Category: Imported

around the Eurocentric world view,”nthe report informs us, “is limited andnnarrow.” “The near exclusion of otherncultures in the curriculum gives EuropeannAmerican children the seriouslyndistorted notion that their culture is thenonly one to have contributed to thengrowth of our society.” It makes whitenchildren “arrogant” and instills in themnthe idea that they are “part of thengroup that...

Most Americans don’t know much about art, but theyndo know what they don’t like, namely blasphemy,npornography, and perversion. When they began to realize,nin the course of 1989, that their own government, throughnthe Nahonal Endowment for the Arts, was funding exhibitionsnof homosexual photographs and crucifixes in urine,nthey blew off enough steam to heat the entire city...

distinguished from their activity as public art patrons. Stalinnis said to have wept when he ordered the death of OsipnMandelstam, but the poet’s murder was an affair of state.nThe same Stalin, along with Hider and Mussolini, creatednand fostered artists and architects whose works embodied thenaims of their ideological regimes. If you visit the Ara Pads...

trot out official dissidents like Yevtushenko to prove that theynwere really open-minded. American radicals are, in a literalnsense, the loyal opposition, because they support the culturalnand moral goals of the regime: social dissolution, decay ofncommunity, and the sense of helplessness and anomie thatnencourages dependency. Where’s the danger in that? Younhave only to read their poems...

What was fresh and impudent in the 20’s is now as “weary,nstale, flat, and unprofitable” as all the other cultural “uses ofnthe world.”nThe final result of the cultural revolution that coincidednwith World War I is that a writer or painter today has twonpaths before him: a profitable career as capitalist artist or ancomfortable sinecure as...

“the mainstream.” That’s how Democrats used to win thenbig elections—by showing a serious respect for the thoughtsnand feelings of the American majority.nAs an Episcopalian, I am somewhat more committed tonthe aesthetics of religion than most other sects, though, as anChristian, I still have to believe that the aesthetic experiencenis not essential to either faith or...

view. Truth is the Georgia Review was sternly warned andnpressured not to publish the Masters piece, the danger beingnthat not only the magazine, but also the University ofnGeorgia Press and the university, itself, would pay deariy fornthe indiscretion of allowing a forum for criticism of thenNEA. Stanley Lindberg, editor of the Review, was somewhatnhesitant and...

gentsia” whose skills have become essential to the maintenancenof an “information society.”nWhile these technologists are not bound by ansufficient common interest to make them anpolitical class, they do have common characteristics.n. . . The norms of the newnintelligentsia — the norms of professionalism — are andeparture from the hitherto prevailing norms ofneconomic self-interest which have...

tive, but as propaganda for commodities — for the replacementnof things by commodities, use values by exchangenvalues, and events by images. The very concept of newsncelebrates newness. The value of news, like that of any otherncommodity, consists primarily of its novelty, only secondarilynof its informational value. The news appeals to the samenjaded appetite that makes...

hustlers promoting something of the same vision of the goodnlife, one that mocks decent people with the promise ofnsudden wealth and glamour.nNone of this gets into Ehrenreich’s account of thencultural class war. Indeed she denies the existence ofnsuch a conflict, preferring to interpret the debate aboutn”values” as a debate confined to the new class. To...

new class as a whole, the scientists and technicians as well asnthe literary intellectuals. But Gouldner too was afflicted withnnew class myopia. He had no understanding of the terriblenlimitations of “critical discourse.” The critical temper canneasily degenerate into cynicism. It can degenerate into ansnobbish disdain for people who lack formal education andnwork with their hands,...

effective schooling. Most schools with proven academicnsuccess share several ingredients that most unsuccessfulnschools lack. Those ingredients are qualitative, not quantitative:nmediocre schools often spend lavishly, outstandingnones often have modest budgets. The desirable qualities arenthe kind that centralized government agencies cannotnnurture but almost always strangle.nEffective schools have strong principals who act not asnpaper-pushers but as academic leaders....

textbooks treat religion. The reaction from the staff researchersnwas as fierce as anything I’ve experienced innWashington: one called the proposal the worst he had seennin his entire career. We approved it anyway, and Vitznproceeded to write what is now recognized as the definitivenwork on this subject. His findings have been accepted byngroups ranging from the...

NEW FROM LIBERTY FUNDnTHE ETHICS OF REDISTRIBUTIONnby Bertrand de JouvenelnIntroduction by John GraynThe distinguished French political philosopher Bertrand denJouvenel shows, through many varied and insightful arguments,nthat redistribution is ethically indefensible for, and practically unworkablenin, a complex society. In fact, it would result, not in thenredistribution of income, but in the redistribution of power fromnindividuals and...

And everyone had Reader’snDigest Condensed Books andnread them and the women hadncoffee klatches late in thenmorning and there was a roundnof swirl of Entenmann’s coffeencake and they would leave deepnred lipstick marks on the coffeencups and they wore pedalnpushers and bounced babies onntheir freckled knees andngossiped about . . . what?nThose red lipstick marks and...

skirt and a blue workshirt andnheavy walking shoes with whitenwoolen socks. Not exactlynWhite House issue, but I wasngoing walking. She looked menup and down and I swear hernmouth curied. She looked awaynand said something to an aide.nThe next time I saw her I hidnbehind a pillar.nCount these personal pronouns. Wondernabout that attire. Meditate upon thenthoughts...

became a Beltway media star. As formernLBJ speechwriter Ben Wattenbergnhas written by way of lampoonirignher, “Extra: Extra: President to readnGlotz’s speech tonight.” Now we learnnthat the speech was not always byn”Glotz.” (“Glotz” was the first presidentialnspeechwriter to star in annEsquire celebrity profile, legs over ancouch arm, thus providing what wasnapparently the last straw for then...

that respected individuals and providednthem with a relatively safe and securenplace in which to live, the UnitednStates had devolved into an increasinglynunsafe, unhealthy, and uglified territoryndominated by technocrats rulingnover a neurotic, dependent, and evisceratednpopulace. All of these themesnare explored in Abbey’s first successfulnnovel. The Brave Cowboy (1956),nwhich served as the basis for the filmnLonely Are...

desert view from their decks. A packednpublic hearing gives official endorsementnto the project, and protestors atnthe site are dispersed by the state andnfederal constabulary, making yet anothernpart of the great American outdoorsnsafe for economic growth. But,nlike Igor and Frankenstein’s Monstern— or Robin Hood, if you prefer —nHayduke lives, and has returned withnhis allies to take...

American cultural history. In it, Fischernhas drawn upon many sources of importantninformation: narratives, statistics,nlinguistics, literature, diaries, topography,narchitecture, and politicalnscience. The result is a brilliant andnformidable achievement, a major Americanncontribution to the internationalntradition of great historical writing.nFischer is a revisionist who subscribesnto the “Teutonic germ” theory ofnAmerican history, believing that thenroots of the American system are...

Letter From thenHeartlandnby Jane GreernWe’re Not as Dumbnas They ThinknIt’s gone just about too far this time.nIn the past year, North and SouthnDakota were included in a group ofnstates described as “America’s Outback”nby Newsweek. As if that weren’tnbad enough, both states were also leftnout of a Rand McNally photographicnatlas. (The editors smiled urbanely,none imagines, and...

Letter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednAnother CountrynMost of my news this month has to do,none way or another, with country music.nIn a roundabout way, a story out ofnSouth Carolina last fall got me thinkingnabout that particular contribution of thenSouth to world civilization.nIt seems the dean of student affairs atnthe University of South Carolina askednthe...

ing when he lost his self-restraint lastnAugust and led police on a chasenthrough Wilson County, North Carolina,nthat covered 50 miles in half annhour. (That’s an average of 100 mph,nfor those of you who are computationallynchallenged.) The chase endednafter a cross-country run through annumber of fences and a police car. Annimage worthy of The Dukes of...

COMMONWEALnA Future fornEuropenby Thomas MolnarnPolitical scientists are now grumpy.nInstead of waxing enthusiasticnabout the 40 days that shook the woridn—let us say from the crumbling of thenBerlin Wall to Ceausescu’s executionn—they resent the brutal intrusion ofnreality on their slumber. It used to be soncomfortable to think in terms of superpowernpseudo-polarity, and global democratizationnis likely now to...

all three are aware that the forevernturbulent regional powers, Russia andnGermany, must be locked into a policynof mutual benefit, if the national projectsnof the other East European countriesnare to succeed — incidentally, thenfirst such projects since about 1500,nwhen the Turkish night descended onnthe East European Renaissance, andnsuccessive reigns of Habsburgs andnMuscovites snuffed out all velleities...

what the newspapers say, at no time innthe last forty years did its neighborsndetest it. They were merely then asnthey will be in the future — vigilant,nthe normal thing among neighbors.nFor the rest, it will be a symbioticnrelationship, a shared culture. Look atnthe cities: Vienna, Prague, Budapest,nKrakow, Riga, Dresden — they speaknof one tradition, style,...

the more lofty the purpose of thesencollaborations, the more they are likelynto arrogate to themselves a wide rangenof powers and perquisites, which theyninevitably abuse. Wiseman seems notnto be so much shocked by these perversionsnand betrayals as. amused. There isnalso the dolorous satisfaction in seeingnthe confirmation, yet again, of his morenor less dismal expectations. NearnDeath is...

of us. So the politicians have had theirnsay, and through them, the people.nBut what is it that we have said? Thenmessage is that we are cheap andncowardly. A more generous or merelynmore intelligent expenditure of medicalnresources would provide some ofnthe things that aren’t necessarily reimbursednby third-party payers (or at leastnnot under the present operating rules)nbut...

wing and antique door moldings theynfound in a pasture somewhere. Butnthey pay a terrible price for this ability,nas people with irrepressible talent oftenndo. They go around for three yearsn(the required renovation period) lookingnlike they just witnessed a trafficnaccident. They begin to talk incessantlynabout wood and become oblivious tonthe bits of dried plaster stuck to theirnforearms....

Quite simply: tlte finestnone’Volume Cliristiaii refereneenin tite Cn^lislt-spesddbug ^irorldni(^y:n”Indispmsabk”… “hasmpeer”… *’thesit^knwstnus^l r^erence book for Christianity” — a few qftiwnaccolades for tins magisterial woHcnNothing of Christian interest is absent from these pages. The sweep is awesome:nThe history of the Church • doctrines • denominations • short biographies of somen4,500 eminent Christians: models of accuracy and objectivity...

nnround thenworld, there isnmuch talk ofnpeace and thatnis good, l^t wenshould remember,nas PresidentnReagan said,n”Peace isn’t simplynan absence ofnwar, but a pres­nence of justice.”nTyranny, in all itsnforms, corruptsnjustice and stiflesnthe human spirit.nWe must nevernforget this truth.nOur immigrantsnwon’t. They knownthat Americanismnis more than lovenof country; it isnlove of principles,nprinciples whichncan change thenworld. And will.nTeach FreedomnSupport thenNational WritersnNetwork,nTeach...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnKatherine DaltonnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, Jr.nASSISTANT EDITORnTheodore PappasnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSn}ohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton Reed,nGary VasilashnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnASSOCIATE PUBLISHERnMichael WardernPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA Publication ofnThe Rockford InstitutenEditorial and Advertising...

WITH THE COLD ^^R “over,”nsocial engineers are scrambling for then”peace dividend” — the bonanza ofncash expected to derive from a windingndown of military expenditures thatnhave been allocated to defend againstnthe Soviet military threat. Regardless ofnthe status of the Cold War and of thenSoviet threat, and that is by no meansnclear, surely defense spending will declinenin...

enterprise roll off our lips so easily,neven as the growth of our federalngovernment supersedes and weakensnprivate initiative, family integrity, localnschools, charities, and communities. Itnwould be ironic indeed if we did notnsee the lesson of Eastern Europe andnapply it to our own society. It’s time tonroll back the welfare state; it may be thenonly long-term method...

ment. The government does have angun, however. But — just as duringnProhibition — it is not capable of usingnit to suppress the traffic in substancesnpeople want, whether for good or ill.nThe government cannot suppressnadultery, for example, even thoughnbreaking the marriage covenant, withnits consequent divorce, damaged children,nand other shattered moral values,ndoes even more harm than drugs.nLet’s...

ways, where does the state’s interestnstop? With a poster in a New York barnwarning pregnant women of the dangersnof drinking? With a “warning”nprosecution — for the South Carolinanattorney general maintains that “we’rennot really interested in convictingnwomen and sending them to jail.nWe’re just interested in getting them tonstop using drugs before they do somethingnhorrible to their...

ANDY ROONEY, the eO Minutesnhumorist, found himself suspendednwithout pay by CBS in February after anhomosexual magazine, The Advocate,nattributed racial comments (“blacksnhave watered down their genes becausenthe less intelligent ones are the onesnthat have the most children”) to himn— comments he denies making, andnfor which The Advocate’s reporter hasnno proof. But Rooney is not alone innbeing...

Principalities & Powersnby Samuel FrancisnIn the space of a few months in 1989,nthe Soviet imperium in Eastern Europenbegan to disintegrate like a soda crackernin salt water, and even within thenU.S.S.R. itself, long dormant national,nethnic, and religious passions began tonsputter and whine. The Beriin Wall wasnturned into a collection of pet rocks,nand Americans suddenly began hearingnof...

thought the unthinkable and earnednwhat should have been the unearnable.nMeanwhile, the Soviets stole atomic,nmilitary, and technological secrets, infiltratednthe government, and supportednsurrogates who overthrew U.S. allies innCuba, Central America, Asia, and Africa.nFortunately, Mr. Gorbachev’s predecessorsnnever fully gauged what mushnthey were up against, and their ownnoligarchy of crooks and commissars enterednits terminal stage before theynfound out.nJust as...

PERSPECTIVEnsn• T •n^’VU.^ t”-^^’–‘ : ‘/ *Mn>I* ^.-^ fe -f^’iAo^ “-“^” • ^- / inn* t • ^**6r-.’^ •” ^^;sf •*»«nnft*’nPeace is busting out all over, and along with the prospectnof peace comes the debate over how to spend thenso-called “peace dividend,” supposing there is such andividend. The administration doesn’t think there is, andnSecretary of...

anticommunism brings us back to where we left off in then1940’s, before the United States divided up into two warringncamps of left and right. It was an age when most “conservatives”npersisted in calling themselves liberal — Albert JaynNock and Robert Taft, to name only two — and the greatnconservative themes were limited government, low taxes,...

, divided up into neatly labeled camps of traditionalist,nneoconservative, New Right, and libertarian. There are,nhowever, a number of themes or approaches, in partnphilosophical and in part political, that do recur in thenwritings of self-described conservative thinkers of the 1980’s.nThree of them, in various permutations and combinations,nmight serve to explain the movement.n1. Reaction. To one extent...

we live in the late 20th century, and while we cannot donwithout the myths of historical golden ages, we mustnrecognize that the attempt to realize those myths willnproduce results that bear only a slight resemblance to then12th century or the 1850’s —least of all to the 1950’s. Bothnthe Renaissance and the Reformation were reactionarynmovements aimed...

power indefinitely unless it, or a substantial part of it, loses itsnwill to power. It can lose that will because it doesn’t knownhow to handle an economic crisis or a losing war, or becausenit has lost faith in its own right to rule.nIt was almost impossible for the first generation ofncommunist revolutionaries, the ones who...

in treating any nation coolly and realistically as a given factnupon the world scene. Instead, any given nation is either angrave menace to American interests and world peace, or it isna champion of the “free world” headed by wise andnfarsighted statesmen. Sometimes, the country will shift fromnone to the other, in American eyes, in disconcertingly...

salvation. The British Empire added the noble mythnof the white man’s burden. We have added freedomnand democracy. Yet the more that may be addednthe more it is the same language still. A language ofnpower.nEver since Woodrow Wilson set the disastrous course fornAmerica in the 20th century by intervening in Wodd War I,nthe global interventionists have...

be military, since this is the one form of spending to whichnconservatives are not likely to object, and which workers willnalso welcome for its creation of jobs. As Flynn wrote: “Thusnmilitarism is the one great glamorous public-works projectnupon which a variety of elements in the community can benbrought into agreement.” Flynn added:nThe great and glamorous...

in time by an aggressive Congress, but as George Bush toldnthe Republican Convention, his mission is to carry out thenReagan agenda; and, whatever else President Bush is, he isnnot a liar.nWhat about the Republican Party in Congress? It is truenthat twelve House Republicans voted with the Democratsnhalf of the time last year, that nine voted...

put it in The Federalist number 17, upon the “principle thatna man is more attached to his family than to his neighborhood,nto the community at large . . . than toward their localngovernments, than toward the government of the Union.”nEven until the 20th century, most economic activity innthe United States was unregulated by national government,nand...

rope generally, or Lebanon and Jordan, or even Ireland.nThe Soviet Union itself may be a prime candidate, as AmosnPerlmutter and James H. Billington have both recentlynargued.nAn even older notion, confederalism, may be ready for anrevival. It is already the model for Europe ’92, and is thenmost obvious solution for bringing together East and WestnGermany. Looking...