Author: The Archive (The Archive)

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Englandrnby Derrick TurnerrnThe Necessity forrnAncestor-Worshiprn”It is a noble faculty of our nature whichrnenables us to connect our thoughts,rnsympathies and happiness with what isrndistant in place and time; and lookingrnbefore and after, to hold communion atrnonce with our ancestors and our posterity.rnThere is a moral and philosophicalrnrespect for our ancestors, which elevatesrnthe character and...

dead Landon that: “The pride of bloodrnis a most important and beneficial influence.”rnIn a world speedily becomingrnhomogenized, it is vital that we retainrnsome vestige of exclusivity, so that whenrnseen in retrospect by some future Santavana,rn”Our distinction and glory, asrnwell as our sorrow, will have lain in beingrnsomething in particular, and in knowingrnwhat it is.” The...

dormitory did in the 1960’s.rnAnti-Russian bigots are wrong whenrnthey claim that Russia was always a lawlessrnstate, an “Oriental despotism” havingrnnothing in common with the West.rnIn its deepest roots Russia is of coursernWestern, an heir with us to Athens andrnJerusalem. The Kremlin is not thernHindu pantheon. The 19th century sawrnthe emergence here of an independentrnjudiciary and...

VITAL SIGNSrnETHICSrnPeddlers of Virtuernby Theodore PappasrnThe recent controversy involvingrnOlympic diving star Greg Louganisrnhighlights more than the moral degeneracyrnof the latest poster boy for AIDS.rnWhen Louganis hit his head on the divingrnboard and bled into the pool at thern1988 Olympics, the only honorable andrnmorally just thing for him to do was tornnotify all concerned that he...

watchmen, about the character of thernmen whom we rely on for instruction. Itrnis this very question that comes to mindrnwhen considering the recent controversiesrninvolving Bill Bennett, undoubtedlyrnthe most popular peddler of virtue today.rnThe first controversy involves Bennett’srnprepared remarks this January beforernthe House Appropriations Subcommitteernon Interior and Related Matters.rnBennett appeared on Capitol Hill to callrnfor the...

(from which he pulls eight consecutivernquotations) and an article by William K,rnFrankena. Much the same occurs inrnChapter Two, where 45 of the 48 footnotesrnderive from a single source, LonrnFuller and Robert Braucher’s Basic ContractrnLaw. Chapter Three has eightrnfootnotes, in one of which Bennett assertsrnthat what “has not received muchrnattention in contemporary thinking isrnRousseau’s theory [ot...

little story just as it is. But ColumbiarnPictures does not approve of the lessonsrnAlcott’s novel teaches. The religious elementsrnare attenuated beyond recognition,rnwith Alcott’s lessons about faithrnand morality replaced with anachronisticrndiatribes on the inequity of the sexes.rnEven the female casting choices underminernAlcott’s original purpose: the robustrnClaire Danes, for example, playsrnthe fragile Beth. Danes struggles to concealrnher...

March. (So insignificant is Mr. Marchrnthat one reviewer referred to the familyrnas a “single-parent household”). Otherrnmale characters violate the conventionsrnof polite behavior, at least by 19th-centuryrnstandards: as if they were cohabiting,rnBhaer enters Jo’s bedroom withoutrnknocking, kissing her familiarly on thernback of her neck.rnEven Laurie (peculiariy called “Teddy,”rnwhich he rarely is in the book) doesrnnot escape...

Nero, who said when he committed suicide:rn”What an artist dies in me.”rnWhen Mailer hears that some peoplernthink Madonna is profane—you know,rndoing what she does with the namern”Madonna”—he says: “Well, what can Irnsay? She’s daring and she’s Catholicrnherself. So, she knows the price she’srnpaying if she’s wrong. She really has arnkind of spiritual courage that is...

earth.” “Carter could only smile wanly.”rnOnce, when a Hollywood directorrnasked Mailer to write a screenplay forrnHumphrey Bogart, Mailer refused.rnWhy? “He was always turning downrnthings,” said one of Mailer’s wives. “Hernalways felt he would compromise himself.rnHe was so puritanical [!] that hernwouldn’t even do a radio talk show withrnsome actress because he would have tornsay ‘Drink...

LANGUAGErnFaux Amis inrnthe Balkansrnby John Peter MaheirnRoy Gutman’s Witness to Genocidernraises the specter of Janet Cooke.rnAlthough the author of V/itness to Genocide,rnthe 1993 Puhtzer Prize-winningrn”dispatches” on the “ethnic cleansing”rnof Bosnia, speaks American English,rnfrom the many awkward phrases in “his”rnbook one might infer that someonernother than Mr. Gutman wrote at leastrnparts of it.rnForeign language teachers have...

Reactions to the book center on threerngeneral myths about Q: that there is nornsuch thing as general intelligence, thatrnIQ tests are worthless, and that geneticsrnis insignificant when it comes to individualrnor group differences in intelligence.rnThe source of these fallacies is the ideolog’rnof egalitarianisn:., not scientificrnprecedent. Briefly, here is a closer lookrnat these popular myths.rnThe first...

detractors, the accusations continue tornsurface in the media as if thev were irrefutablyrnproven.rnFew scholarly works have encounteredrnthe hostile scrutiny that has confrontedrnThe Bell Curve. Each sentence of everyrnchapter as well as hundreds of endnotes,rnbibliographic entries, and even acknowledgmentsrnhave been scoured for “taintedrnsources.” The bulk of this criticismrncomes from egalitarian ideologues whornrefuse to accept any evidence...

from a lifetime spent under high-tensionrnwires. But reason is beside the point;rneco-capitalists know that paranoids andrntheir money are soon parted.rnhideed, given tlie hypochondriacrnleanings of environmentalists, one mayrnexpect that soon everv block may have atrnleast one New Age parent running uprnand down the street measuring radiationrnfrom telephone and light posts. Justrnimagine the consequences, which is notrnhard...

different political faction ruled thernroost—^with another 10 years of computerrntechnology under its belt.rnMeanwhile, education buzzwords arerncrafted so as to project an image far differentrnfrom what thev mean. “World-rnClass Standards,” “Core Curriculum,”rn”Education/Goals 2000,” “Life-RolernCompetencies,” “Higher Order ThinkingrnSkills”: none of these refers to academics,rnsubstantive knowledge, or evenrnliteracy. All are part of prepackagedrnadvertising campaigns, designed bv nationalrntask forces...

FAMILYrnLicensing Parentsrnby Christopher CheckrnL icensing Parents, a new book by Universityrnof Wisconsin psychiatristrnJack C. Westman, bewails a recent surgernin “incompetent parenting,” a phenomenonrnwhich he defines as deprivingrna child not only of sufficient food, clothing,rnand shelter, but also of “affectionaternholding, touching and talking,” all thernwhile displaying an “insensitivity to arnchild’s initiatives and reactions.” Thernresult? An unacceptable...

C h r o n i c l e s ‘ Art G a l l e r rnDusica Savic Benghiatrn56/CHRONICLESrnrnrn Add to Favorites

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnPapagueria: Irn”The wliole place would be abandonedrnif it weren’t an Indism reservation,”rnBernard Fontana was saying, “like sornmuch of rural America these days.rnThere are a lot of people on the reservationrnwho wake up in the morning knowingrnthat what they’re going to do todayrnisn’t worth sh-t. That may be true of thernrest...

ture—even the Spanish language andrnWestern dress. The Papagos were militarilyrnallied at the beginning of the 19thrncentury with the Spaniards against thernApaches. In 1775 the government ofrnNew Spain transferred its presidio northrn50 miles from Tubac to the O’odham villagernof Tucson, which lost immediatelyrnand forever its character as an Indianrncommunity. The Gadsden PurchasernTreaty between the United States...

nodern Editions of Classic Works for Today’s ReadersrnIN DEFENSE OF THE CONSTITUTIONrnBy George W. QireyrnIn Defense of the Constitution answersrnmodem critics of the Constitution wlio, inrnthe Ideological tradition of earlier twendethcenturyrnProgressives, assail it asrn”reactionary” and subtly distort itsrnfundamental principles to realize theirrnagenda—a new, elitist constitutional regimernbased on judicial supremacy. This bookrnvigorously defends the Founders’rnConstitution and...

..Utmt~-iMm~-JKmi~..’JKmi.r–StmmiJK^^ —Jtt^~..-Jltk—iML_JBk_>_iJBtk-.> Add to Favorites

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Jacob Neusner,rn]ohn Shelton Reed, Momcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934 North Main Street, Rockford,...

those wlio confronted Michael Westerman.rnThe mother of the alleged gunman,rninterviewed in her Riverdale, Illinois,rnhome said: “The problem thatrnbrought this about was racism.” Sherndoesn’t know how right she is.rnWhile we should not condone crossrnburnings or other rash and violent actsrnto avenge Mr. Westerman’s death, wernwould be well advised to exercise ourrnSecond Amendment right to self-protectionrnbefore we...

the state.rnMy friendship with Murray Rothbardrnwas one of the fruits of communism’srncollapse. I do not recall just when itrnhappened, but some time before the demolitionrnof the Berlin Wall or the secessionrnof the Ukraine, it became clear tornmany of us that we had been had, thatrnas conservatives we were constantly beingrnasked to play the sucker’s game...

death penaltv bills amounted to a dcfianeernof popular will, and he began tornmumble about holding a referendumrnon capital punishment. But this was toornlittle, too late.rnSince his inauguration, Pataki hasrngiven several speeches reaffirming hisrncommitment to capital punishment.rnThe case of Reuben Harris, a man withrna long criminal record who recently escapedrnfrom his captors and pushed anrnelded- woman...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnGnostic NewtrnThe hallmark of the sophomoric mind isrnthat it knows the sorts of things thatrnadult minds do but has not yet figuredrnout how to do them. Bright undergraduatesrnwho solemnly inform their professorsrnthat they plan to write term papersrnapplying what they have read about thernlatest fads of pop psychology to the enduringrnproblems...

mation accessing.” “We continue tornbehave as though we hved in the age ofrnbooks or even in the age of orally impartedrnknowledge,” Mr. Gingrich complained.rnSpeaking at the “Virtual America”rnconference on January 10, he made clearrnthat his views have not changed muchrnsince the above passages were publishedrn(in 1984—no comment), except perhapsrnthat he now sees his own role...

PERSPECTIVErnHaiti and American Empirernby Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.rnThink of all the ink spilled on foreign policy during thern80’s. Yet for all of Clinton’s “aceoniplishmcnts” on foreignrnpoliey (Middle East “peace,” NAFTA, Haiti), the suhjeetrndid not even appear on the political radar screen during thern1994 elections. Prank)-, ()tcrs do not care, and no fact ofrnAmerican political life...

cv? 1 liat is an illegitimate question, and an illegitimaternthought. To the universalist neoeonscrvatives, only culturalrnxenophobes would argue that not everyone needs the welfarernstate, universal suffrage, an imperial executive, civil rights, andrnfixed elections every four years. Just as the universalists expectrnAmericans to give up their cultural identity, so do they wantrnforeign peoples everywhere to sacrifice...

payers. And that courtesy has only just begun, beeause the foreignrnaid Haiti receives will quickly reach a half-billion dollars,rnand go up from there.rnThe isolationists on the paleoconservative right condemnedrnthe Haitian outrage from the beginning. Like Albert Jay Nock,rnthey know that “Every State, from the eariiest to the mostrnmodern, is a robber-State. Of its instruments for...

Why does this differ fromrnevery other handlx)olcrnon our government?rnClarence Carson pulls no punches as he explains why:rn”It would be a considerable fraud to do a book on American govenunentrnwhich talked as if the Constitution were still being substantially observed,rnthat pretended that when Presidents took the oath of office they intendedrnto observe the bounds set by...

guage in Kosovo, while in the eonstitution of thernprovince it is not obHgatory?”rnAnother man asked about the ereetion of a monument to thernAlbanian Prizren League, vvhieh he eharactcrized as a faseistrnorganization that sought to tear Yugoslavia apart. He alsornasked why the program of the Albanian nationalist group,rnBalli Combetar, was being earried out in Kosovo. Othersrncondemned...

strate tliat they arc afraid of no one and that they are strongerrnthan the regular governmental authorities, or to show publiclyrnthat those authorities are with them.” The lawless seemed tornbe protected by “persons in the presidency of the CommunistrnParty.”rnGuberina quoted from remarks by onetime minister of defensernand close ally of Tito, General Nikola Ljubicic, to...

paralysis of the political system, which required unanimityrnamong the republics on virtually all questions. The authorsrnsaw that under the system Tito bequeathed to his heirs, Serbiarnhad fallen behind in many ways. They also realized thatrnthe 1974 constitution effectively denied Serbia the power torndo anything about the advantages that had been conferred onrnother republics. It was...

Russian, and finding a Kazakh under 70 who does not speakrnRussian requires a long search, generally among the rural yurtsrnand herdsmen. In the “We Look for Work” ads, ethnic labelsrnarc a small percent but are not uncommon.rnAnyone who regularly visits government offices also sees thernfault lines. The higher you go in the bureaucracy, the clearerrnthe...

Rudenshiold’s false distinction leads him to conelude that thernmain obstacle to privatization is “the transfer of property andrnresulting empowerment of non-Kazakhs.”rnDespite Ambassador Courtney’s guarded optimism, PresidentrnNazarbayev’s political strategy has been to consolidaternKazakh control in the wake of independence. To do it, he hasrncentralized power and created an organizational structure thatrnmimics the communist system of central...

ment language alongside Kazakh and that the governmentrnhold a referendum to allow people to decide whether to joinrnthe Russian federation. In a similar referendum in 1991 thernvote was “yes” and the government’s response was “no.”rnThe country is conveniently divided for a civil war. Inrnsouthern oblasts, Kazakhs are a 60-90 percent majority. Theyrnare buttressed on their...

and Lord Dahlberg-Acton wrote cogently about the ganginguprnon the Commonwealth in 1772, 1793, and 1795, but theirrncomments were disregarded. The Congress of Vienna, laudedrnbv Western historians as a fountainhead of peace in Europe,rnconfirmed the partition of the largest state in East Central Europernand divided it among various empires with scant regardrnto religion, language, and cultural...

Western tariffs continue to cripple East Central Europeanrneconomies. Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski keep remindingrnus that, at present, NATO protects those Europeanrnborders which need no protection rather than those whichrnneed protection. But an effort of will to incorporate EastrnCentral Europe into NATO has not been made.rnLargely without being noticed, the American intellectual establishmentrnhas set up...

trade union weekly Tygodnik Solidarnosc.rnThe armehair warriors who talked about the return tornPoland of Lviv (the capital of western Ukraine) and Vilniusrn(the capital of Lithuania) are history. But the dream of a Polishrnrole in re-Christianizing Belarus, Ukraine, and perhapsrnRussia is strong, as witnessed by the throngs of Polish priestsrnand nuns who volunteer to go east...

CNN, National Socialist Public Radio, the New York Times,rnthe Washington Post, and the Washington Times), the opinionrnmagazines (from the New Republic to National Review, fromrnthe American Spectator to the Nation), organized religionrn(Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim), the offthe-rnshelf scribblers and blabbermouths (from William Satirernto Anthonv Lewis and Susan Sontag), and a bevy of ncoconservativernpinups...

vo. FYROM is landlocked (surrounded by Greece, Albania,rnSerbia, and Bulgaria), poor, and mountainous. Its capital cityrnis Skopje.rnApart from the meager data in the foregoing paragraph,rnthere is next to nothing to be said about FYROM and its inhabitantsrnthat would not be subject to dispute. As an alternativernto a blow-by-blow account of Macedonian events sincernAlexander rode Boukephalos...

movements on both sides of the border between the two predominantlyrnChristian states, as part of the formation of arn”Turkish axis between Bulgaria and Greeee,” eonneetingrnTurkey to FYROM. On May 31, the Sofia publieation Kontinentrndiscussed “the strong U.S. military presence in the Balkansrnduring the last two years and the unconcealed and increasingrnappetites of the United States...

At the same time, history and experiencerntaught Americans that “safety andrnordered hberty cannot exist withoutrncompetent government and that governmentrnwithout executive authority isrnno government at all.” Cautiously, theyrnput aside their fears and suspicions ofrnpower, and, in devising a new instrumentrnof government, also invented arnnew chief executive office to administerrnit. hidispensable to those proceedingsrnwas George Washington. “It...