Author: The Archive (The Archive)

PERSPECTIVErnAnthems for Doomed Youthrnby Thomas FlemingrnRockford is becoming for me what the Rouen Cathedralrnwas for Monet or the village of Selbourne for GilbertrnWhite: a place intrinsically no more interesting than any otherrnbut as worthy of close attention as any human community.rnRouen Cathedral is beautiful, but Europe has hundreds, evenrnthousands, of beautiful churches. Monet, by depicting...

only be loyal to one country. They have to choose to be eitherrnAmerican or Mexican, but this is exactly the choice that thernMexican government does not want them to make, Tlie governmentrnof Mexico has lobbied furiously in the United Statesrnon behalf of NAFTA and against California’s Proposition 187rndenying welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. More recently,rnMexico...

Mexican immigrants feel just a little less loyal to the UnitedrnStates and the locals just a little more hostile to the newcomers.rnOur national masters play the same game on a larger field, importingrnmillions of immigrants to manipulate, passing affirmativernaction laws, and race-norming everything from the federalrncensus to the number of Medal of Honor recipients. If...

to check an unconstitutional act of the central government,rnwhy have no states exercised this right over the past 40 years orrnso, when violations of the reserved powers of the states, especiallyrnby the Supreme Court, have been so blatant as to defy belief?rnOne answer is that the enormous patronage concentrated inrnthe central government has corrupted the...

tention that sovereignty resides in the American people in thernaggregate. But the original wording of the Preamble was in thernstyle of the Articles: “We the people of the State of New Hamprnshire, Massachusetts,” etc. This wording passed unanimously,rnbut was changed by the committee on style on the grounds thatrnit was not known which states would...

mentaries on America’s fundamental law. It was the text onrnconstitutional law used at West Point from 1825 until 1840. Inrnit, Rawle outlines the steps necessary for the legal secession ofrnan American state. By 1861 every Southern state had takenrnthose steps.rnForeign writers who had studied the Constitution concludedrnthat a state could secede from the compact. Tocqueville...

ganic, and indivisible: “indestructible states in an indestructiblernunion,” as Texas v. White would put it. This formulation was,rnof course, nothing but a mask for power, and it ignored the factrnthat Virginia had been dismembered without its consent and inrnviolation of the Constitution to create the Republican state ofrnWest Virginia, and that Congress had dismembered the...

dents away from their neighborhood and private schoolsrnthrough distinctive curricukims of a high quahty. ThernSupreme Court beHeves that a federal judge must bernable to right any wrong he sees. Righting the wrong inrnthis case apparendy meant high schools in which everyrnclassroom will have air conditioning, an alarm system,rnand 15 microcomputers; a 2,000-square-foot planetarium;rngreenhouses and vivariums;...

Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Giles on December 26,rn1825, “it is but too evident that the three ruling branches of thatrndepartment are in combination to strip their colleagues, thernState authorities, of the power reserved to them, and to exercisernthemselves, all functions, foreign and domestic.” In otherrnwords, the separate national powers would naturally have morernto gain...

would have a more accurate gauge as to whether the people arernin fact consenting to the decisions of the national government,rnespecially those of the Court.rnWe should adopt Madison’s solution to restore some consentrnof the governed and to provide a check on the Court and thernfederal government. Congress should not have any approval orrnveto power. As...

Judicial TaxationrnThe States Respondrnby John R. StoefflerrnThe Madison Forum was founded in 1993 by MissourirnState Senator Walt Mueller and me for three reasons.rnFirst, we wanted to respond to the Supreme Court’s claim inrnMissouri v. ]enkins (1990) that the federal judiciary’ has the authorityrnto levy or increase taxes. We believe this constitutionallyrnbaseless assertion by the Court...

putting the cart before the horse. But consider the followingrnand then decide whether our solution to ending judicial taxahonrnis, under the circumstances, reasonable.rnFollowing the Court’s 1990 riding in ]enkins, Senator JohnrnDanforth of Missouri actually proposed our idea of amendingrnthe Constitution for the purposes discussed above. Congressrnheld hearings on the idea, and several members objected.rnThey indicated...

ter flaw that ultimately would lead tornWatergate, In May 1959, Chambers,rndiscussing Nixon, wrote to Toledano:rnThe world is rather sensibly orderedrn. . . among lions and micern. . . . B u t . . . I question the wisdomrnof. .. the Lion who seems not torngrasp the workings of that orderrn. . . . Or...

Aided by over 30 research associates,rnsociologist Kathryn Edin and anthropologistrnLaura Lein inter’iewed 214 singlernwelfare mothers and 165 poor, workingrnsingle mothers in Chicago, Boston, SanrnAntonio, and Charleston. The authorsrnseek to undermine welfare reform by offeringrna rationale for congressional andrn”nonprofit” forces looking to cushion thernshocks welfare mothers will feel uponrnentering the world of work.rnMost of the mothers...

FJwa: GREAT TOPICS—GREAT ISSUESrnif.rnPRIVATE JUSTICE—JANUARY 1998—ThomasrnFleming on private justice, Michael Hill on Celtic revenge,rnBarry Baldwin on blood feuds, and Jeremy Blackrnon how the state monopolizes violence. Plus DavidrnKopel on burglary and the armed homestead, Stephen P.rnHalbrook on Switzerland and its armed citizenry, andrnGeoffrey Wagner on whipping in the West Indies.rnNATION UNDER GOD—December 1997—ThomasrnFleming praises intolerance,...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnAn Infantile Disorderrn”Why, we could lick them in a month!”rnboasts Stuart Tarleton soon after thernConfederates fire on Fort Sumter inrnMargaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.rn”Gentlemen aKva’s fight better than rabble.rnAmonth—why, one battle.” At thatrnpoint, young Mr. Tarleton is interruptedrnby Rhett Butler, a rather darker characterrnin Mitchell’s novel than the swashbucklingrnplayboy created...

then there was less than a universal consensusrnin the South for separation. Today,rnthat case simply does not apply. Thernmodern South has probably profitedrnfrom federal largesse more than mostrnother regions, and the argument forrnstates’ rights, which Southerners invokedrnfrom Jefferson to George Wallace, is silencedrnby the demands of Southernrnpoliticians for more farm subsidies, morerndefense contracts, more military...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnGermanyrnby Michael WalkerrnFat and ImpotentrnIn modern Germany, where even discussionrnof political ideology is a matterrnwhich has to be treated with extreme circumspection,rnpolitical debate centers onrnthe safer area of financial management,rnand in recent years the main purpose ofrnfinancial management in Germany hasrnbeen to ensure a smooth path toward fullrnEuropean unification. Since the currencyrnreform of 1948...

to the level of Spain or Greece. Ominouslyrnfor Germans, the mark has latelyrnbeen slipping against the pound and dollar.rnThe strong Deutschmark has enabledrnGermans to enjoy package toursrnall around the world and to impress underprivilegedrnaborigines with theirrnbulging beer-bellies and gold bangles.rnThe luxury holiday has become a way ofrnlife for them. Not being able to affordrnpackage holidays...

just as soon do without. The New Liberals’rnleader at the time, Rodrigo LararnBonilla, expelled the two after the Bogotarndaily El Espectador revealed theirrnconnections to the Medellin cartel. Escobarrnwas nevertheless reelected, in partrndue to his “soccer field in every barrio”rnprogram in Medellin. The next year,rnRodrigo Lara was named Minister of Justicernand announced a program to combatrncampaign...

tie unsafe and uncomfortable labor conditions.rnThe cartels could incorporaternand work as a multinational with Mexicornand Italy. And the national airline Aviancarncould send cocaine worldwide with itsrnnew rapid airmail service. Best of all,rnpresidential candidates would no longerrnneed to hide campaign contributions, asrnis done in the United States.rnNo, Colombians live too close to thernreality of drugs to...

36th District Court judge, to oversee arndisciplinary hearing.rnBased on the alleged racist remarks,rnFerrara was charged with judicial misconduct.rnHearings began in September.rnOne of her 14-year-old sons testified thatrnFerrara had said “nigger” on several occasions.rnHe also claimed that she hadrnasked him if there was a way to destroyrnthe infamous tapes. Ferrara denied herrnson’s accusations, claiming Tarjeft hadrncoached...

VITAL SIGNSrnHISTORYrnThe CensoredrnHistory ofrnInternmentrnby Joseph E. FallonrnIn March 1997, Japanese-Peruviansrnwho had been interned in the UnitedrnStates during World War II called uponrnPresident Clinton to issue an executivernorder awarding them financial compensationrnsimilar to that awarded in 1988rnto Japanese-American former interneesrnand relocatees under PublicrnLaw 100-383. Simultaneously, thesernJapanese-Peruvians lobbied members ofrnCongress to enact legislation whichrnwould award them this...

two most liberal members at that time),rnupheld the conshtutionality of ExecutivernOrder 9066. The Court ruled that thernexclusion of residents of Japanese ancestryrnfrom the West Coast was deemedrnnecessary because “there were disloyalrnmembers of that population whose numberrnand strength could not be preciselyrnand quickly ascertained.” There was alsorna justifiable fear that Japan would invadernthe West Coast. The...

Board of Education.) In return, Weldrngave gay activists carte blanche in hisrnadministration, appointing several homosexualsrnto state posts. Among themrnwas LaFontaine—who several years agornwas spotted in the periphery of an ACTrnUP protest in Boston in which homosexualrnmilitants pelted newly ordainedrnCatholic priests (and their relatives) withrncondoms as they left a church inductionrnceremony. Now LaFontaine’s activismrnis funded by...

locked on ratification of the Child LaborrnAmendment to the federal Constitution,rnthe lieutenant governor cast the decidingrnballot for the amendment. State senatorsrnand house members sued, arguing thatrnthe legislature had not actually ratifiedrnthe amendment. In Raines v. Byrd, thernCourt limited Coleman to the propositionrnthat “legislators whose votes wouldrnnot have been sufficient to defeat (or enact)rna specific legislative...

have written and proposed it to the otherrn12. And so it is today, as a single state legislature,rnsay Idaho, could propose a newrnConstitution to the other 49 state legislatures.rnThis state need not ask the feds forrnpermission to do this.rnThe point of all this is not actually tornform a new government in Washingtonrnbut to initiate a...

more intensive head starts, the ideologuesrnof sociahsm have locked us intornconsidering only the one (failed and failing)rnapproach to the alleviation of ourrnproblems.rnThe science that is so abused shouldrnbe explicitly stated. It is abundantlyrnclear, both for wheat plants and forrnhumans, that inherited genetic factorsrnand environmental experiences are bothrnimportant in determining outcomes,rnwhether wheat crop yields or human...

tenced to death. Or perhaps you shouldrngo to Israel, a Western-style democracyrnthat puts strict limits on the freedom ofrnChristian proselytizers. Try preachingrnJesus in Nazareth and you will be deportedrn—if you are lucky. Persist, andrnyou may get a chance to make somernPalestinian friends behind bars.rnRussia’s legislation is of course flawed,rnif only because religion should not bernregulated...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, JrrnWhistling DixiernHistorians have been arguing since thern1950’s whether the West ought to be understoodrnas a frontier, a region, or thernseamless westward extension of Easternrnand Midwestern America. Beginning inrnthe 1980’s the debate intensified, owingrnto the work of the so-called New WesternrnHistorians who like to think that theyrnstarted it all. Led bv...

make it out to be, but different enough tornmake a difference, especially in the longrnrun. The founders, developers, andrnboosters of the West’s great cities wererncertainly provincial, like the cities themselves,rnbut they built with the great cosmopolitanrncities of the East in mind,rncopying or aspiring to the Eastern urbanrnmodel while importing Eastern values,rncultural forms, and political institutions.rnMore...

Modern Scholarly Editions of ClassicrnWorks for Today’s ReadersrnHISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND TERNINATIONrnOF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONrnIn TVo VolumesrnBy Mercy Otis WarrenrnEdited and annotated by Lester H. CohenrnMercy Otis Warren was arguably the most formidable, intellectually engaged womanrnin eighteenth-century America. Steeped in the classical, republican tradition, she wasrnan ardent proponent of the American Revolution. She...

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EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnJ.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Milk,rnJacob Neusner, Momcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street,...

liarity of the American situation is thatrnthe distinctive logic of American religiosityrnjustifies this fragmentation of beliefrnand behavior. Hitchcock claims evangelicalrnChristianity as a second —andrncountervailing—force to secularism inrnAmerica’s founding. But he overlooksrnthe way in which these two strains —rnEnlightenment secularism and evangelicalrn(i.e., Puritan) Christianity—reinforcerneach other in American history.rnHitchcock says that as a philosopher Irnappear to believe...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnLARRY NAMAN had had enough ofrnarrogant and unresponsive politicians,rnand so he shot one. This past summer,rnthe (media-described) drifter took aimrnand shot at the head of Maricopa CountyrnSupervisor Mary Rose Wilcox—a runof-rnthe-mill politician in Phoenix, knownrnprimarily for how loud and how oftenrnshe can shout “police brutality.” Butrnthanks to an alert security official, thernbullet missed its...

backdrop for presidential visits to thernSouth.” For instance, “Brazil’s ChiefrnJustice Selso de Mello turned down anrninvitation to dinner with Mr. Clinton inrnprotest to an American embassy documentrnwhich dismissed the country’s judicialrnsystem as inefficient. The Americanrnambassador, Melvyn Levitsky, has spentrna week trying to undo misunderstandingsrnand apologizing for a reference to endemicrncorruption in Brazilian culture.”rnThe goodwill salvaged...

Corner.rn• The Roots of Roots: Philip Nobilerncontinues his debunking of the fictionalizedrnand plagiarized Pulitzer Prize-winningrnRoots “by” Alex Haley. As reportedrnin the October 6 issue of PublishersrnWeekly, Nobile claims that Haley was actuallyrn”semi-literate,” that “virtually everythingrn[in the book] was taken fromrnsomewhere else,” that even “the epiloguerncontains lies about its preparation,”rnand that “if [Doubleday] didn’trnknow [about the...

GREAT TOPICS—GREAT ISSUESrn•’/)/(/(.JrnNATION UNDER GOD—December 1997—ThomasrnFleming praises intolerance, D. George Leech outlines arnChristian foreign policy, William A. Donohue discussesrnthe last respectable bias-anti-Catholicism, Llewellyn H.rnRockwell, Jr. shows why the Christian right needs Econ.rn101, and Harold O.J. Brown questions the ethics ofrnclergy.rnMANIFEST DISASTER—June 1997—ThomasrnFleming on the new imperialism, Samuel Francis onrnglobalism and its consequences, Joseph Sobran on...

PERSPECTIVErnPlaying God, or Being Men?rnby Thomas FlemingrnIn the American TV nightmare, the police are the protagonists.rnOr the antagonists. It depends on the program and thernpoint of view. We love the idea of the tough cop—Clint Eastwood,rnDennis Farina, Dennis Franz —who breaks the rulesrnand busts a few heads in a good cause. But change channels,rnand when...

record.” Mike—or Tom—was not too bright, so I explainedrnthat he still had to do his own time. Eyeing me with contempt,rnhe said: “I don’t mind doing time: you meet a lot of great guysrnon the inside.”rnIn refiising to punish crime, we create, at the very least, incentivesrnfor criminal behavior. By not executing murderers,rnarmed robbers, kidnappers,...

come addicted to a fatal drug that destroys all inhibitions. Embracingrnanarchy and savagery, they are joined by representativesrnof every class. As the mobs sweep through the land, evenrncivilized people seize the opportunity of taking revenge againstrntheir neighbors for slights and injuries suffered years before.rnCivilization is in ruins, the land depopulated, when sevenrnhorsemen set off on...

done to the corporate body of the clan was so egregious that itsrnmembers never ceased to “have war in their hearts.”rnGovernments before the modern era did not see it as thernbusiness of the state to intervene in matters of justice that werernlocal in nature. In fact, there was a widespread belief that thernstate’s right to...