Category: Imported

VITAL SIGNSrnEnvironmentalismrnby Edward C. KrugrnAbuse of a Just CausernWhile addressing the 20th annualrnConservative Political ActionrnConference (CPAC) this past February,rnI confessed unease. A recovering “environmentalist,”rnaddressing CPAC seemedrnequivalent to a recovering alcoholic witnessingrnbefore Alcoholics Anonymous.rnMy story starts with the acknowledgmentrnthat the environment is a justrncause; the world deser es wise stewardship,rnand there arc some people whornabuse it....

credibilit)’. VV’hv? Because I was thinkingrnas a scientist, not as a political activistrnimplementing a socioeconomicrnrcxolution.rnWhile scientific truth is not establishedrnbv vote, political “reality” is. Inrnpolitics, perception is reality. Or tornquote Niccolo Machiavelli describingrnthe basis for deception, “Most peoplernhave eves and can, therefore, sec. However,rnfew people have the ability to reason.rnTherefore, appearances are everything.”rnEnvironmentalists made surernthat...

itself, as they made elcar in the Aprilrn19, 1989, Los Angeles ‘limes.rnThus, like communism before it, “purity”rnof lofty goals Ijlinds environmciitalism’srnnumerous well-meaning adherentsrnto its horrendous bottom line. Bvrnadopting environmcntalisni as a personalrnmeaning of life—as illustratedrnwith aeid rain—facts that do not supportrnthe cause are ignored. And “facts”rnare conveniently manufactured to supportrnthe prerequisite worid view.rnMany environmentalists readih’...

problem is onlv one of finding sonictliingrnelse to trade.”rnR: “But what? We don’t have anythingrnhe wants.”rnF: “This island is larger than we need.rnPerhaps we eould trade a tin^ jjart of itrnfor game.”rnR: “Wliat? Trade eapital for eurrentrneonsumption? Your ideas will be the ruinrnof us.”rn1”; “M dear friend, I am astonished atrn()ur ignoranee of eeonomic prineiplcs.rnFree...

lenge was a Who’s Who of 60’s radicalsrn—Jerry Rubin, Stew Albert, IbnirnHaydcn, Bobby Scale et al. JohnrnLcnnon, during his “bed-in” with YokernOno, sent a message of support.rnOn April 20, 1969, hundreds of activists,rnfired by a spirit of 60’s cooperation,rninvaded the lot armed with picksrnand shovels. A tractor materialized fromrnnowhere. Those who were not stonedrnout of...

Saintly Thugsrnby David R. SlavittrnReservoir DogsrnProduced by Lawrence BenderrnWritten and Directed byrnQuentin TarantinornReleased by Miramax FilmsrnThe Bad LieutenantrnProduced by Edward PressmanrnWritten by Abel Ferrara and Zoe LundrnDirected by Abel FerrararnReleased by Aries FilmsrnThe wa’ the camera turns an actor’srnbody into an objet d’art is wonderful.rnSome faces—Bogart’s, for instance,rnor Cooper’s, or Wayne’s—can be mapsrnof experience, the...

pects the truth to be revealed. What’srntrue there is true anywhere! And ThernBad Lieutenant, for all of its grit andrngrime, its sordidness and sleazy excess, isrnactually a film about redemption andrngrace. One would suppose as one watchesrnhis routine of self-indulgence andrnself-abuse that there can be nowherernlower for the renegade cop to sink. Asrnone of his...

Immigration Fuels U.S. Population GrowthrnWe at Negative Population Growth, Inc. (NPG) believe that our country is already vastlyrnoverpopulated in terms of the long range carrying capacity of its resources and environment.rnWe believe, therefore, that U.S. population growth shouldrnbe halted as soon eis possible, and eventually reversed.rnBut, unless our present massive immigration isrndrastically reduced, we will...

MORE THAN EVERrnConservative Students Need To Be PreparedrnTo Defend Their Beliefs On Campusrn”I always enjw spejiking to thernNational Conservative StudentrnConference sponsored by YoungrnAmerica’s Foundation. Thernenthusiasm of the students andrnthe stn-iinih of the Foundation’srnpn)j;i-am> iiive me added opfimi>rnni jhiuii [III’ luture ot amserv.rniiJsMi in llii- l’)’iii>.”rn—Senator Phil GraminrnThe National ConservativernStudent Conference bringsrncollege students to Washington,rnD.C. to...

liOITCJRrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR KDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnChristine UaynesrnAR’I DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDIIORSrnJohn W.Aldridge, Harold O.].rnBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelrnFrancis, George Carreit,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnJohn Shelton Reed, David R. SlavittrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICAI ION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCOMPOSITION MANAGERrnAnita FedorarnCIRCULAIION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA pLihlication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn<-H4...

though today they would probably berntargets of a special prosecutor.rnEconomics, according to the followersrnof classical liberalism, is not supposedrnto be part of the high politics of internationalrnrelations like territory or alliances.rn’I’he doctrine of “free trade”rnforms the basis of their lack of concernrnfor the role of foreign money in Americanrnsociety, a blind spot they maintainrneven when...

panelists are appointees, selected from arnroster of lawyers and trade experts, forrntemporary assignment. Most of themrnare individuals beholden to governmentsrnand speeial interests for futurernemployment.rnNor does precedent bind their decisions.rnMexican and American law haverndifferent origins. The former reflectsrnthe Napoleonic imprint of statutes;rnthe latter, the English Common Law.rnThus, there is no common bodv of law,rnexcept for the...

heels of liis highly successful collectionrnof css;ivs Whistling Dixie: Dispatchesrnfrom the South, Mr. Reed’s new bookrnpromises to be characteristically entertainingrnand instructive.rnKit Reed’s new collection of shortrnstories. Thief of Lives, was also publishedrnby the llniversity of Missouri Press. I lerrnfourth book of short stories, ‘I’hief ofrnLives brings together an eclectic mix ofrnMs. Reed’s work, some of...

center was kidnapped and murdered byrntwo worthies from the District ofrnColumbia. They pushed her out of herrncar and dragged her for nearly a milernand then pitched the babv out of thernmoving vehicle. This sort of crime isrnfairly common in the District itself, butrnthe woman’s neighbors in HowardrnCounty weren’t used to it. “One of thernthings the...

asts of reruns of The Untouchables imaginernfor a second that this labyrinth ofrnbureaucracies has made American societyrnany safer than it was before any ofrnthem existed?rnMoreover, since the “incorporationrndoctrine” was foisted off on the legalrnsystem, the federal courts have presidedrnover what is nothing less than a nationalrnrevolution in criminal law wherebyrnevery unsolicited confession of a streetcornerrngrifter...

PERSPECTIVErnThis Land for Hirernby Thomas Flemingrn”Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe mernfellow citizens); the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; sincernhistory and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most banefulrnfoes of Republican Government.”rn—George WashingtonrnThe day after Bill Clinton’s election, the new leader...

lersev on a grand scale. of institutionalized corruption—NewrnWhen Ronald Reagan received his S2 million honorarium,rnJapanese journalists and businessmen bragged openly that itrnwas a paoff for services rendered. An open society, trying torndeal fairU- with Japan, is in the position of an honest bridgernplaer lured into a game of three-card monte.rn”It is dangerous for constitutional states...

against the king in his own rcabn; adhering to the king’s enemiesrnby giving them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere.rnEven from this brief survey it ought to be clear that a citizenrnwho gives aid and comfort to an cnemv has been generallyrnregarded as a traitor. The mo.st extreme cases are traitor.srnwho work actively...

power and moncv and power and money. Let me eite only arnfew examples.rnSecretaries of State: Dean Aeheson, William Rogers, EdrnMr. Kissinger runs the most Muskie, and Henry Kissinger,rndangerous rent-a-pol service in Washington, and his “associates”rnhave included Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger,rnboth of whom have been in a position to influence policyrntoward former clients in Kuwait...

the Democratic National Committee, traveled to Tokyo on behalfrnof one of his firm’s clients, hi December 1992, in a Centerrnfor Public Integrity study entitled “The Torturers’ Lobby:rnHow Human Rights-Abusing Nations Are Represented hirnWashington,” author Pamela Brogan revealed that one of thernmost repressive governments in the world todav, Cuateniala,rnpaid Brown’s firm—Patton, Boggs & Blow—$220,000 in 1991-rn92...

hower receiving $2 million from Fujisankei Communicationsrnfor two 20-minute speeches in Tokvo—as former PresidentrnRonald Reagan did?rnAmericans today are victimized by a unique Washingtonrnpolitical culture in which former high-level officials and presidentialrncampaign advisors routinely manipulate and distortrnnational decision-making to their own ends. There is a cushyrnlife outside government the moment they leave. So manyrnpeople in Washington...

Many of the mercenary culture’s best-known practitionersrnprefer anonymity as they profit in the afterglow of their publicrnservice. To their clients, and to their mothers, they arernthought of in terms of their last-held government title.rnhideed, some of the most sought-after lawyer-lobbyists inrnWishington arc former public officials with impressive-soundingrntitles. Ambassadors to small, insignificant Caribbean nationsrnarc referred to...

ican political machine that stretches from coast to coast. Itsrnfoundations rest on political and economic espionage andrnintelligence gathering, diplomacy, lobbying, politicking, andrnpropagandizing—each carefully crafted and systematicallyrnintegrated with the others. Following Japan’s successful example,rnthe Koreans, the Mexicans, the Taiwanese, the Germans,rnthe French, the British, and dozens of other countriesrnarc expanding their political machines in America, l...

dumping statutes was protectionist. . . . Clinton will stumblernagain. . . . Drop Detroit’s tariff. . . . Your car price will increasernby 20 percent. . . . One more Detroit bail out. . . . Pastrntariffs bave only hurt the American people. . . .” Friendlyrnjournalists and editorial writers quickly echoed these messages.rnAgain,...

ticipation and eager complicity of American lobbyists, powerbrokers,rnand government officials.rnGreed and self-interest in Washington, D.C., after all, arernwhat make this structural corruption possible, the “revolvingrndoor” of government at the highest levels that confuses “publicrnservice” with “personal advancement” and mistakes “legal”rnfor “ethical.” For many, a top job in the Cabinet is merelyrna sabbatical from a more...

ington, D.C.-based public interest group, Consumers forrnWorld Trade (CWT). Since the eady 1980’s, CWT has beenrnone of Washington, D.C.’s most avid advocates of unrestrictedrnfree trade; its arguments focus on the benefits free trade affordsrnthe American consumer. The organization has steadfastlyrnopposed any reciprocal trade law that would threatenrnJapan with restrictions on access to the U.S. market...

Japanese access to operate their Japanese Studies programs. Inrnturn, the Japanese recognize that these institutions craft manyrnof the ideas and conduct many of the studies that shapernAmerican opinion on trade and economic poHcy. Ahnostrnwithout exception, Japanese contributions support the work ofrnthose who advocate neoclassical laissez-faire trade policies.rnThese views are genuinely held; the Americans who argue...

most effective ever. It was also one of the most lucrative,rnyielding over $11 million for only 20 weeks of work endingrnwhen the war started in January 1991. But to the Kuwaitis, thernprice represented only one ten-thousandth of their royal family’srnholdings outside Kuwait during the war, surely a bargainrnfor getting their oil patch back.rnIn seeking to...

two groups that are beating the drums for war in the MiddlernEast: the Israeli defense ministry and its amen corner in thernUnited States.” Although his remark contained some kernelsrnof truth, he had broken an unwritten rule of American politics:rnnever criticize the Israeli lobby in public. The usual penaltyrnfor a non-Jew who utters such remarks is...

erations Subcommittee, whieh handled foreign aid, had dividedrn$1.6 million from such groups over the past three elections,rnaccording to FEC data. An equal amount was paid byrnIsrael directly to American lobbyists, according to the Centerrnfor Public Integrity, a nonprofit think-tank in Washington,rnD.C. But more important than the amount of aid to Israel hasrnbeen the impact of...

ing to get big jobs.” He said he was already negotiating for thernnext Secretary of State. But when a tape of this conversationrnwas given to the Washington Times, Steiner’s AIPAC presencernsuddenly evaporated. So did a few of the high appointmentsrnexpected from Clinton. But Jewish leaders werernunfazcd. They took their complaints to the press.rnThat restored their...

Selling Out—Past and Presentrnbv Alfred E. EckesrnMany who lea’e Main Street, U.S.A., to do good in Washington,rnD.C., remain on to do well for them.sclves.rnSince the beginnings of the Ameriean Republic, thousands ofrnformer congressmen, staff assistants, and senior officials inrnthe executive branch have trod that familiar career path. ^I’hernbright and ambitious, as well as the foolish...

cording to diplomatic historians, the Spanish envov DonrnDiego de Gardoqui even loaned money to members of Congressrnand gave breeding mules to General George Washington.rnBut frontier opposition finally prevailed, and Congress narrowlyrnrejected the shortsighted treaty.rnTo Hamilton and other Founders the episode demonstratedrnthe need for legal checks and balances to restrain humanrngreed and protect the nation from...

These diplomats and lawyers also heard about America’s dutyrnand responsibility as a great power to open its market widernto the exports of poor countries facing an international communistrnthreat.rnUneasy about long-term career opportunities in the competitivernforeign service, State Department recruits learned torncultivate foreign contacts and build personal escape routesrnfrom bureaucratic caprice. A strong network of foreign...

from his public example and sought foreign clients more discretely.rnDuring the 1980’s eight commissioners departedrnfrom the ITC. Four of the five who remained in Washington,rnall professionals in mid-career, registered as foreign agents orrnrepresented foreign interests before the commission withinrntwo years of resigning their public position.rnOver a longer span of time, from 1975 to 1988, Presidentsrndesignated...

Truthrn(A Political Analysis)rnbv Richard Moorern”What’s truth?” asked Pontius Pilate,rnever prepared to revile it,rn”What’s truth, you tramps and hags?”rn”I know!”rnsaid the vvino,rnhung with wretched rags.rn”Truth is many-gowned.rnShe dresses for our sakes. . .rnbut it’s booze what makesrnthe world go ’round.rnJust look—look hard il” you dare.rnContinents here and therernsoaking and eroding,rnvolcanoes belching, exploding . . .rnbut mostly...

tcrcstcd of the country’s elite and proposesrnthat tlic 50 states be replaced by arnfederation of larger geographical regionsrnmore independent of Washington, D.C.rn”I regard mvsclf,” he says, “if anyonernwants to know, as a Christian, althoughrnthere are certainly others who wouldrnquestion my right to that status.” (Thisrnreyicvyer, haying read Mr. Kennan’s yersionrnof Christianity, is one of them.)rnl...

Yours FREE —rnthe ”mother lode”rnof home-schoolingrnwisdom, by thernfounder herselfrnCharlotte Mason’s 6 classicrnvolumes, chosen as “Pick of thernCrop” by Iipflc/imgHo/n^ Magazine g ‘i^jf,rnGrateful parents cheer THE ORIGINALrnHOME-SCHOOLING SERIESrn”After 10 yeaR as a public xhool teacher and 5 yearernas a home schooler, I have finally found an author whornwrites what I know and want to do. I...

sional hunting concern that took himrninto the Appalachians for months at arntime.rnRiraeher details the worldly educabusinessrnrequired, tion that Boone’srnpointing out how the frontiersman figurernemerged as one of America’s firstrnheroic tvpcs. Most emigrants to thernUnited States had little knowledge ofrnhunting, the domain of the Europeanrnnobilitv, and thus the hunter enjoyed arnspecial status; the backwoods hunterrnhad to...

I:ic decline in Anieriean power was inevitablernas Ejurope and Japan rebuilt afterrnVVorid War II. Yet this thesis impliesrnthat either technologv reached a plateaurnor markets failed to expand, allowingrnothers to catch up as the United Statesrnwas blocked from advancing further.rnHowever, the real world has demonstratedrnthe opposite of these static conditions.rnThe rebuilding was completedrnin the 1960’s, after...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From thernLower Rightrnby John Shelton ReedrnMississippi MusingrnBack in February, a USA Today storyrnon black historical sites mentioned arn”Black Confederate Memorial” in Canton,rnMississippi, a “20-foot obelisk . . .rnbuilt in 1894 to honor Harvey’s Scouts,rnone of the black units that operated behindrnUnion lines to harass supply shipments.”rnAs it happened, I read that storyrnwhile spending some...

like General Pemberton, the Confederaterncommander at Vicksburg, who was arnPennsylvanian, And there’s that stonernobelisk in Canton, whatever it means.rnThings are never as simple as we mightrnlike them to be.rn* * *rnMoving on to the town of Vicksburgrnitself, I surveyed the remains of thatrnonce-bustling riverport, among themrnmany fine houses now turned into bedand-rnbreakfast establishments. The bigrnnews...

VITAL SIGNSrnThe Merchants ofrnDeath of SunsetrnBoulevardrnby Bill KauffmanrnWho Owned Hollywood?rnPlaywright Robert Sherwood, the sixfoot-rnse’en weather vane of mideenturvrnhberahsm, once eomplained,rn”The trouble with me is that I start offrnwith a big message and end with nothingrnbut good entertainment.” That’srnno trouble at all, as writer-director PrestonrnSturges insisted in his wonderfulrnfilm Sullivan’s Travels (1941), but thenrnSherwood was unduly...

to send your boys to bleed and die inrnEurope to make the wodd safe for thisrnindustry and its finaneial backers?” I’liernimputation here is too harsli, but again,rnNve is at least arguabh’ correct. Varietyrnreported that in 1939 the foreign marketrn—with England leading the way—rnaccounted for one-third of Americanrnfilm company revenues.rnThe motion picture industry shelledrnout $100,000 to...

witli the wind, recanting his antiwarrnconvictions with alacrity, if not anguish.rnSherwood’s second PuHtzer Prize winner,rnAbe Lincoln in Illinois (pul)Hslicdrnin 19SB, filmed in 1940), was dcriedrnfrom Carl Sandburg’s fantasy and canrnbe read as an allegory urging Americanrnintervention in Europe. As peace sentimentrnbecame less fashionable, Sherwoodrnwent whole hog for war, writingrnthe agitprop There Shall Be No Nightrnand...

painted it red, white, and blue andrnealled it Americanism.” Hepburn isrnmurdered at film’s end by a squirrclvrnForward America leader, but in deathrnshe is eulogized by a grateful nation forrnsaving us from a cornfed Hitler. Nornwonder Lucky Lindy wanted to livernamong the Tasaday.rnKeeper of the Flame was a box-officerndisappointment. Director Cukor, arnwholly apolitical man, ealled it...

Department, or White House—evenrnduring the Vietnam War, against whichrnthe Times campaigned with some passion.rnI was concerned that these interchangeablernmen took their knowledgernof secrets and their confidential sourcesrnvith them to work at the Times, whichrngave the newspaper an additional edgernin spreading its viewpoint.rnClifton Daniel was an active Democrat,rnWashington nabob, and then Timesrnmanaging editor. William Safire left...

TerHorst, who had been a well-knownrnWashington correspondent and laterrnworked for a time as a Ford Motor Companyrnflaek, regretted ever having leftrnjournalism. He got a round of sentimentalrnapplause, but nobody asked thernimportant questions of him: Had herndone the right thing in resigning, andrndid he still think that Ford should notrnhave pardoned Nixon?rnAn unidentified voice from the...

transactionrnNew and Recent Books on Family and PolicyrnThernSwedishrnExperimentrnin FamilyrnPolitiesrnAllanrnCarlsonrnr/-rnThernpoliticsrnHumanrnfsjaturernThomas FlemingrnFamilyrnQu^tjpjisrnReflectlDns on thernAmerican Socaal CrisisrnAllan C. CgbTlscjnrnTHE SWEDISH EXPERIMENT INrnFAMILY POLITICSrnTHE MYRDALS AND THE INTERWAR POPULATION CRISISrnMan CarlsonrnThis devastating account of ttie work of Gunnar and Alva Myrdal portraysrnhow two young scholars used the power of ideas to help engineer a newrndomestic order in Sweden. It...

MORE THAN EVERrnConservative Students Need To Be PreparedrnTo Defend Their Beliefs On Campusrn,#’ mrnf’rnQtA-W-rn•^liA^.rn,2^tU^rnmof^i^nKlentsaiKtrnhoftlif%)un{tation’srns g^e Rte W^ opti-rn’^^1il!iPlr^u^te#&ofcon^•rni^atism in the i990s.”rn-Senator Phil GrammrnI 111′ N.iiioii.il ( oiisi’n.ilixcrnMiiili’iil (‘oiiliTi’iiu’ hiiiii;srnmill m’ ^llull•|1l^ III W.lslim’^liillrnl> ( In i’pl(ii-c ii>nsi’r.iiiM’rnllllj> pilhln pnllH |^S1U•^ ,111(1rn^l^.ll^•l;l<‘^ lor siiriin;^ nilrni n i i | i i i s Siiuli’Mls mcfi vMihrnii)ii;4if>snun....