Category: Imported

instructive, in a counterfactual way, to imagine whatnFrenchmen might have done had they been wholly inspirednby the English example of a century before. They wouldnnot, for one, have changed the name of their parliamentaryninstitutions from Estates General — a name dignified byncenturies of use — into a National Assembly. To change anname, after all, is...

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTIONnEverybody knows somewhere inside him that SouthnAfrica, since 1984, and really for a generation, hasnbeen a set piece in the bloody farce we call “revolution.”nThe one-sidedness of the farce betrays our unacknowledgednunease: except for a classic article in Commentary by PaulnJohnson and a few other pieces, not a word has...

ing Terrorism in Southern Africa. The ANC’s murder ofnthe chief witness on the SACP at the Denton hearings,nBartholomew Hlapane (in Soweto, a few months after hentestified), was also ignored by the press in the United States,nexcept for The Washington Times.nThe suppression of evidence about the ANC, SWAPO,nand the SACP, and the disregard of reforms, are...

remains in the country. The task of the local movement is tonhelp direct the outside attack—and also to make it seem tonbe a local revolution and not a foreign aggression [Italicsnmine].”nFischer had good reason not to count on wide popularndefiance within South Africa, for until 1976, there had notnbeen much of it. In fact, the...

minutes of his Central Committee were captured by thenincoming 82nd Airborne Intelligence in 1983, we nownknow that this group, half-nihilist fanatics, half-South Bronxnstreet gang, spent 55 hours of their last week of officendebating the semantics of their rhetoric, all garbed in thenrevolting nuts-and-bolts jargon of the mystery. Bishop wasnkilled (going to his end with a...

An End to the Political Pilgrimage?nAre political pilgrimages a matter of history, or has thenphenomenon survived? If so, in what form? Somenreference to these questions has been made in the preface tonthe (1983) paperback edition of my book Political Pilgrims,nbut the years that have passed since then call for furthernreflections on this matter. History has...

abounded: crime, drunkenness, corruption, environmentalndestruction, declining public health, the misery of old-agenpensioners, the disintegration of the family, shortages ofnfood and basic commodities, declining living standards,nold-fashioned poverty — the socialist countries had them all,nand they were getting worse, not better. Under statensocialism alienation, too, became a malaise that held in itsngrip not only idealistic intellectuals with...

has also been a country that 10 percent of its population hasnpreferred to leave (often under difficult and risky conditions)nfor both economic and political reasons. Such matters arenovedooked by the sympathizers, perhaps in part because thenCuban regime, personified by Castro, never lost its outwardnself-assurance and never showed any hesitation in claimingnmoral superiority over the United...

which brought in sympathizers to cut sugar cane.) SomenAmericans and Westerners also live more or less permanentlynin Nicaragua, while others are content to spend a fewnweeks there on various projects.nThe Christian Science Monitor estimated in 1987 thatn”1,500 Americans are living and working in Nicaragua . . .nSince the Sandinistas came to power in 1979 about...

The churches are in the forefront of the support fornNicaragua and the organization of tour groups. In particularnthe Quakers, and their activist arm, the American FriendsnService Committee (plus their offshoot, Witness for Peace),nthe National Council of Churches as a whole and thenMethodists in particular, the Catholic Maryknoll, and thenSojourners (a leftist evangelical group) are the...

ARE YOU SICKnAND TIRED OFnTHE MEDIA’SnLIBERAL BIAS?nIf so, MediaWatch is for you. Everynmonth MediaWatch will give you examples,nquotes, studies and analysisnexposing the liberal bias of the media,nespecially the TV networks.nWilliam Rusher, former Publisher of NationalnReview, calls MediaWatch “by long oddsnthe most inspired idea that has hit the conservativenmovement in years. Your determinednand comprehensive coverage of...

Nor, of course, should anyone condonenthe inciting of such violence tonfurther a cause, a strategy that Wilkinsndeplored and Branch implicitly endorses.nThis is not surprising when onenremembers that Branch is more interestednin reinvigorating the spirit of activismnthan he is in deepening our understandingnof a necessary but painfiilntransformation. To accomplish his goal,nhe set out to uncover the...

for King continued to temporize.nWhy? Because “the idea that nonadultsnof any race might play a leadingnrole in political events had simply failednto register on anyone” — includingnhim. Thus he, and liberal America,nwould have reached an impasse had itnnot been for Branch’s heroes, the blacknstudents who organized themselves asnthe Student Nonviolent CoordinatingnCommittee (SNCC) in 1960. Thesenstudents....

“What is the worst thing in the camps?” Irina Ratushinskaya asked anfellow prisoner who had been there much longer than she. “The perpetualnlies,” the woman answered.n”No, independent of the government,nso they took offense.” (Under Sovietnlaw poetry can be qualified as “disseminationnof slanderous documentation innpoetic form.”) In 1983 she was sentencednto seven years’ strict (the harshest)nlabor...

illiterate, which, if so, makes thenreading public very small. It isnastonishing to estimate, roughly,nthe number of bookstores thatnNew York, or any city, wouldnhave if they stood in the samenproportion to the number ofnpeople who are able to read.nThe literate Portuguese,nmoreover, seems able to managenFrench and Spanish as well asnhis own tongue, for the shopsncarry a...

Letter FromnWashingtonnby Samuel FrancisnOur Nation, Your MoneynEver since 1914, when the unity ofnEuropean socialism was virtually shatterednby the decision of some share-thewealthersnto support their own nationsnover the claims of the international classnstruggle, a furtive little thought has beenngnawing at the progressivist mind like anmouse chewing on a rafter. Thatnthought is the suspicion that nationalismnand socialism,...

party and its tradition. American workingmennmight fear losing their jobs tonJapanese competitors, but they’re evennmore afraid of Willie Hortons let loosenby the humanitarianism of the left. Onnthe right, Rep. Jack Kemp managed tonneutralize whatever nationalist sentimentsnhis anticommunist foreign policynmight have roused by promisingnvirtually to ignore the interests andnconcerns of white, middle-class Republicansnin the primaries. “I...

of great distinction given a Doctorate ofnDivinity.nThe theory behind this was laudable.nSociety should have some way of recognizingnand honoring its great men andnwomen. Unlike England, where outstandingnindividuals can receive the titlen”Sir” or “Dame” at the hands of thenqueen, Americans have been contentnwith this less aristocratic form of recognition.nBut human nature being what it is,nthe honorary...

church or on his card, he will abbreviatenhis degree as D.D. The earned graduatendegree in this field is Doctor ofnTheology. With a D.D. there were nonyears in graduate school, no lengthynthesis, no burning the midnight oil; justna healthy donation from his churchnbudget to some struggling little denominationalncollege.nStill, there are times when the honoraryndoctorate can be...

between a king and a knave. Her friendnA.L. Rowse explains that since shenbegan her life as a Virginia belle shennever felt inferior to anybody.nCertainly Nancy Astor was proud ofnher origins. Rowse writes that she wasn”an unreconstructed Southerner, anVirginian first and last.” When shenentertained Virginia soldiers atnCliveden during Worid War II, shenalways told them, “When you...

iently clever or amusing. That’s whynNew Yorkers fight all the time: theynenjoy it, and they’re not really innearnest about it.nSome survey data are to the point.nWhen asked some time back what thenbest American state was, over 90 percentnof native North Caroliniansnpicked North Carolina, and othernSoutherners were almost as enthusiasticnabout their states. Less than half ofnthe...

THE ACADEMYnNew Thoughtsnon the FrenchnRevolutionnby Thomas MolnarnFrangois Mitterrand’s socialist administrationnhas become sonscandal-ridden and financially precariousnthat the year-long celebration of thenrevolution’s bicentennial is now nothingnbut a hypocritical farce. Yet Mitterrand’snreference to 1789 is an ideologicalnobligation, since the “leftist myth” is thennumber one legitimizing factor thatnmakes the regime credible in the eyes ofna fluctuating electorate. What happensnon...

ror and the birth of human rights innbrutal violence; the legitimation of democracy,na delicate topic since in it arenlinked the doctrine of popular sovereigntynand the “theology of history”n(Kant); and the bases of Robespierre’snbut also Napoleon’s dictatorships,nwhich, according to young historiansnundeterred by reigning taboos, were farnmore totalist than the rule of Louis atnany time.nIt is understandable...

turn to new thoughts on a royahstnrestoration. Whether such a thingnwould be an improvement or not, it isnhard to say. In Spain, a nondescriptnking at least prevents chaos. The worldnwitnessed the burial of Hirohito, thenemperor surrounded with venerationnand sacred symbols. The Brazilianncongress just decided that four yearsnhence a popular referendum wouldnchoose a new regime: republican,...

That, as well as Dr. Koop’s response,nis sheer, unadulterated sophistry. Censorshipnmeans the banning of a publicationnor display of human creations fornothers to freely choose to accept ornreject.nIf and when members of the tobacconindustry withhold ads from papers thatntreat them unkindly—and the TobacconInstitute denies that this is a widespreadnpractice, or that it even has any impactn—they...

2509 ALPHAPHONICS – S. L BiimenfeU. New program by anpioneer in tte private-school movement shows you how to teach yournchild to read by tiie good old-fashioned phonics metiiod. Oversized qualitynpapeibadc. $21.95n2988 BOOKS CH1IJ)K£N LOVE: A Guide to tbe Best Chfldren’snLileratDre — Elizabeth Wilson. Hundreds of fine bodes. Christian andnsecular, by age level and cat^ory, with...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnKatherine DaltonnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Mdridge, Harold O.].nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnBryce Christensen, Odie Faulk, ]anenGreer, Andrei Navrozov, John SheltonnReed, Joseph Schwartz, Gary VasilashnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnMatthew KaufmannPUBLISHERnRichard A. VaughannART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinPRODUCTION MANAGERnGuy ReffettnADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVEnGeorgia L. WolfnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION DIRECTORnCarol BennettnA Publication ofnThe Rockford Institute:nAllan C. Carlson,nPresidentnEditorial and...

The Reaganneveryone loves!!nHe’s the Great Communicator…the soft-spoken man with thentwinkle in his eye who made America feel proud again. He’snRonald “Dutch” Reagan, one of the country’s most belovednleaders.nTo: Accuracy in Median1275 K St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005n(202) 371-6710nAnd one of its greatest storytellers!nNow, for the first time, Reagan’s most humorous tales andnmost amusing anecdotes are...

IF IT’S CHRISTMAS, then ’tis thenseason for creche suits, and this pastnDecember was no different. The Kentuckynchapter of the American CivilnLiberties Union filed suit against Gov.nWallace Wilkinson because the statenconstructed a Nativity scene on thenfront lawn of the Capitol in Frankfort.nChildren from the Cood ShepherdnSchool (Catholic) stood in for Josephnand Mary in a live reenactment...

not to local, elected officials, but bynresorting to the courts, often federalncourts. In the not-so-distant past itnwould have been clear that the courtsnhad no jurisdiction here. If members ofnthe Kentucky ACLU are horrified atnthe misuse of their state tax dollars, letnthem collect signatures and petitionnthe governor. But if we permit thencourts to continue to meddle...

ing Stone, Village Voice.” Nothing, innshort, that would be difEcult or demanding,nnothing with solid informationnas opposed to opinion.nConservatives frequently complainnthat they are shut out of America’snnewspapers by “liberal media bias.”nThe Pugwash report makes it clear thatn”Style” editors are not ideologues, butnairheads, biased against anyone whondoesn’t have a press agent. The reasonnJeremy Rifkin is profiled in...

journals, and winning extramuralngrants. I am not surprised that ThenNew Republic once devoted a leadneditorial to denouncing publication innacademe. It is shocking that LynnenCheney would repeat the baseless assertionsnthat there is too much attentionnto research in today’s universitiesnand that what little research goes onnhurts teaching. The recent report fromnthe American Council of Learned Societies,nSpeaking for...

PERSPECTIVEn’^ •- ^.M ‘nr> ‘>’ ^’ ‘^ .#’/•ntmn^lu^nPhysician as NovelistnornWhy the Best Training for a Novehst in These Last Years of then20th Century is an Internship at Bellevue or Cook CountynHospital, and How This Training Best Prepares Him fornDiagnosing T.S. EHot’s ‘Waste Land’nBut let us speak of vocations. What one ends up doingnwith one’s life...

survive — not only for its tragedies, millions dead from itsngreat wars and the Holocaust, but for its spectacularnscientific advances, from the study of subatomic particles tonthe exploration into the far reaches of the cosmos. The bestnof our time is marked by the truth and beauty of science asnsurely as the cathedral at Chartres is...

In a word, a respectable epistemological word, what he,nthe novehst’s character, discovers in his search is that therenare other ways of knowing not only quite as valid as scientificnpropositions, but of far more critical significance in one’snpersonal life.nThus, while he had admitted all along the universalnvalidity of such sentences as “The square of the hypotenusenequals...

The Knollnby Tom MurraynThe knoll, the firs with space between,nCame not by accident.nLandlord or tenant with inner eye had seennWhat a far-otF future might presentnAgainst hills, lake-water, the nearer green.nFor centuries the track, the path and thennThe road were trained to curvenAround the hillside where it dropped to marsh and fennAnd generations of man and...

VIEWSnVoicesnAn Excerpt From ‘Entered From the Sun’n^ ^ A re you acquainted with Christopher Marlowe?”nJL. “The poet?”n”The same.”n”I am surprised you do not speak of him in the past tense.nHe has been dead for some while.”n”Since May of ’93, as it happens.”n”Well, then,” Hunnyman tells the young man. “At thatnsame time our company was performing...

honored his memory by trying to imitate the matter of hisnplays and the thunder and lightning, the drums andntrumpets and gunpowder blasts of his words? Not to mynknowledge. There was a time, believe me, sir, and it has notnyet fully dissipated, either, when all that the managersnwished to see and to consider for performance was...

That the man who killed him — his name escapes me now,nif I ever heard it or knew of it. . . .”n”Frizer. A man called Ingram Frizer.”n”If you say so.”n”Does the name mean anything to you?”n”Nothing at all. I reasonably assumed at the time that thisnman (Frizer did you say?) was not likely to...

words. And facile or clever talkers, together with tellers ofnelaborate tales, will fist his face into a frown.nCaptain Barfoot has a frown which can silence a tavern.nAnd yet he has been known, stepping into the verynsilence he, himself, has created, as if he were a man steppingnout of the dark and into lantern light, to...

it and the principal witness to it all, first to last.nThe other two must speak for themselves. Believe themnas much as you care to, bearing in mind that even thoughnthere were saints living and dying then, in my time, as therenmay well be, no surely must be some true saints alive innyours, there are no...

than likely that there is something worse than he has evernexperienced or imagined out there waiting for him.nIt is the very slight, yet somehow ineradicable fear of thenfires of Hell, together with the logical certainty that if therenis a Hell, then he has long since earned himself a place in it,nwhich makes him seem to...

What Alysoun Did Not Tell Hunnymannkw ^>nHer beauty is weakness. Has always been. For as long asnshe has any memory of herself. As a child, with goldennhair, with fair, smooth, completely unblemished skin andnwith bluebright eyes, she was at once spoiled and protected.nPleased with herself even as others took a curious pleasurensimply from her appearance,...

is to be found elsewhere, at home not in the commodity ofnwonderful flesh, but in both mind and spirit, unsexed, beingnneither the common attributes of man or woman, and beingnalso ageless. And yet so long as she is, or seems to be, bothnyoung and, beautiful, she remains desperately vulnerable.nMany times she has found herself longing...

ing Raylene? It wouldn’t be a statistically improbablenoccurrence; the population of Sugdon numbered no morenthan some ten thousand-odd souls.nBut if he was inexpert in instinctual behavior and localnfolklore, Rodney had confidence in his ability to read thenfiner parts of human character. Raylene had vouchsafed anconfidence. She had sized him up and regarded him asntrustworthy and...

was unintelligent; the few times she had contributed to classndiscussion she had spoken clearly and to the point. Mostlynshe didn’t speak but watched him ravel the learned perplexitiesnwith a gaze so steady it was almost unnerving. Hernattention never wavered. She wanted to know what Platonthought, she wanted him to clarify what Plato thought, shendesired to...

OPINIONSnNew England Against Americanby Clyde Wilsonn”The fiction of Mr. Simms gave indication, we repeat, of genius, and that of noncommon order. Had he been even a Yankee, this genius would have beennrendered immediately manifest to his countrymen, but unhappily (perhaps) henwas a Southerner. . . . His book, therefore, depended entirely upon its ownnintrinsic value...

formal opposition, they had the fieldnpretty much to themselves except fornsporadic populist rumblings from thenMidwest.nAnyone who will look at what passednfor mainstream literary history and criticismnin the late 19th and early 20thncenturies, for instance, will find a hostnof second- and third-rate New Englandnwriters (Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier,nBancroft, Motley, and many othersnnow justly forgotten) shamelessly celebratednas the...

ed into a more general understanding.nI do not want to claim too much.nSimms possessed a high order of talent,nnot genius. He did not write MobynDick or The Scarlet Letter. His poetry,nwhich he regarded highly, will not bentaken too seriously today. Any authornas prolific as he was is bound to suffernfrom unevenness. He is sometimesncareless and...

shrewd widow Eveleigh in Woodcraft.nThe essay by Blythe on The CassiquenofKiawah and that on Woodcraftnby James B. Meriwether, the scholarnwho has been responsible for bringingna number of Simms’s books back intonprint, are the most important perhapsnof a number of good essays in thisncollection, focusing as they do withnconsiderable depth and insight onnSimms’s two more enduring...