinton.rnPerhaps “debating” is the wrong word.rnIn the awkward and disjointed style ofrndiscourse that now seems typical of GOPrnpresidential candidates, Dole was spoutingrnthe talking points his handlers hadrngiven him: “I think the basic difference isrn. . . I trust the people. The presidentrntrusts the government.”rnWoodenly, Dole cited the details...

coastal cities. That Reagan paidrnonly lip service to pro-life activistsrnduring their annual Washingtonrnmarches still rankles the party’srnsouthern wing.rnCaldwell is so eager to blame the Southrnthat he ignores even the most obviousrnfacts. First, the Reagan years saw a continuedrnincrease in economic prosperit’rnin the South, a trend that went back atrnleast to the 1950’s, while those “prosperousrncoastal...

Caldwell have any influence in the RepublicanrnPart)’, however, this idea of thern”Southern captivity” of the GOP is nowrnconventional wisdom, and it portends anrnabandonment of the venerable “Southernrnstrateg}’.” One thing is certain: It isrnunlikely that the Republican presidentialrncandidate in 2000 will be wavingrnaround the Tenth Amendment duringrndebates. If the recent record of the GOPrnestablishment is anv...

But Joan Campbell of the NCC defendedrnthe publicity. “We shouldn’t secondguessrn[the President],” she said. “Hernneeds help. He knows that.”rnOne hopes that Clinton’s religiousrncounselors will provide that help. But allowingrntheir support for Clinton’s politicalrnpolicies to cloud their view of hisrncharacter will not aid him. PerhapsrnClinton’s spiritual triumvirate should listenrnto Wisconsin Public Radio for an occasionalrndose of...

handgun figure had more than doubled,rnto 325 per 100,000 persons. If Zimringrnwere right about the strong relationshiprnbetween the general handgun supplyrnand the murder rate, then the latterrnshould have increased significantly. Instead,rnit was essentially unchanged.rnYet Zimring insists that, without severernhandgun controls (whose diflicultyrnin implementation he acknowledges),rnAmerica is doomed to a homicide raternfar higher than other nations....

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn States’ Rights, Federalism, and SecessionrnCAN THIS UNION BE SAVED?—February 199i^—Thomas Heming on fighting thernfederal beast, Donald Livingston on secession and slates’ rights, William J. Quirk andrnRobert M. Wilcox on judicial tyranny and constitutional change, and John R. Stocfflcr onrnjudicial taxation. Plus Joseph E. Fallon on the censored history of...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnCitizen EdrnIt may or may not make sense for the livingrnto think in arbitrary terms of decades,rncenturies, and millennia; what is certainrnis, the dead don’t. Edward Abbey hadrnbeen deceased just two months short ofrnten years and I was defunct about fourrnmonths, entombed that long in the overpopulated,rnelectronicized, ideologizedrnmegasprawl of modern...

fifth of Jim Beam within an inch of itsrnlife, wrapped ourselves in our sleepingrnbags, and fell asleep in the truck beds underrnthe winter constellation of Orion.rnIn the morning we both felt betterrnthan either of us deserved, and after arnGeorge Hayduke breakfast—bacon andrnfried sliced potatoes added to ranch-stylernbeans with a fiery salsa; French bread;rnespresso—drove back to...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnTHE LOGIC O F LIBERTYrnBy Michael PolanyirnForeword by Stuart WarnerrnAchemist and member of a family renowned for its learningrnin several disciplines, Michael Polanyi experienced firsthandrnthe horrors of totalitarian government and worldwidernwar. Consequently there is a singular weight to Polanyi’s challengernto advocates of centrally planned scientific inquiry or therncentrally...

Are we coming to…rnThe End of the American Century?rnThe European Community has already estabhshed monetary union,rnand talks are underway to set up a European Defense Force.rnMeanwhile, NATO is rattling sabers in the Balkans, and our Russian “allies”rnare increasingly impatient with the “one remaining superpower.”rnBack here in the States, we are rapidly drifting awav from ourrnEuropean-American...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnMANAGING EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn/.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Livingston,rnWilliam Milk, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, Jacob Neusner,rnSrdja TrifkovicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main...

They chew out a member of thernsquad, Cpl. Upham, for saluting Capt.rnMiller. The corporal, recruited fromrnheadquarters company because of hisrnlanguage skills, has no combat experiencernand does not understand that salutingrnan officer in the field is a good way tornget that officer killed. Spielberg got thatrnright, but at the same time he has Millerrnwearing a helmet...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnT H E IMPEACHMENT proceedingsrnwere the subject: of an extraordinary suggestionrnmade by Pat Caddell, a formerrnpollster for the Democratic Party, at thern”Dark Ages” retreat for members of thern”conservative movement” over NewrnYears’ weekend. Caddell told the gatheringrnthat the problem with the RepublicanrnParty was that they couldn’t seem tornpick the right issues. Republicans werernfoolishly hammering the...

dits every step of the way. Life is simple:rnClinton was railroaded on trumped-uprncharges at the hands of a Republican Partyrnleadership ready for “payback hme” forrnthe attempted impeachment of PresidentrnNixon.rnWhile party leaders on both sides ofrnthe aisle admonished House members tornvote their conscience, the public properlyrndoubted the sincerity of this display ofrnpolitical civility and duty to...

least a drop of truth in his glass when hernwarns against the terrible consequencesrnof removing any sitting president from office.rnThe President of the United Statesrnhas become a kind of symbol: He is therncommander in chief, leader of the freernworld, an expert—like Stalin —on anyrnsubject his aides choose to prep him on,rnand before too long we...

in which tliey are brought into the world,rnmust be revered aecordingly. God’s creationrnof an immortal soul is profanedrnwhen child-bearing becomes a laboratory’rnexperiment, a media event, or an entryrnin the Guinness Book.rn— Christopher CheckrnT H E CULTURE WAR rages on atrnBarnard College, where two sharp-eyedrnharpies, Sandra Chefitz and Shannon T.rnHerbert, have humbled the last vestigesrnof traditionalism...

PERSPECTIVErnDiary of a Peripheral Malernby Thomas FlemingrnMidatlanticrnIt has been a long day for this straight European male. O’HarernAirport is a decompression chamber between Middle Americarnand the rest of the world: rude United clerks who act as if theyrnown the airline; the gauntlet of guards at the X-ray machines,rnnone of whom is able to speak English;...

we were to worry about the Russians, when all the time we werernbuilding “communism in one nation” here in America. NAFTArnstripped away even the fiction of a sovereign United States,rnand now that Mexican-Americans enjoy dual citizenship, wernmay as well have a dual (or triple) government. Perhaps wernshould brush up our French and move to Quebec,...

it appears, but with us it becomes ridiculous, because we are arnmeeting-place of peoples—Greeks, Normans, Arabs.” D’Alemarnforgets to mention that Greeks, Normans, and Arabs (asrnwell as Carthaginians, Goths, Lombards, Frenchmen,rnSpaniards, and Austrians) came as conquerors. He also overlooksrnthe obvious fact diat most of Italy’s conquerors were ethnicrncousins, and that most invaders shared a common religionrnand...

Every competent history student or teacher knows the allegationsrnconcerning Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Yet one Clintoniternwas given time on National Public Radio to announcernthat, until Ellis’s piece, “white historians” had engaged in a vastrnconspiracy to obliterate any suspicion of the affair. If such a plotrnexisted, it was spectacularly unsuccessful, as the original accusationrnwas widely published...

While Brodie reads “passion” into Sally’s decision to comernback to Virginia with Jefferson, since she would have been freernhad she stayed in Paris, the fact is that all of Jefferson’s slavesrnmade the same decision to return.rnI will not waste much more space on Brodie’s silliness. VirginiusrnDabney has meticulously rebutted every one of her contentions.rnI especially...

tative descendant’s ancestor than was someone unrelated to thernJefferson family. (That ratio is not quite Clinton’s 7.87 trillionrntimes more likely.) However, at least eight other male descendantsrnof Thomas Jefferson’s grandfather (and Field Jefferson’srnfather), Thomas Jefferson II, including President Jefferson’srnyounger brother Randolph and Randolph’s six sons, lived nearbyrnand stayed at Monticello regularly, so each of them...

Celluloid NationrnHollywood Does Historyrnby Roger D. McGrathrn^^B’ MArn^^^^^^E’^ .^^-^^^^1rn^mKm- Hrn^^^^^HI^’ ^^IrnM^^^^^H” ^^H^lrnHI^^^^B J^^^w “* ^^9rn^^^^^K^n^^v braMUrni -^ ^s?–.rnH| Takern^ ^ ^rnirnI^Krn1^ /rnK ^ j j ^ ^rnprnirn1rnf-rnSrn^^ irn” ^rn: ‘ ^ »rnK&. J^rncene _rn^HK’^rn• , . ^rnuHrn-rn^slrnrSBrnH?”’rnKrnAt 0825 on 20 November 1943, the first of six waves ofrnMarines left the line of departure and headed...

virtually all students as a first language in the 1940’s and 50’s, isrnnow a second language for the majority of students in the elementaryrnschools. Although difficult to document, there is evidencernto suggest that nearly half of the elementary-school studentsrnare the children of illegal immigrants. I do not think thisrnis what the Marines fought for.rnBuddhist shrines,...

“people of color” who managed to kill a million Filipinos,rnmany through the most diabolical tortures imaginable. EdrnRamsey is an American hero and a hero to the Filipinos.rnThe movie project has been on hold now for more than arnyear, but there may eventually be a happy ending to all this.rnSince the success of Saving Private Ryan,...

even as a little boy, he was tough as nails. The last time hisrnmother could remember Jesse crying was when he was threernyears old and his father left home for the goldfields of California.rnIn the series, Jesse also has to be taught the use of firearms.rnHe is portrayed as very nervous around guns, and in...

Europe’s Kulturstadt for 1999rnby Curtis Gatern’^<~’v’W'”‘-”’^^’=i^”-‘””’^rnlj«««'”»^li’|ai..lll’l” |« ” • l i Mrr”ifi’irnf’l?^’?^^’^ •rn-r^j;. 1:1rnfr^w^T^rnHMin.?*tf^w» iiiinwHi.yim*ii*ii ii’W^rnK -^1:^-^4′ irn: t – – ^ I >rn• * l Ml ^ » • • l * 1 l | I •*• 1rnFour years ago, when I made a trip to Naumburg to attend arnphilological symposium devoted to Nietzsche,...

led by Bach, Heinrich Heine, Richard Wagner, GerhartrnHauptmann, Richard Strauss, Herder, Wieland, Feuerbach,rnAlexander von Humboldt, the two Cranach painters (fatherrnand son), Walter Gropius (who founded his celebratedrnBauhaus architectural school in Weimar during the 1920’s),rnand, of course, the greatest of the town’s “adopted sons,”rnGoethe and Schiller. That Weimar’s municipal authoritiesrnshould have made no effort to alter...

sons, Carl August and Constantin. She made the offer so financiallyrnenticing that, in 1772, Wieland moved from the theologicallyrnstuffy atmosphere of Erfurt to the more relaxed atmospherernof Weimar. The poet celebrated his liberation fromrnacademic chores by writing the libretto for the first Singspielrnopera to have been composed for German voices—A/ceste (arnweak forerrmner of Mozart’s Entfiihrung...

The prospect of being able to influence his young mentor,rnDuke Carl August, not only in matters of architectural reconstructionrnbut also in the layout of an English-style park, extendingrnsouthward toward the Belvedere hunting lodge along thernbanks of the discreet, half-hidden Ilm, was too tempting to resist.rnThe guidebooks assure us that Goethe’s influence in thernchoice of trees...

Schiller’s life in Weimar. One of its most interesting exhibits isrna framed copy of the patent of nobility that Emperor Francis IIrngranted in November 1802 (four years before Napoleon abolishedrnthe Holy Roman Empire) to Johann Christoph vonrnSchiller—the erstwhile commoner from Ludwigsburg whosernfirst play, Die Rduber {The Robbers), had created an uproar 20rnyears before by exalting...

“AU the NewsrnUnfit to Print” igns^ of tl)e ®imesJrnVol. 1 No. 3 March 1999rnOn day two of “Desert Fox” last December,rnSecretary of State Madeleine Albrightrndeclared that she was “gratified” byrnthe “solid” support that the U.S. actionrnagainst Iraq had received from statesmenrnaround the globe, including those in thernArab world. Her counterpart at thernBritish Foreign Office, Robin...

the suffering of the I r a q i s ,rnidiich Clinton absiardly boastsrnare h i s goals. . . . In anotherrntime, under a differentrnpresident, we might have supportedrnsuch an e f f o r t . But atrnt h i s time, under t h i s p r e s i ­dent,rnt...