Category: Imported

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnAn Electorate of SheeprnEven the weariest presidential campaignrnwinds somewhere to the sea, and thisrnmonth, as the ever dwindhng numberrnof American voters meanders into thernvoting booths, the sea is exactly wherernthe political vessels in which the nationrnsails have wound up. Water, water everywhere,rnbut not a drop to drink.rnIt is symptomatic of the...

in the policies and practices of independentrnnations, including those of thernUnited States.rnWhat has occurred in the two majorrnpolitical parties, then, is what the apostlesrnof Cold War containment policiesrnalways prophesied would occur betweenrnthe United States and the Soviet Union:rnconvergence. Each political party seeksrnto emulate the more successful rhetoricrnand ideologies of the other, and eachrnknows full well...

PERSPECTIVErnVoting Behind the Veil of Ignorancernby Thomas FlemingrnEvery four years our politieal intellectuals kick off the presidentialrncampaign season by putting forward proposalsrnto reform the system by which Americans choose their leaders.rnThe will of the people has been frustrated by all this elaboraternmachinery of voter registration, party primaries, and mediarnhype, so they say, and those few...

and term-limitation—which might in principle render his officernmore independent—might also deprive the nation of arnvaluable leader. They also feared that congressional appointmentrnmight lead to consolidation of national power at thernexpense of the states.rnSelection by the state legislatures would obviate this danger,rnbut it would also reduce the chief executive to a creature of thernstates. Direct popular...

in the White House.rnThe proponents of popular election of electors (in particular,rnof the general ticket) insisted that since “all power belongsrnto the people. . . they should exercise it directly withoutrnthe intervention of any intermediate agency. . . .” But, arguedrnCalhoun, the real effect of the proposed change “so farrnfrom giving the power to the...

namis”—efficacy or quality—that makes a polis great, andrnthis depends not on the number of men but on the number ofrnsolid citizens. How strong was a large state, if it were filled withrnaliens, slaves, and base men pursuing nothing but their ownrnprivate gain? A certain size was necessary, if a city was going tornbe able to...

called information or news—that are the basis on which ourrninformed electorate makes its decisions. Set aside the obviousrnobjection that most people are not reading the New York Timesrnor watching C-Span but arc getting most of their informationrnfrom Gannct papers that read like newspapers put out byrnspecial-ed students or from the network news-entertainmentrnshows that air during...

Gracelandrnby Jim HenleyrnFour Irishmen sat atop a cutbankrnin Memphis, above the Interstaternthat bordered the Mississippi. Cars,rntrueks, the occasional bus,rnheadlights acknowledging the winter dusk,rnthumped rush hour syncopationrnacross a steel plate. A lighted bargernforged the winter-thick river,rnsharding mirrored twilight and the lightsrnfrom a downtown bridge. Smoke from a plantrnin Arkansas almost blendedrnwith the ragged nimbus (a New...

the deeply disaffected or alienated majority found among thernranks of the nonvoters. While seeking the restoration of “middlernclass” allegiance to their party, Democrats do not wish tornexpend their resources on the recruitment of the apathetic orrndisaffected, but simply on those whose past allegiance andrnpresent discontent with the incumbent will encourage them tornjump ship. Republicans, likewise,...

the best that can be achieved. Commercial exploitation of thernterm “research” no doubt adds to the general climate in whichrnpeople have increasingly resisted being accomplices in what arernperceived as the manipulative efforts of “superpollsters”—rnHarris, Gallup, etc. There are a varietv of explanations forrnthis, ranging from a greater reliance on telephone versus in-personrninterviews, the need to...

if nonvoters are registered, their nonvoting takes on a more activistrnstance than if otherwise. Although the absolute levels ofrnreported voting and reported registration are both inflated inrnsurveys, these figures themselves are misleading. One can,rnhowever, reasonably use the discrepancy between the two as arnmeasure of the “principled abstainers.” In other words, if individualsrnsay they are registered,...

David Hume wrote in his 1752 essay on public credit thatrnan unpopular government will “mortgage the public revenues,rnand trust that posterity will pay off the encumbrances contractedrnby their ancestors,” which, on the face of it, is fairlyrnpreposterous. As preposterous, say, as expecting Yeltsin’s Russiansrnto pay the debts that dictators incurred in oppressingrnthem.rnPublic borrowing, of course,...

“each of the two previous periods . . . was accompanied by arnpohtical revolt of the middle class, war, and led to the emergencernof a major new political partv.”rnBoth prior periods ended with the middle class regaining politicalrnpower in the country. The middle class was then able tornfashion economic policies that restored its prosperity. ThernBrst...

Other irrationalities of the current primary process deservernat least brief mention. Crucial contests turn on self-selectedrnprimary electorates, unrepresentative of their states in the generalrnelection and disproportionate in their influence on thernprocess because of their effects on momentum with the nextrncontest. Fifty percent of the voters in the Maryland primaryrnwere at the college-graduate or post-graduate level...

masses (in primaries, polls, and in referendums) or politicallyrnunequal but relatively more competent elites (in smoke-filledrnrooms). Neither is an adequate form of democracy.rnThe media responded to this dilemma by broadcasting anrnimpressive lineup of nationally televised debates among thernDemocratic candidates. During the period when there werernseveral active candidates, there were 11 nationally televisedrndebates between December 15...

he had submitted to explain the controversy.rnBut the whitewash went well beyond Carson and the KingrnPapers Project. Boston University’s then acting-president, JonrnWestling, flatly denied in Chronicles that “a single instancernof plagiarism of any sort has been identified,” and B.U.’srn”Martin Luther King Professor of Social Ethics,” JohnrnCartwright, who even sat on the B. U. committee that...

the second lowest quartile in English and vocabulary, in thernlowest ten percent in quantitative analysis, and in the lowestrnthird on his advanced test in philosophy—the very subject hernwould concentrate in at B. U. Instead, King was recommendedrnbecause he socialized well with white students, had wonrnwhite support and approval, could be of “useful service” inrnthe future,...

far-reaching machinationrnof nationalism and fromrnan agrarian pattern ofrnoccupation to the industrialrnone. . . .rnfar-reaching machinationsrnof nationalism and fromrnan agrarian pattern ofrnoccupation to the industrialrnone. . . .rnPlagiarism continues throughout eight of the remaining 13rnparagraphs of the essay.rnFrom the introduction to King’s “The Origin of Religionrnin the Race”:rnKing:rnBefore we come to considerrnsome modern theories itrnmay be...

sermon in which King prophesied his martyrdom was based onrnworks by J. Wallace Hamilton and Methodist minister HaroldrnBosley; even the “Letter From the Birmingham Jail,” thatrn”great American essay” so often reproduced in textbooks onrncomposition, is based on work by Harry Fosdick, H. H. Crane,rnand Harris Wofford—all sources King could recall from memoryrnbecause of the frequency...

Wild About Harry—Againrnby James Hillrn”Democracy is Lovelace and the people is Clarissa.”rn—John AdamsrnTrumanrnby David McCuUoughrnNew York: Simon & Schuster;rn1,120 pp., $30.00rnIwas born in 1946, right in the middlernof I larrv Truman’s accidental and tumultuousrnfirst term as President. I havernno memory of the man until one earlyrnNovember morning in 1952, when myrnmother and grandmother were discussingrnthe...

missed. Other Presidents have statues;rnHarry Truman left a record.rnYet there is a danger when examiningrnMr. McCuUough’s biography, and that isrnin allowing ourselves the luxury of comparingrnthis presidency—in reality sornmuch a part of our recent past, thoughrnfor half of the population my age andrnunder the Truman years are ancient historyrn—with what we have now. If thernearly...

Now these activists, still determined torndefend Roe at all costs, find themselvesrnJohnny-come-latelies to street-level politicsrnpracticed on the doorsteps of abortionrnclinics in Wichita and Buffalo.rnAdmirers of Brown and advocates ofrnRoe liave, in Rosenberg’s opinion, simplyrnoverestimated the effectual importancernof these two decisions by the SupremernCourt. Brown was not implemented untilrnthere was an almost nationwide improN’ementrnin race relations,...

of democratic ideals) set in motionrnforces that transformed civilized societyrnand its concept of warfare. The authorrnasserts that for several hundred years priorrnto the French Revolution war hadrnslowly come to be limited and evenrnsomewhat humane. Armies were smallrnand comprised of professional soldiers,rnwar aims were tightly circumscribed,rnand, by and large, civilians were left unmolestedrnby battle. However, with...

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CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Virginiarnby Anne Marie MorganrnRedistricting ApartheidrnElbridge Gerry’s infamous salamanderrndistrict pales in comparison to the monster-rnlike menagerie birthed in redistrictedrnstates that fall under the preclearancernrequirement of Section Five of the federalrnVoting Rights Act. Although Virginia’srnstate constitution requires thatrn”every electoral district shall be composedrnof contiguous and compact territory,”rnthe feds overruled it and mandatedrnthat Virginia’s recently reapportionedrnelectoral...

emies of the governor, and other perceivedrnne’er-do-wells. One Republican’srndistrict was deliberately drawn fivernblocks away from his house. AnotherrnRepublican was drawn out of her ownrnHouse district; when she declared forrnthe state Senate, she was then drawn outrnof her Senate district. A number of Republicansrnuprooted their households andrnrelocated in order to run for reelection inrntheir own districts....

other.rnOn the bright side, there’s no questionrnthat the Barcelona Olympics wererngreat for the morale of Catalonia, andrnthe 1996 Games could be equally bracingrnfor the South. My buddy Chris wasrnimpressed, for instance, by how the InternationalrnOlympic Committee wasrnbullied into using Catalan as one of thernofficial languages at Barcelona. “Thernsports commentators,” he wrote me,rn”mindlessly reading what they...

of like that, but maybe it’s not cuddlyrnenough to be commercial. A greatrnchoice would have been Br’er Rabbit, arnsymbol rich in associations: the tricksterrnfigure of African-American folk culturernlovingly exploited by a white Atlantarnnewspaperman and now known worldwidernthanks to Walt Disney. It’s almostrna metaphor.rnBut if he wouldn’t do (and it mightrnbe misunderstood), then how aboutrnPogo Possum?...

stand, but that, of course, is a languagernthat is too locally circumscribed for foreignrninvestors, the Common Market,rnUnited Europe, and Washington.rnNobody knows at this point what thernfuture orientation of Eastern Europe willrnor can be. The government, the bureaucracy,rnthe opposition, the public figuresrnon television pay daily lip service torndemocracy, the parliament, liberalism,rncooperation, a united Europe, AtlanticrnSpirit, a...

VITAL SIGNSrnPat Buchanan’srnFirst InauguralrnAddressrnby Gary NorthrnWhat if Pat Buchanan were to winrnthe presidency? That prospectrnintrigues me. Let’s assume that Patrnwins, somedav. What could he do tornrestore the American repubHc? A greatrndeal. I therefore propose my version ofrnPat Buchanan’s first inaugural address.rnIt is a wonderful thing to be here inrnfront of ail these television cameras andrnknow...

crats still control both houses, and theyrnknow that if AIDS is not stopped beforernthe year 2000, their most T)cal and activernconstituency will disappear. If thisrnpolicy leads to a cure for AIDS, I intendrnto follow it with a similar deregulationrnover treatment for all other known diseases.rnI call this program “BureaucracyrnIs the Real Epidemic.”rn6. The Post OfficernThe...

bioregionalists. They shared an impHcitrnfaith in the power of geologic and biologicalrnenvironments to overcome differencesrnof race, language, and religionrnand to shape meaningful communitiesrnof interest.rnNot too many decades had passed,rnthough, before partisan squabbling hadrnpartially subverted this vision. More recently,rntwo developments have completelyrnundermined it. First, membersrnof Congress have emerged primarily asrnombudsmen, officials who investigaternand resolve citizens’ complaints...

with fervor as citizens described theirrnpet ideas on what should be done. I wasrndumbstruck. I had expected this partrnof the meeting to be a discussion ofrnwhat the next President could do to helprnthe economy, but to my astonishment,rnfor the remaining two hours, not onernword was uttered on that subject.rnOne person suggested making the taxrnon tobacco...

Gaiety Folliesrnby David R. SlavittrnEdward IIrnProduced by Steve Clark-Hall andrnAntony RootrnDirected by Derek ]armanrnScreenplay by Derek ]arman,rnStephen McBride, and Ken ButlerrnBased on the play byrnChristopher MarlowernReleased by Fine Line FeaturesrnHowards EndrnProduced by Ishmail MerchantrnDirected by ]ames IvoryrnScreenplay by Ruth Prawer jhabvalarnBased on the novel by E.M. ForsterrnA Sony Pictures Classic ReleasernIwent to Edward 11, expecting...

played by Tilda Swinton, whose beautyrnis here made to be horrible, literallyrnvampish. She does this bloody deed inrnfront of her young son, Edward III, whornis inexplicably wearing a tuxedo, danglingrnearrings, and lipstick. (Has he gonerngay too? Or will he, when he reachesrnpuberty? And if so, do we blame thernmother?)rnBut it is not my purpose here...

How vour children canrnlearn to use th«rrnmoiher tongue correctlyrnand wenrnHeaven help the victims of today’s schooling. They don’t know the parts of speech. They think it’s sexist if theyrnuse the con-ect number for a possessive pronoun. (“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of grammar.”)rnThey never heard of diagraming or parsing a sentence.rnIf you would...

No Moneyrn_ PorrnGDnservatives.rn~”»i^ -^.a* > i ‘-iyirn•”t^tPiH^ •? •i^’Wie^^ irn^ ^ 1 eath Buzin was fedrn^ ^ 1 up. A junior at thernJL dL University ofrnDelaware, he was tired of thernsteady procession of liberal andrnleft-wing guest speakers at hisrncampus.rnHeath decided to dornsomething about it. He askedrnthe various campus speakersrncommittees for help in bringingrnconservative author and...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold 0./.nBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelnFrancis, George Garrett,nE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSn]anet Scott Barlow, JohnnShelton ReednEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and Advertising Offices:n934 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.nEditorial Phone:...

A WAR FEVER is breaking outnamong the leaders of the free world.nCongressional Democrats are egging onnPresident Bush to do something aboutnthe situation in Bosnia, and their concernsnare echoed by Margaret Thatcher,nPope John Paul II, and the conservativenleadership of Mr. Bush’s own party. Asnwe head into the last months of thenpresidential campaign, a successful warnmight just...

G. D.’s would most likely kill him at anfacility where a board member is held.nThe gang leader immediately approachednFrank and reported that thenhit would be issued soon. The guy wasnnonthreatening, and relayed the informationncalmly and without a hint ofnmalice. Like in The Godfather, this wasnbusiness, nothing personal.nFrank was also told that the hit hadnbeen delayed...

in January 1994. Frank has also agreednto meet regularly with a therapist. Fornaccording to what the Department ofnChildren and Family Services told himnlast July, if upon release from prison henwould ever like to see his son again, whonis now age seven, he must consent toncounseling and therapy now. Franknagreed to this because he loves his...

they denounced it? On the contrary,nthe entire Estabhshment, from left-liberalnto Official Conservative to neoconservative,nhas lauded this wonderful,npeaceful, forbearance; this clasping ofnformer Communist rulers and secret policenthugs and informers to everyone’snbosom; this pursuit of mercy overnvengeance; this oh-so-beloved “velvet”nrevolution. The Establishment is alsonquick to denounce even the slightestnsign of wanting to throw the rascals out,nand to...

of self-governance by elected laypersonsnat a low level,” said a Danish politicalnscientist. “We are mistrustful of centralngovernments.”nBecause the treaty requires the approvalnof all 12 countries in the EuropeannCommunity, the people of Denmark—despitena massive campaign byngovernment, business, media, and labor—havenkilled it. All the special interests,npolitical and financial, that stoodnto benefit from the treaty, and havenworked so...

_^ _. ^ – _,n/ • > < “n^’A-n1n/^ _^ r–n•xn^-‘…nWe shall soon be celebrating the cardinal date of thensecond Christian millennium, the fall of New Rome,notherwise known as Constantinople in 1453. For a thousandnyears after the collapse of the Western empire. New Romenhad stood, a living museum of Greek culture and Roman law,nthe last...

spoils to the facade of their great cathedral. Defeated bynGenoa in 1284, Pisa was subjugated by Florence in 1406, butneven under the Florentine yoke, Pisan merchants continued tonprosper in the levant trade.nThe Eastern empire had been the cynosure of the maritimenrepublics, Genoa, Venice, Amalfi, and Pisa. By the 15th century,nonly Venice and Genoa were in...

only manly Italians in our literature.)nThere are more iron laws of history than just the law of oligarchy.nOne of them was stated succinctly by Bob Dylan:n”He who is not busy being born is busy dying.” It is the naturenof states (using that term very loosely to cover all polities) tonexpand, either by conquest or colonization....

munity sentiment against social deviance. The message tonthe young couple is a warning not to get wrapped up in themselvesnat the expense of their neighbors; more often the charivarinwas employed to show disapproval of wife-beaters, adulterers,nor old men taking young wives.nThe New England Puritans were famous for their colorfulnmethods of exerting social control, but the...

free people. That virtu, as we all know, followed the frontiernand passed to Spain, to England, to Holland, and to France,nand ultimately to the Americas, where it was extinguished innthe course of the 20th century.nAm I arguing that America and Western Europe are lockednonto the wheel of fate, that since our day has come and...

It is Clement Moore, the poet, later famous—nhe will write “The Night Before Christmas.”nThey talk of books,neven Italian books and writers. Moore,nin his late twenties, is charmed by the foreign mannin his middle fifties.nHis father. Bishop Moore,nis President Moorenof Columbia College.nClement brings da Pontenhome, and they start a class there in Italiannlanguage and literature.nIt’s a...

Da Ponte’s son Joseph has died,nat twenty-one of consumption.nProstrate, all but maddened by grief,nNancy goes into a deep depression.nLorenzonis not in much better case.nOne of his students,nhoping to cheer him,ndistract him,noffer him solace,nhands him a copy of Byron’s recent piece,nin terza riman(in English!).nIt is a curiositynthat speaks deeply, curiously, to da Ponte’sngrief—n”The Prophecy of Dante.”nThis...