Category: Imported

cial democrat in politics, and a WesleyannMethodist in religion—not, anyway,nand maintain your sanity; and it isnthe height of folly to think that the artisticnpreoccupations of Allen Tate couldnhave allowed him to be enthusiasticnabout federal troops enforcing racialnequality in the South, while worshipingnwith the Unitarian Church.nCulture shapes politics, not politicsnculture; which is to say, if you...

the vivacious newlywed Carol Kennicottnmoved to Gopher Prairie with her stolidnhusband Will, a country doctor, thenMinnesotan Lewis was working within anregional realist field plowed years ago bynGadand, Joseph Kirkland, Mary WilkinsnFreeman, Edgar Ward Watson Howe,nHarold Frederic, and others. What setnMain Street apart from its predecessorsnwas its astringent humor; earlier novelsnhad measured the spiritual poverty ofnfrontier...

thaumaturge apologized and left thenstage.nHe was a welter of contradictions, ancaustic sentimentalist. “J-Ie mocked thencruder manifestations of Yankee Imperialismnbecause he was, at heart, a fanaticnAmerican,” the novelist wrote ofnhimself. He kidded George Babbitt fornhis indifference to Europe and turnednaround and joined the America FirstnCommittee. When The Nation askednLewis, a La Follette man, to return tonGopher...

Letter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednShall We Gather by the River;nWhen I was invited last spring to be anjudge at the Memphis in May WorldnChampionship Barbecue Cooking Contestnsome envious backbiters put itnabout that it wasn’t because I’m wellknownnas a discriminating ami de swine,nbut because my sister knows the womannwho picks the judges. I have...

Choice,” lovingly applied to passingnbutts by freelance inspectors in pignnoses. I couldn’t help but think ofna recent grim “feminist-vegetarian”nmonograph called The Sexual Politics ofnMeat. Dropped here by the banks of thenMississippi, its poor author would probablynhave been carried off gibbering.n(Later I picked up a copy of NationalnBarbecue News in which a columnistnurged that those who...

France’s present economic plight, ofnwhich I will simply pick out three. Thenfirst has been the increasingly glaringndiscrepancy between what French manufacturingnindustry needs and what anhopelessly sclerotic, monstrously bureaucratized,nand centrally controlled educationalnsystem is able to provide. Toncite but one example: the Peugeot automobilencompany, run by Jacques Calvet—thenvery prototype of the capitalistnmagnate most French Socialists abhor,nbut who...

dictably, fell short of what is needed.nA third, less technical, cause has to donwith lifestyles and a general attitudentoward work. Some years ago anneconomist friend of mine, Guy Lambert,nwho had a passion for drawing upncomparative charts of working productivity,ntold me that by the mid-1980’s innFrance the average employed man ornwoman only worked one day in...

terronnovonA Quarterly Journal ot Free-MarketnEconomic and Political Thoughtn”Now that free markets are the universal ‘toast-ofthe-town,’nwhy not take a drink from the source?nKeen analysis, vigorous interpretation and lucidnthinking: this is what terra novo delivers.”n—^Jean-Francois Reveln”… an indispensable guide book to the global freenmarket revolution.”n—Vladimir Bukovskyn”Well conceived, well executed … a necessarynaddition to every library of international...

VITAL SIGNSnsome reflections on the writer afternwhom the Dos Passos Prize is namednand oh this dark time in American let-;nters.nWhatever our feelings about the-fic-n•; acronym for that political congregationnof poets, essayists, and novelists. Dosn; Passos did not become crystallized in hisn: thought, however, or isolated within ann.”artistic” community. He began to;ntional techniques of Dos Passos,...

attitude that needs to be identified hasnmade its way from the hterary arena tongrant-giving foundations to the media,nand from the best universities and collegesninto every branch of public education:nit is the attitude that says I mustnagree with the prevailing view, or adherento its theories and politics and agenda,nin order to be properly acceptable, if acceptablenat...

which to put off editors who have authorizednchecks and are responsible toncorporate executives. The CEOs, whonmay be pleased to list these oneiric assetsnbut object after a time to the payingnof so much interest, aren’t Milkens ornKeatings after all—which is not exactlyna compliment: they’re no more scrupulousnbut lack the nerve, the sheer brashnessnof those pirates.nSo I’m...

instincts but always to implement thenpolicies of higher-ups—until their naivenbut precious idealism has been finallynextinguished and it is too late for themnto dream about doing anything that maynhave consequences for good in thenworld.nWell, it happens in publishing, too,nevidently. The love of literature thatndrew these young men and women to benEnglish majors has to be killed...

hero, Howard Roark, an aspiring youngnarchitect, and the dean of his college,nwho is about to expel him for his unorthodoxnideas. The dean declares thatnthere has been nothing new in the fieldn• of architecture since the Parthenon, andnRoark answers: “I inherit nothing. Instand at the end of no tradition. I may,nperhaps, stand at the beginning of...

name for their main character, and even;nthat the two novels might express similarnthemes, it is too much to believe thatnuse of the same rhetorical device could:nalso have occurred by happenstance. At-[nlas Shrugged opens with the questionn”Who is John Gait?” and the phrase re-:n;curs throughout the book. John Gaitndoes not make an appearance until the:nlast third...

Indeed, in this essay she discusses a certainnclass of authors who write “storiesnof unusual events enacted by conventionalncharacters. The stories are abstractnprojections, involving actions onendoes not observe in ‘real life,’ the charactersnare commonplace concretes. Thenstories are Romantic, the characters Naturalistic.n. . .”nIf ever there was a description of ThenDriver, then this is it. As Henry...

—_nFinaUy: a readable popularnhistory of America—and onen^ you can trustn1nt M «.•«»••«•«n• llllgf- •y^irnI**”,” 5niMtW^*n•jbti tn•»M’i Kl’n”Probably the best available survey history of thenUnited States”-THE FREEMANnClarence B. Carson, continues The Freeman, “has formed a richly wovenntapestry of events and the ideas that spawned them…. For Carson, history isnnot merely a collection of facts and dates,...

.n’-t4 ‘^rt’n- ‘n^li.ntn*• i .n; -n- – %>n’ I III tudieiKi ol ni()ii>nIILUI •<~’) \a^ l.irm tnl MilnI niMTMiv oj Ddtwarc ()iiinudiilil have «> !;ii Kuk mnitu l^XiDs 01 (Mih MHK ti .1 (ontroM rM.il talk ainiiiir laiiipus.n/’ iv K, • . I ‘n’ (l((/iH( • • •n,J( m ‘ > •n” III iinn:^”MM-^-:^0y-}^:^nw/.^ ^nII.,...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, Jr.nEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnEmily Grant AdamsnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W.Aldridge, Harold O.J.Brown,nKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,nGeorge Garrett, Russell Kirk,nE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton ReednEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan G. CarlsonnPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and Advertising Offices;n934...

the principles of law and order, the Presidentnpromised an investigation into potentialncivil rights abuses. Didn’t Americann”law and order” use to include thenprinciple of double jeopardy? Did thenlooters regard the President’s promise asnanything less than a justification of theirncrimes?nIn the eyes of black political leaders,nan investigation was insufficient. Theyndemanded immediate prosecution ofnthe officers and, presumably, a...

petrator resisted arrest, spat at the cops,ndanced maniacally, made obscene gesturesnat a policewoman, and refused tondo as he was told.nThe police thought King was on PCP.nInstead, he was one of those recklessndrunks that MADD always warn usnagainst. Did the malt liquor bull have angun? He wouldn’t let himself be frisked,nand he kept grabbing at his...

even feel rage, especially in the sinkholenthat is our culture and economy. Howncome we don’t go on a mugging, looting,nburning, killing spree? And why isndoing so considered an “uprising”nagainst “poverty, injustice, and deprivation”?nWhen there is looting in NewnYork when the lights go out, as there alwaysnis, is this a protest against Con Edi- .nson?nLiberals like...

against immigration, but I’m not anmeanie. Moreover, in practical termsnthere’s really no reason to oppose Lowery’snbill. For one thing, Michael’s alreadynbeen here 12 years. What’s thenalternative to giving him citizenship?nKicking him out? Truth is, there’s angood reason for any lawmaker to cast hisnvote for Michael: Christian charity.nAnd Michael VVu, really, isn’t thenproblem, leaving aside for...

didn’t work during the Iranian revolution,nbut contributed wonderfully to thennoise level—out of which came real politicalnchange.nFirst is a proposal that some of thenShah’s supporters pushed in the earlynstages of the revolution: buy off the opposition.nPay the mullahs for peace. Everyonenwill go home, moderate and contented.nThe idea came late and toonmodestly, for it left the system...

the decisive factor in low turn-out elections.nFatalism, dire self-fulfilling polls,nand low morale can transform a victoryninto a defeat. It is a concrete and mundanenbut essential realization: in this eranof voter apathy, it is the shared act ofnbringing (literally) one more like-mindednperson to the polls in each neighborhoodnthat can determine whether angood or bad candidate wins...

The Buchanan Revolution,nPartinNothing churns the entrails of the professionalndemocracy priesthood morenthan the rancid taste of a little realndemocracy. Since one of the main dishesnon the 1992 political menu has been angenerous serving of authentic popularnrebellion, the sages have spent a goodnpart of the last year lurching for theirnlavatories. The very same Brahmins whondemand democracy in...

conservative principle; the export ofnglobal democracy as the primary goal ofnAmerican foreign policy; unqualifiednsupport for much of the civil rightsnagenda, unlimited immigration, and freentrade; the defense of one version or anothernof “one-worldism”; enthusiasticnworship of an abstract “opportunity”nand unrestricted economic growthnthrough acquisitive individualism; andnthe adulation of the purported patronnsaints of all these causes in the personsnof...

fVn/ • -n/ • . > < – – •!••nFROM TllHn()lN(i AMFRH’ASn101 nTIl)nVILLAINS? HEROS? DESTROYERS? CRLTORS?nriw M ill Of riw Robbvv Ikiron’- * (‘p(isc> I’ol.som’.snihc lisMic of lifs. (liMdrtioiis. :ui(l oiiii^Mons is tin- sionntliiit • |)r()i»ri’>sic” lii>,l«)ri:iiis liaxc iisi’il in ;iii(i Mellonniiiisiiildnn Iheir simli’iits and llu’ .- – —npiihlii aboiii a kc-v si’vjniciii __. •...

PERSPECTIVEnl>A-f^>Cs’n•^Ix^^^m ^ _â„¢ -njv—-• —^ K^^^i * ^ •ii’^-nThe Berlin wall may not be the only easualty of the SovietnUnion’s disintegration. Recent elections in several Europeannstates have given evidence that nationalism is reemergingnas the dominant political force in the West. Of course,n”nationalism,” which in the broadest sense includes any assertionnof tribal or national identity, is...

the tower warders, our guide is a retired sergeant major and expressesnhimself with the bluntness of an American marinenDI. He explains to the group that the Tower was one of a seriesnof fortresses built to keep the French out, “And if you ask me,nwe still feel the same way, despite all this talk about the...

most as bad as American schools, and the Church? Well, as Inexplained to the Catholic rightist, the worst elements of Protestantismnnow appear to be controlling the Catholic Church,nat least in the United States, and I predicted that the successornAnticommunism was the principle that gavenlegitimacy to the postwar regimes of thenWest. The coming age is going...

Horace II, xvinby Jack Flavinn”Otium divos rogat in patenti…”nTravellers caught out in the Aegean praynThe gods for calm seas when no stars light their waynAnd dark storm clouds hide the moon from marinersnIn a pall of gray.nEven battle-hardened warriors from ThracenAnd Medes with ornate quivers may sue for peacenThat neither jewels nor gold nor even...

lution there is. That consequently history, as indeed life, is notna part of science but that everything that is human, includingnscience, is part of the history of mankind. That therefore wenmust reject—or, more precisely, that we have outgrown—thendeterministic categories not only of Marx and Freud but probablynalso of Darwin and Einstein.nYou will understand that these...

proclaimed neoconservative spokeswoman that “the UnitednStates should be the policeman of the world,” I am stunnednand shocked. When I read an eminent conservative and selfproclaimedntraditionalist lady exclaim that “God gave Americanthe atom bomb,” I find not the slightest trace of that Christiannhumility that should behoove a conservative, let alone antraditionalist.nI am uncomfortable, too, with the...

aid. Because our community shapes our identity, our sense ofnwho we are, it may indeed seem natural to feel that one belongsnin one’s country and owes it allegiance in a way thatncan never be entirely extinguished. Many also feel that the nationnshould take responsibility for all those who, through nonfault of their own, depend upon...

most liberals have accepted, consent to membership must benmutual, expressed by the existing community as well as bynthe individual. Otherwise, existing members will be coercednand their free choices nullified. But this requirement mightnimply that a society could deny outsiders opportunities fornmembership in ways that are harshly restrictive or discriminatory.nIt might also mean that a society...

families by the modern welfare state, the total incentive effectnof birthright citizenship may well become significant. In additionnto anecdotal evidence that many aliens do cross thenborder illegally to assure United States citizenship for theirnsoon-to-be-born children, a recent study illuminates two featuresnof this phenomenon. First, the number of births in thenUnited States to illegal alien parents...

ioning the structure of our immigration policy, would also decidenthe role of the birthright citizenship for the children of illegalnand nonimmigrant aliens. That decision is obviouslynonly a small piece of immigration policy. Congress must carefullynweigh the moral claims of these children to membershipnrelative to the claims of other groups, assessing the likelyneffects on illegal immigration...

may take place in his country without his concurrence;nhe does not even know precisely what has happened;. . .nWorse still, the condition of his village, the policing ofnhis roads, and the repair of his church and parsonage donnot concern him; he thinks that all of those things havennothing to do with him at all, but...

freedom to be workable as a political and social system,nstrong inner controls, a powerful moral compass, andnsense of values are needed. In practice, the contradictionnis vast. The compass is increasingly hard to read,nthe values hard to find in a frantically open, mobile,nfractioned society. Thus a troubling, paradoxical question:nDoes freedom destroy the inner disciplines thatnalone make...

a powerful state that controls much of the activity of its membersnand only if the latter identify themselves as citizens andnfaithfully perform the duties of that station.nMost astonishingly of all, numerous thinkers and publicistsnmaintain that the state is the chief locus of, and citizenship thenchief means to, intensely personal and effective relationshipsnsuch as community, fraternity,...

On this civil view, citizenship is yalued fundamentally becausenit assures, insofar as can be, that these further protectionsnwill actually be afforded. Those who seek additional rightsnand privileges, including the right to participate in the processesnby which rights are established and protections provided,ndo so primarily in order to maximize the likelihood thatnthey and others actually receive...

provide. He promises to make betternwork of it in the larger volume to follow,nbut until then we are left to understandn”freedom” as individual liberty, andn”progress” as the spread of Christiannmorality within a context of economicnmodernization.nAlthough Southerners displayed a decidedlynambivalent attitude toward thenideology of progress, they did ultimatelynembrace it. But, so the argument went,nprogress was possible...

centration-camp guards, “brought backnto endure a fate similar to that of theirnvictims.” (Strangely, this odd idea hasnfound many followers among the disease’snsufferers.) He is particularly goodnon the goings-on at Maharishi InternationalnUniversity, in rural Iowa, wherenTranscendental Meditation and “yogicnflying” are among the few subjectsntaught under a tuition-fee schedule thatnrivals Harvard’s. He exposes the unlikelynaccomplishments of “psychic...

Letter FromnNew Yorknby Murray N. RothbardnWhen Democracy Comesnto TownnIt was one of those political pundit panelsnon C-SPAN. Mona Charen, neoconservativencolumnist, was asked tonsum up her experiences in the Kempfor-Presidentncampaign in 1988. MissnCharen grew unwontedly misty-eyed:n”The [democratic] process,” she sighednwistfully. “The process was so wonderful.”nIt is doubtful if any of the presidentialncandidates or their handlers would...

students also perceptively accused Clintonnof not caring about their answersnand only using the occasion as a photonopportunity. “There are more camerasnthan kids in here!” Clinton soonndropped the high school gambit in NewnYork.nThen, at a Clinton rally, the Governornretreated in confusion when Lenora Fulani,nthe black Marxist candidate of thenNew Alliance Party, interrupted him andnstarted a speech...

York politics can only be understood byngrasping its powerful ethno-religious dimension.nWhen centrist Irish CatholicnPat Moynihan first ran for U.S. Senate,nhe only defeated the popular and pugnaciousnleft-wing Jewish CongresswomannBella Abzug by a tiny margin in thenDemocratic primary. Bella, however,nwould have been smashed by the farnmore conservative WSP, Irish, and Italiannvoters in the general election. Butnonce having...

ing responsible commentators explainnthat, yes, Perot’s candidacy is amusing,nbut sooner or later we’re going to have tonget serious. Guys, Eugene is serious.nWhen he stops and thinks about it, he’sn(all together, now) mad as hell and notngoing to take it anymore. When the 60’snradicals chanted “Smash the State,” RossnPerot wasn’t what they had in mind—nbut, for...

Letter From Austrianby Geoffrey WagnernLife as a Picture PostcardnThe girls are in dirndls. Usually pink,nwith a darker apron and neckerchief andna waist-cinching bodice of black velveteen,nbuttoned up under old-fashionednchests. Puff-sleeves of whitenstarched blouses. They wear this folkloricncostume quite unselfconsciously,nabout their everyday jobs, in bank or supermarketnalike. This is a feminist’snnightmare.nThe apple-cheeked men are in lederhosennor...

it was generally jammed with tourists,nand I was happy to return to Bad Ausseenand its admirable old hotel, the ErzherzognJohann; Gault/Millaut has done Austrianbut to date Michelin has not. Whennit does, the Erzherzog should wear a lotnof red and many stars.nAs should the Salzkammergut. GrilssnGott!nGeoffrey Wagner is an emeritus professornof English of the City University...

words, uttered the day before, of a goodnpriest, for decades in Rome, whose principalngrievance was the Vatican’s rigiditynin ecumenical matters! I disagreed, havingndifferent views on ecumenism, butnthat was my interlocutor’s chief worry.nIt would be hard to be in the Cardinal’snposition, and to weigh and balance allnthe many concerns.nHard also because we are in Italy,nwhere the...