At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe }^onpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

THE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnThird International ConviviumrnTHE UNSINKABLE ISLANDrnNorsemen, Anglo-Normans, and Celts came to conquer and ended up going native.rnThe capacit}’ of the Irish to endure conquest and convert their “masters” makes a greatrnstory—told incomparably by their poets, novelists, dramatists, and pub raconteurs withoutrnwhom (if you believe them) English literature would have been a paltry affair.rnJoinrnChronicles editors...

EDITORrnThomas Flemingrnr,XEc;iiTiVEF,DrroRrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnARE DIRECT’ORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCGKT’RIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Carrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhiUh Jenkins, J.O. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Ijvingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnEILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnEORHTGN-AEEAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnEEC;AL-AEH’AIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnREEIGION EDrrORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobhsrnGIRCHEATTON MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford...

The same goes for the League of thernSouth. I joined this organization recentlyrneven though I liave to admit to a tingernof guilt for not fully understanding what Irnam supporting. You see, I was always ofrnthe t’pical opinion regarding the Southrn(I am sure you know what I mean), untilrnI was made aware, through readingrnChronicles, of how...

has been applied to subsequent retellingsrnof the case.rnAnyone wishing to understand thernthoroughly religious nature of contemporaryrnliberal ideologies could do no betterrnthan to watch Anatomy of a Hate Crime,rnMT^’s recent dramatized reconstructionrnof the story, and the first of a wave ofrnShepard-related passion tales. Of course,rnShepard is depicted as morally perfect,rnSana peiir et sans reproche, and any...

KING was a strong and clearrnvoice for freedom,” declared PresidentrnGeorge W. Bush during a Martin LutherrnKing, Jr., Day commemoration. Hisrnnominee for attorney general, JohnrnAshcroft, proudly proclaimed duringrnSenate testimony that, “By executive order,rnI made Missouri one of the first statesrnto recognize Martin Luther King Day.”rnThese are strange words from self-describedrnconservatives, even of the “compassionate”rnstripe.rnAlthough the Supreme...

AUBERON WAUGH, R.I.P. Therndeath in Janiiaty of the British journalistrn(and Chronicles contributor) occasionedrna startling outpouring of grief. The DailyrnTelegraph of London weighed in withrnfive pages, and that was just on the nextrnday. Every one of Waugh’s many admirersrnwas permitted a remembrance —evenrnin newspapers he had ridiculed, such asrnthe Observer and the Guardian. The coveragernwas so...

The Unsinkable IslandrnNorsemen, Anglo-Normans, and Celts came to conquer and ended up going native.rnThe capacity of the Irish to endure conquest and convert their “masters” makes a greatrnstory —told incomparablv by their poets, novelists, dramatists, and pub raconteurs withoutrnwhom (if you believe them) English literature would have been a paltry affair.rnJoinrnChronicles editors Thomas Fleming, Scott...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Conspiracy of Conspiraciesrnby Thomas FlemingrnThe scene is Rome, about A.D. 300. The Augustus Maximianrnhas returned to the ancient capital to oversee the constructionrnof the lavish baths that will bear the name of the seniorrnAugustus, Diocletian. Although Maximian is a rough customerrnfrom the Balkans and speaks a tough-gu’ Latin that soundsrnmore like Rumanian than the...

trast, believed in everything, especially the more exotic demonsrnof Egypt and Syria. To tell the truth, lamblichus was a bit of arnnut, but his mishmash of Egyptian supershtion and Greek philosophyrnappealed to the mob.rnAt the last minute, he invited an old-fashioned patrician, AniciusrnPriscus, expert in Etruscan augury. Priscus was a wellknownrnsnob, an expert on senatorial...

with their Egyptian fantasies . . . “rnWithin moments, Anicius was on the torturers’ hooks as arnsuspected Christian, and lambhchus’s plan for setting up an officialrnanti-Christian church was adopted unanimously by Maximianrnand Galerius, as it were, the two vohng members of therncommittee. “But,” Porphyr)’ suggested delicately, “What if?”rn”Wliat if they do win? They have so...

comes universally respected as a fiercely incorruptible truthtellerrnwhose books get published simply because they are wonderful.rnEqually, the academic who exposes his predecessor’s venalrnfolly, such as his going to work with the Soviet archivesrnunder Brezhnev and being used by the Kremlin in the process,rnboosts his credibilit}’ before accepting Andropov’s invitation tornwork with those same archives, or...

Any detailed review of Suvorov’s argument is ob iously beyondrnthe scope of this article, nor is he my subject here. WhatrnI want the reader to consider, in the light of an argument that Irnpersonally regard as complete and irrefutable, are its politicalrnimplications. If Hitler was Stalin’s creature, were not Britainrnand the United States wrong to...

ten off as “conspiracy theorists.”rnThere are two ways of dealing with the Wliig position. Thernfirst is to reduce it to the absurd conclusion of the history professorrnfrom Cincinnati: Once we solve the problem of history,rnwe are confronted by an architectural problem, namely, whyrnpeople build all those rooms in all those buildings. The alternativernis more realistic:...

precisely because it repudiated the crude materialism of mostrnwell-known Enlightenment thinkers. In his treatise “Pythagorasrnor the consideration of a secret art of ruling both world andrngovernment,” Weishaupt proposed his system as the only possiblernway to implement the imperatives of the Enlightenment.rn”Is there any greater art,” he wrote,rnthan uniting independently thinking men from the fourrncorners of...

200 years. Weishaupt was wise enough to see that “reason” ofrnthe sort proposed by the Masonic lodges of strict observancernwould never bring about social order. As the chaos in thosernlodges proved, reason often led to conflicting ideas about whichrnprogram to follow. The Illuminist system took the law into itsrnown hands and molded its members’ behavior...

Cui Bono?rnConspiracy Theories: A Rothbardian Perspectivernby Justin RaimondornDuring the debate over our unnaturally extended presidentialrnelection, David Corn, associate editor of the Nation,rnappeared on CNN’s Crossfire and took up the cudgel in defensernof Gore and his fellow coup-plotters. The smarmy Corn parriedrnhis opponent’s contention that Al Gore and the Democratsrnwere trying to steal the election with...

ologies, we are expected to believe that the actions of politiciansrnand parties are undertaken for the good of the countr)’ ratherrndian the vulgar self-interest of the participants. No ordinary personrnbelieves this (especially these days), but this civic conceit isrnstill ritually invoked by the three major interest groups supportedrnb’ the state: big business, big labor, and...

should culminate in Al Gore’s beerhall putsch.rnEmploying the temiinology of the Austrian School of economicsrn(elaborated by Ludwig von Mises, his teacher and mentor),rnRothbard put it this va-:rnThe “conspiracy theorist,” at his best, is simply a personrnwho possesses basic praxeological insight: that men act,rnthat they choose means in order to obtain certain preferredrnends. The opponents of...

cians thought to be friendly to Arab interests and helped to defeatrntwo Illinois members of Congress, Charles Percy and PaulrnFindley, for championing negotiations between the Israelis andrntlie PLO. Even more shamelessly, AIPAC has exploited misplacedrnAmerican Christian guilt over the holocaust when lobbyingrnfor U.S. military support for Israel. If the source had notrnbeen a right-wing journalist,...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsi of tJie QTimesirnVol. 3 No. 3 March 2001rnThe pro-Gore bias of the American mediarnduring the five weeks of post-electionrnlegal and political wrangling was as unsurprisingrnas it was obvious. Most foreignrnmedia were even less restrained. On Decemberrn14, BBC commentator Brian Barronrntold British television viewers thatrnGeorge W. Bush’s “mandate is all...

“rocky at best”:rnThe major wild card is whetherrnthe new U.S. Administration willrnattempt to proceed with the peacernprocess in the mold of Oslo, orrnrealize that the Oslo mold hasrnbeen broken and a whole new conceptrnis in order. The cornerstonernof this new concept shouldrnbe that i t is not I s r a e l ‘ s...

ing most of his life in the early 20th century,rnand no modern poet seems to havernpaid any attention to him.rnCrowley joined up with a secret grouprncalling itself the “Hermetic Order of thernGolden Dawn,” which has been the subjectrnof far more romance and intriguernthan it ever merited. The Golden Dawnrndid harbor some writers of note, includingrnthe...

Any time I catch you, you will pay.rnOr the secretive, impenetrable CousinrnLilias (the family black sheep?), whornSeems to move in time to a bellrnthat tollsrnBeyond the carehil measures ofrnnight and day,rnHer mind a prospect of indifferentrnskies.rnOr Uncle Wallace, who, with sifter inrnhand, preaches the virtues of restraint inrnall things, corporeal and spiritual, andrnabout whom the...

Port William and the town’s self-appointedrnsophisticate, are flesh and blood. Havingrncome to Port William in her superficialrnlove for Roy Overhold, a native son,rnCecelia proceeds to lord it over therntownspeople with her own superior upbringingrnand “refined” tastes. “She didrnnot like Port William pronunciation, diction,rnand grammar,” Jayber explains.rn”She did not like its public loafing andrnspitting. She did...

anxious and ambitious outsider, Boswellrnnevertheless had a genius for friendship.rnHe successfully courted two notoriousrnintellectual celebrities, Voltaire andrnRousseau, whose lives and thought werernantithetical to those of his moral hero,rnSamuel Johnson. Forced by his father intorna law career, he lost several clients to therngallows and witnessed their executions.rnHis adventurous trip to the wilds of banditriddenrnCorsica, then ruled...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnI’ve Got a SecretrnBack in November and December,rnwhile Republicans across the countryrnwere writing letters, calling in to talk radio,rnand even taking to the streets tornprotest Al Gore’s attempt to steal the electionrnin Florida, their fellow party membersrnin Rockford remained strangelyrnsilent. They must have found it disquietingrnwhen the Bush campaign kept...

Jackson, and Americans don’t mind.rnThe’ may say they do; they may evenrnthink they do; bnt their actions speakrnlouder than their words. Bih Chntonrncould have awarded the PresidentialrnMedal of Freedom to the Prince of Lies,rnand he would still have left office with arn70-percent approval rating. (Come tornthink of it, he did award the medal to thernReverend...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Venicernby Andrei NavrozovrnThe Women’s MovementrnAfter an uninterrupted spell of a winterrnmonth or two here in Venice —all footstepsrnin the evening mist, and quiet conversationrnabout the best way to cookrnpheasant, and a Neapolitan card gamerncalled “seven and a half—what one noticesrnon arriving in London is the wayrnwomen move. First of all, it’s the speed.rnWithin...

while watching her cross Campo S. Stefanornin the company of a golden retriever.rnAnd Stella C —, a young mother, tragicallyrnwidowed, vestal, with the face of arnCimabue Madonna, is somebody tornwhom I imagine an absolute stranger willrnone day propose, on bended knee, with arnsmall bouquet of mainland daisies and arndiamond riviere from Chatila of OldrnBond Street...

Sukarnoputri, who has seemed more interestedrnin improving her standing withrnthe MusHm poHtical parties than in preventingrnMushm fundamentahsts fromrnkilHng Christians.rnA retired general, who wished to remainrnanonymous, beHeves that there arernonly a few “fanatic Muslims” in thernarmy’s leadership, so Wahid simplyrn”needs to replace them.” But Lobulisa isrnmore pessimistic: “We have changed therntop management of the military and...

Simple humanitarian help, they believe,rnis nnrealistic because the Muslims “arernkilling now. Action needs to be directedrnlike Kosovo. It needs to be discussed inrnthe U.N. Security Council.” hiternationalrnpressure might cause the Indonesianrnmilitary to stop the conflict; if not,rn”the West should act.” A retired generalrnargued that the goal should be to “makernthe military neutral. If not, then...

The previous stop had given us a leadrnon a possible guide and boat for me, sornwe returned to Monte Cristi. As we askedrnabout in the neighborhood, I saw a fatherrnand son carefully grooming one of theirrncocks for a coming fight. Thev told usrnwhere Rojillo—the man with the b o a t -rnlives. We struck a...

The American Interestrnby Srdja TrifkovicrnWill President Bush Resist thernGlobal Interventionists?rnIn the second presidential debate last October,rnGeorge W. Bush warned VicernPresident Gore that it is not America’srnrole to patrol the planet and to arrangernother peoples’ lives in its own image.rnThe United States must be proud andrnconfident of our values, he said, “butrnhumble in how we treat...

VITAL SIGNSrnPOLITICSrnEverything OldrnIs New Againrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnMaureen Dowd, premier columnistrnfor the New York Times, is possessedrnof a rare professional gift: She canrnbe mean (often really mean) and funnyrn(often very funny) at the same time.rnWhat’s more, her potent powers of observationrnand sheer talent as a writer usuallyrncombine to mitigate her predictablernWashington cynicism.rnBut with the election...

current culture. The fact is, we live inrntimes that are so relentlessly and obsessivelyrn”modern” that the most modernrnthing a president could possibly do is tornput together a government that feels “notrnthe least bit modern.” In a society thatrnhas proudly assaulted as “judgmental”rneverytliing from federal law to everyday etiquette,rnit is positively futuristic—it’s downrightrnradical, for God’s sake—to...

The purpose of this queshon —anotherrnpopular homosexuahst argument—isrnto make any appeal to principle lookrncold, abstract, inhuman, and heartless.rnhi the average American mind, “love”rnjustifies almost anything because it is uncontrollablernand requires us to do thingsrnno one else can judge.rnFinally, there is the straightforwardrninsult. In another Issues, Katie Sherrod,rna longtime writer for the EpiscopalrnWomen’s Caucus (a group...

also a member of Johnny Cash’s band.rnRespect for tradition is not synonymousrnwith stagnation, and Stuart hasrndone more than simply ape the sounds ofrnhis heroes. He has carried the influencernof Flatt and other bluegrass legends andrnJohnny Cash into his solo career. Hisrnfirst album, Busybee Cafe, has a substantialrnbluegrass and old-time country flavorrnthat is aided by the...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnOdysseysrnHomer’s Odyssey is the perfect narrativernform for film. What other medium is asrnwell equipped to render fantastic journeysrnfilled with willful gods, unreasonablernmonsters, and enchanting women?rnThis explains why three recent films haverndrawn upon the epic for their inspiration.rnhi O Brother, Where Art Thou?, filmmakingrnbrothers Joel and Ethan Coenrnhave decided to go James...

tinue working on his grandfather’s cattlernranch. When the old man dies, however,rnCole’s mother c|uickly sells the land to oilrndevelopers and leaves for California tornbecome an actress. She represents modernrnAmerica: Rather than nurtnre whatrnlittle tradition she’s been born into, sherncashes it in for qnick money and vulgarrnfame. Cole, on the other hand, is arnhorseman, even instinctively...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnThe Rockford Institute’s Northern Italian ConviviumrnITALY FROM ROME TO NAPOLEON—Audiotape—Thomas Fleming traces thernhistor’ of Italy from the days of ancient Rome tfirough the 18th century. Addressing thernthree regions of modem haly, he discusses the formation of the system of patronage, thernevolution of the Roman Republic, and the surprising level of...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

j:niT()Rrnihomus FlemingrnI’xvr.viwEKDnoRrnScutt P. RichertrnSEMOR KDI’IOR. BOOKSrnQh’ihon W’iUiamson. ]r.rnAssiS’iANri’:i)ri’ORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESICNERrnlelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, ].0. late, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDI’IORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston. William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNarrozov, Jacob hleusnerrnEII.M EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFORKIGN-AEEAIRS EDITORrnSrdja ‘IrifkovicrnLEGAL-AFFAIRS H’.DITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRIvTARYrnLeann DobbsrnCIRCIiLVIION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternA...

McCartnc’ would call “dire consequences.”rnAll of them indicate that sexualrnimnioralih—especially in women —isrna threat to the social order. All of diemrnindicate that sex diseonneeted fromrnmorals leads to horror. Taken together,rnthese fictions enibod’ the sexual moralrnpatrimon- of the West. A culture superiorrnto our own might ha’e learned thesernlessons the eas’ wa’, by reading theserntexts w ith...

the Florida legislature had vindicated itsrnown rights by appointing the slate of electorsrnthat had been chosen according tornthe statutory’ scheme created b the legislature.rnIt is true that this route niav havernproduced two slates of electors fromrnP’lorida, but that is not a constitutionalrnproblem. If Florida’s legislature had certifiedrnone set of electors and Florida’srnSupreme Court had tried...

a ]3()11 \a,s taken whicli rccaled that twornthink ot the American publie approeclrnot C’linton’s performance in office, ticxiialrngctmes and all. Oli, “es, some people saidrn(showing more sophistication than tlicrnpundits), the might not wan! (Jhiitonrngoing out with their danghters; but thatrnhad nothing to do witli die prcsidenewrnKecr before has there been snch arngap between poUtical wisdom...

vote seems pernianently lost to the Democrats.rnAs an immigration centrist (aboutrnthe only issne on which I’m centrist), I’mrnwilling to sit back and see if Bush—who gotrn30 percent of tlie fiispanic vote versus fivernpercent of the black vote —can do somerncoalition-building. I tliink he v ill trv’.rnSo bring on the Ivnch part)’. I think vernhave, in...

by the sword. We might also speculaternwhether it was wise to attack JusticesrnScalia and Thomas, as Al Gore did duringrnhis campaign. No matter. Those ofrnus who still believe in the rule of lawrncould rejoice that seven of the nine justicesrnof the U.S. Supreme Court had therncourage to say the right thing, and fivernhad the courage...

PERSPECTIVErnFree Greeks, Servile Americansrnby Thomas FlemingrnConservatives are fond of saying that the United States is arnrepnblic, not a democracy, and in their appeals to the nationalrnconscience, they invoke the sacred language of republicanrntradition, citing scriptures from Aristode and Cicero, fromrnEdmund Burke and George Washington: the ride of law, a virtuousrncitizenry, and ordered liberty. Like most...

tliat money wasn’t eerything (“Wealth, wealth makes thernman,” as one eynical prover]> went), none of them vvonid pretendrnto rise above all such material qneshons.rnEven Aristotle, who regarded the life of eontemplahon as therneiilmination of human existence, was er” clear about the needrnfor a certain level of wealth and comfort. But we, whose entirernculture for two...