Author: The Archive (The Archive)

its fruits—and those on condition that we left as good for others.rnThe moral doctrine that recent cnironmentalists have attributedrn(no doubt correctly) to the natie peoples whom Europeanrncolonists despised and conquered was actually one thatrnthose same Europeans held. The Minister of the British Crownrnwho recently quoted Ruskin in support of the Rio summit onrnenvironmentalism might as...

by this: stop harassing the whales because it gives them seriousrnpain, and has not even the excuse of sparing others pain.rnThe oMer ethical system urged us to live as decent humanrnbeings, and might easily have made the wider demand explicit:rnto allow or to help nonhuman creatures to live as decent a lifernaccording to their kind....

(and environmental) sense is the slow and careful formulationrnof national law and international treaty, founded in the (differing)rnmoral sensibilities of peoples around the world. We dornneed some general principle, and I would propose the liberalrnprinciple itself, suitably modified to include, explicitly, more ofrnthe world’s creatures than past liberals thought to do. Wernshould act according to...

In the fifth century B.C., Herodotus reports that Arabians behevedrn”the whole world would swarm with these serpents”rn(snakes) were it not for the fact that “Divine Providence” wasrn”a wise contriver.” Belief that “Divine Providence” ensured thernharmony of nature re’crberated among naturalists during thernEnlightenment, and similar notions pervaded early Americanrnthought. In the 18th century, the Swedish scientist...

for using physics to understand living things and their environment,rnhideed, the influenee of cybernetics was so intoxicatingrnthat Httle attention was paid to the lack of evidence for thernecosystem models that employed it.rn”One of the major criticisms of mathematical-theoreticalrnapproaches to ecology,” wrote biologist Robert J. Mchitosh, “isrnthat they commonly rest on simplifying assumptions, often unstated,rnthat make...

shifts in species eomposition, climate, and other conditions. Asrnpaleogeographer Cathy Whitlock wrote, “No millennium hasrnbeen exactly like any other during the last 20,000 years.”rnTherefore, “conservation efforts that emphasize the preservationrnof communities or vegetation types will probably bernunsuccessful because future climate changes quite likely willrndismantle the community or vegetation type of concern.” Andrnone of these natural...

disastrous consequences of policies based upon it, most scientistsrntoday would agree with environmental historian DonaldrnWorster, who said in 1994 that “the ecosystem has receded inrnusefulness. . . . Nature should be regarded as a landscape ofrnpatches, big and little . . . changing continually through timernand space, responding to an unceasing barrage of perturbations.”rnThe New...

firms—the ones that cannot adapt to the national demand forrnenvironmental quality. And the least charitable interpretationrnis that they are moral cowards, afraid to take on corporationsrnbut willing to beat up on the Sierra Club.rnCVV: It seems to me that, in arguing that a traditional Westernrnculture has been substantially weakened since the mid-rn1970’s, you are largely...

CW; You say: “Only when the nation at large feels secure inrnhow local people will deal with resources can local control becomerna reality.” But you are working backward here. The 13rnstates under the Articles of Confederation created the federalrngovernment and made it responsible to them. Power in Americarnis supposed to flow from the small governmental...

iarity with urban reality and values as urban ones have with ruralrnlife. Again, much of what they—the urbanites—know ofrnthe West and of country living comes from television; most recently,rnfrom Northern Exposure which, while a clever show in itsrnway, has nothing whatever to do with Alaska, Alaskans, orrnAlaskan life. As for urban values per se, urbanites...

the environmentalist and consumerist awakening of the 1970’s,rnwhen Congress passed a series of statutes designed to protectrnand clean the natural environment, including FLPMA, thernFederal Lands Polic)- and Management Act.rnThis innocuous sounding law greatly expanded federal landrnmanagement missions and budgets and staffs. It, combinedrnwith the Supreme Court’s decision in Kleppe v. New Mexico,rnchanged the central government...

Circuit Court of Appeals, where eventually the county againrnwas upheld. The decision stands as a legal precedent for propertyrnowners to bring assaults against every critical habitat designationrnin the country. It was another victory for elected localrngovernment against the unclected bureaucracy that devoursrnfreedoms; but, still, we received no concession, no admission,rnand no admittance. If the recalcitrant...

Conservatives and EnvironmentalistsrnAllies, Not Enemiesrnby John C. Vinson, Jr.rnConservatives and environmentalists generally have asrnmuch in common as the Hatfields and McCoys. Environmentalistsrnlike to point to the career of conservative JamesrnWatt and the comment of Ronald Reagan that once you’vernseen one redwood you’ve seen them all. Most conservatives, onrnthe other hand, view environmentalists as sentimental antimodernistsrnwho...

point, as often it is their oversight and determination alone thatrnprevent vested interests from evading the clear intent of environmentalrnlaws. If the criminal element reigns supreme, lawsrnwill be of little avail, as is the case in some African countriesrnwhere poaching is rampant.rnSeveral years ago, while I was visiting Georgia’s OkefenokeernWildlife Refuge, a resident told me...

He doubted that a highly urban society could impart thernvirtues necessary to maintain a free Republic. Once again,rnJefferson had greater faith in character than constitutions.rnThe Southern agrarian prophets of I’ll Take My Stand echoedrnJefferson and predicted 50 years ago with uncanny accuracy thernsocial and psychological malaise that would result in a wholesalernflight to the city....

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OPINIONSrnDecline and Fallrnby Herbert Londonrn’The true university these days is a collection of books.”rn—^Thomas CarlylernThe Price of Excellence:rnUniversities in Conflict Duringrnthe Cold War Erarnby Jacob Neusner andrnNoam MM. NeusnerrnNew York: Continuum;rn252 pp., $24.95rnWhen Woodrow Wilson left hisrnposition as president of PrincetonrnUniversity to run for governor of NewrnJersey, a reporter asked him why hernwould voluntarily give...

Jacob Neusner does not mince words.rnCritics might confuse his unimpeachablernstandards with high dudgeon, but,rnin fact, his judgment about people andrnplaces with which I am familiar is impeccable,rnand his courage in the face ofrnpetty criticism admirable. I should noternfor the record that I was a student at Columbiarnwhen Neusner was there; I studiedrnwith his advisor Morton...

patched together from novels, folktales,rnand wishful thinking.rnMuch of the argumentation will bernfairly obvious to educated people;rnin fact, we know a great deal about whatrnthe Greeks looked like, how they developedrntheir culture, and what theirrnattitude to foreign cultures was. A generationrnor two ago, when most halfeducatedrnpeople had read the ancientrnclassics, if only in translation, no MartinrnBernal...

for them have managed to share therncosts by appealing to foreign aid. Thisrnoption no longer pertains. Hardin insistsrnthat there is no global problem of populationrnand resources; each country willrnhave to take care of itself. Thus, hernmakes a powerful case for closed bordersrnand the end of immigration from poorrncountries to richer ones: “The productionrnof human beings...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Buchanan VictoryrnWhether a full-scale nuclear war betweenrnmodern superpowers would lastrnquite as long as the three-week blitzkriegrnamong this year’s candidates for the Republicanrnpresidential nomination is anrnintriguing question that neither militaryrnnor political scientists seem to havernasked, but whatever the answer, a duelrnwith nuclear weapons might well be lessrnbloodthirsty than the GOP’s recentrnshoot-out...

South and continued to dwell on his oppositionrnto free trade and abortion, issuesrnthat appealed only to special and limitedrnconstituencies. Perhaps most important,rnin South Carolina, he or his campaign orrnboth managed to flub the ConfederaternFlag issue, one that could hae broughtrnhim a clear victor) on the eve of a bankrnof Southern primaries. The story behindrnthe boondoggle...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter Fromrnthe Crimearnby William MillsrnThe Price of FollyrnOn the night train from Kiev to SimferopolrnI share a compartment with VolodymyrrnPrytula, a Crimean journaHst.rnCalled “Vova” by his friends, this slenderrnman with a Zhivagoesque mustache isrnmy sole contact in the Crimea. Hernspeaks little English, I no Ukrainian orrnRussian, but we communicate with thernhelp of Ukrainian red wine....

back at dark to Simferopol The next dayrna tearful mother calls Vova and says herrndaughter can no longer act as interpreter.rnThe mother is terrified that the criminalrngangs will knock off her daughter afterrndark, much less the American. Her fearsrnare not entirely groundless. A well-offrnbusinessman who was their friend hadrnbeen murdered within the year.rnThe fact is...

We also talked about the tension betweenrnthe Tartars and the Russians (notrnthe Ukrainians). In the early 1990’s,rnRussian officials would incite the “citizens”rnto tear down the Tartar tents orrnhalf-built houses. There are currentlyrnphysical encounters between the criminalrngangs who control the open-air marketsrnand the Tartar merchants. Therngangs try to shake them down and thernTartars will not go...

here and went on to make Christianityrnthe ofhcial religion. I noted that the interiorrnof the church was in a fine state ofrnrestoration and outside large mosaicsrnwere in various stages of completion, andrnFather Pavlov replied that the work wasrnbeing paid for by the worshipers. Most ofrnthe churches seized by the governmentrnwere being returned. In front of...

Letter From Londonrnby Derrick TurnerrnThe End of thernEast End?rnLate one night recently, after pub closingrntime, I walked through the back streetsrnof Whitechapel again, something I hadrnnot done for several years. The sight ofrnthe familiar streets and the old smellsrnand sounds reminded me of the sixrnmonths when I had lodged there, duringrnwhich time I had grown...

VITAL SIGNSrnMEDIArnMyopic Mediarnby Marc MoranornThe 1996 Radio and Television CorrespondentsrnDinner in Washington,rnD.C., in March may be remembered forrnshock-jock Don hnus’s tasteless diatribe,rnbut the real discord occurred behind thernscenes, hiterviews I conducted with toprnnews plaers at the dinner revealed arnmedia sharply polarized. Network newsrntitans clashed over the present state ofrnthe media.rnThe journalists in attendance had variedrnresponses...

I’m not even sure it was a liberal bias….rnI think Nixon was somewhat right, itrnwasn’t just paranoid. Sometimes peoplernreally are after you and sometimes thatrnwas the case with Richard Nixon.”rnThe members of the fourth estate reactedrnwith disbelief when confrontedrnwith a quotation from Bryant Gumbel ofrnNBC’s Today show. Mr. Gumbel calledrnPat Buchanan “Mr. Puke-anan” on thernFebruary...

cign Relations, met with legions of businessrntycoons, preached to a gathering ofrnover 100 religious leaders, generated audience-rnpleasing diatribes at assortedrnchurches and cafes, graced every majorrnnetwork’s “news” programs with inter-rniews (including a one-hour speech-athonrnwith CNN), visited the New YorkrnTimes, the Wall Street journal, and Time,rntouted the editorials from five majorrnnewspapers supportive of his economicrnand political policies,...

EDUCATIONrnRefugernby Peter LauriernWhen still relatively small, I sang inrna church choir whose quality wasrnthe envy of our whole capital city diocese,rnso that its members, who includedrna chorus of boy sopranos like myself,rnwere recruited, auditioned, trained, andrnpaid. This last feature helped reconcilernto plain song and Palestrina my careerrnarmy officer father who would have seenrnme in the...

I gave out what appears to have been arntoney-sounding address on the high roadrnto Bern, and felt the atmosphere mellowrntoward respectful deference in spite ofrnniv embarrassingly rusty French. My femalerncabby spoke well, beyond her vocation,rnand seemed the soul of Alpinerncomposure now more or less flummoxedrnby an overturned truckload of demijohnsrnand shards in the middle of...

tion for the arts, intangibles once knownrnas matters of soul, this by offering a traditionalrnspread—discourse, history, literature,rnphilosophy—in a classical ChristianrnAugustinian spirit (a “wising up”rnrather than a “dumbing down”) in thernhope of producing, for those who mavrnwant and need it, advanced standing atrnjust those “good” name schools whosernstandards have gone down for the countrnbut whose pride...

Why Can’trnCatholicismrnBe Trendy?rnIt’s stupid to fall for every passing fashion. Butrnthat’s the story of liberal Catholicism since VaticanrnII. Remember the silly infatuation with the “secularrncity”? Who can forget the red-hot liberation theologiansrnwhose Utopian dreams have turned to ash!rnThe list of follies is long.rnNow radical feminism is all the rage. And whatrnare we getting? Rampant divorce....

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EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.J. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnChristine Haynes, E. Christian Kopff,rnJ.O. Tate, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, John Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934...

On Democracy CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnIn his otherwise excellent column “ThernIllusions of Democracy” (Perspective,rnJanuary 1996), Thomas Fleming writes:rn”We, however, send our children to arnschool where they are taught theories ofrnEnglish grammar, theories of literary interpretationrn(New Criticism, Reader Response,rnfeminist interpretation—it is allrnthe same) and scientific theories theyrnwill never understand, much less apply.”rnI have taught in both high schools...

fended the United Daughters of thernConfederacy over the flag, the numberrnof chapters of the Sons of ConfederaternVeterans founded or revived has doubled.rnI think a number of things happenedrnamid resistance to forced integration tornbring the flag into use as the chief symbolrnof Southern identity. I rememberrnmy own father and uncles returningrnfrom World War II with stories...

might suppose that the admiral was involvedrnin the offense, were it not for thernsubhead, “Pacific chief criticized forrncomment on case.” Criticism is a mildrnword indeed for action that deprives arnman of the career and honors for whichrnhe had faithfully served and labored forrnmore than three decades. Exactly whatrnwas the offense in the admiral’s comment,rn”For the...

PERSPECTIVErnUnder the Ruble or An Idiot Abroadrnby Thomas FlemingrnIt was eight o’clock Moscow time when the overcrowdedrnBritish Airways Jet landed at Sheremetevo Airport. Liberatedrnfrom our Iron Maiden seats—BA seems to have squeezed inrnan additional seat per row—we made our way into the arrivalrnhall, happily anticipating if not a good Russian dinner, then atrnleast something to...

The whole idea of unilateral secessions, backed up by Germanyrnand the United States, is terrifying to a country that is only arnfragment of its former self, and even that fragment containsrnhostile Muslim nationalities.rnIn London I had drinks with a Soviet analyst who took a lookrnat my itinerary. The Gorbachev Foundation is a trip-wire. “Anrnunholy alliance...

Arbat, past the clubs and pizza parlors, which make it seem likernGreenwich Village in Antarctica, to the very end and cut over tornthe Novi Arbat.rnLebed’s office is a run-down building. In the conferencernroom, where we wait for the general, the blinds are broken andrntwisted. Standing outside the building, our student friend doesrna Lebed impersonation: “I...