Category: Imported

A Great RefusalnbyM.E. BradfordnThe North CarolinanRatification Conventionnof 1788nAs I have previously observed innthese pages, eaeh of the ratificationnconventions with which the people ofnthe 13 original states passed judgmentnon the handiwork of the Great Conventionnhad its own distinctive drama—nstructural characteristics which in thenend colored the meaning of the Constitutionnin the communities by which itnwas originally approved....

whether the delegates would approventhe Constitution, Willie Jones, havingncounted the house, moved the question.nIn doing so he observed that delegatesnwere certain to be familiar with the issuesnand the text of the Constitution,nhaving had many months to considerntheir opinion on these subjects. Federalistsnraised an immediate hue and crynthat such haste was unseemly and innconflict with the...

that federal courts would obliterate thenjurisdiction of state laws and judges.nMoreover, federal justice would be bothnhard to reach and expensive. SamuelnSpencer feared “clashing and animosities”nbetween state and federal courts.nOaths of officeholders promising to upholdnthe Constitution he thought wouldneventually result in consolidation. Andnwithout a statement in the Constitutionnreserving to the states all powers not explicitlynsurrendered to...

solutely unlike that of the Federahsts.nThe members of that majority had nonpatience with the idea of the teleocraticnstate, even if some version of union was,nas they recognized, inevitable. For theynknew, as Archibald Maclaine insisted beforenthe entire convention, that it wasn”impossible for any man in his senses tonthink that we [North Carolinians] cannexist by ourselves, separated...

transactionnNew and Recent Books on Family and PolicynThenSwedishnExperimentnin FamilynPolitiesnIHE MVRDALS ANDnTHE INTERWARnPOPULATION CRISISnAllannCarlsonnThe,. .npoliticsnHunriannNaturenThomas FlemingnEamilynQu^t^nsnl^ln ^^’^nReflections on thenAmerican Social CrisisnAllan C. CarlsonnTHE SWEDISH EXPERIMENT INnFAMILY POLITICSnTHE MYRDALSAND THE INTERWAR POPULATION CRISISnAllan CarlsonnThis devastating account of the work of Gunnar and Alva Myrdal portraysnhow two young scholars used the power of ideas to help engineer a...

NEWnModem editions of classic works for today’s readers.nON LIBERTY, SOCIETY, AND POLITICSnBy William Graham SumnernEdited by Robert C. Bannistern”This is the finest single-volume edition of Sumner’s works ever to appear”n—Ronald Lora, University of Toledo”nChiefly remembered as one of the founding fathers of sociology William GrahamnSumner was also a strong classical liberal. Revealing his overall development,...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnEmily Grant AdamsnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelnFrancis, George Garrett, Russell Kirk,nE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton ReednEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and...

• fund the pro-abortion sculpture.nAccording to Galen McKibben ofnMontana’s Helena Presents (which co-administerednBiniaz’s grant), the abortionnsculpture was found “at the very top” ofn160 applications. Juror Casey Jarmannof the Salt Lake Arts Council explainednthat Biniaz’s proposal “came at a timenwhen the panel felt it made a strongnstatement and was worthy of funding.”nThe decision to fund the...

In spite of all this, Rocawich insists thatn”Carol’s safe, illegal abortion was still anhorrifying experience.” “Deborah” obtainednan abortion in 1967 from “a trainednphysician” with a legitimate practice inna city in the Midwest. “Deborah” saysnthat her abortion “was not painful… Indon’t remember pain.” “Barbara” had annabortion in Philadelphia in the 1960’s.n”Barbara’s” abortion had to be certifiedna...

statement of the council “permanent.”nExcept for Olson, all of Engler’s appointeesnto the new council are statists,nand include Shahida Mausi, directornof the Detroit Council for the Arts andnan evaluator for the National Endowmentnfor the Arts. In 1990, Mausi’sndeputy, James Hart, penned this remarkablenstatement in City Arts Quarterly,nsubsidized by tax dollars from Joe andnJosephine Six-Pack in Macomb...

phy Chutzpah, I was struck by his deftnmanipulation of a particular image, thatnof an aggrieved member of an immeasurablynvictimized group, the victimizationnof which is somehow the inexpiable faultnof white heterosexual Christian males.nCuriously, it is never made clear whonthe victim is. It is not all Jews, for Dershowitznvents his contempt on GermannJews and on those of...

the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a peacetimenestabhshment of 23 active Army divisions,nfour Marine amphibious forces,n24 Navy carrier groups, and 30 activenAir Force tactical fighter wings. Even ifnPresident Reagan’s complete programnhad been implemented, force levelsnwould not have reached these goals. Activenforces peaked at 18 Army divisions,nthree Marine amphibious forces, 14 carrierngroups, and 24 fighter wings....

PERSPECTIVEnLeveraged Buyoutn*5^^>n)^5In• L-N^nMnby Thomas Flemingn1 ”Un1 7 ^*nI -AnEvery nation has the government it deserves.” Joseph denMaistre’s hard saying can give small corhfort to Americans.nOh, it is true, we have a paper Constitution that promisesna republican form of government, but all three branches ofnthat government have for several generations conspired tonevacuate the republican content from...

can manage to keep up appearances until he ventures to saynsomething that is not written down for him. Next to hisnpleasant appearance, George Bush’s other virtue is his fidelitynto one of his party’s oldest principles, the conviction that thencountry belongs exclusively to those who can afford to buy it.nWhen his sons are accused of insider...

could afford sucfi luxuries as adultery, divorce, gambling.nToday, it is well within the reach of any hardware dealernto spend a week at a “business convention” in Vegas withna side-trip to the Mustang Ranch and write the whole thingnoff on his taxes.nThroughout this century, the leaders of the American regimenhave attempted to be all things to...

NEWnModem editions of classic works for today’s readernFURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCEnBy Edmund BurkenEdited by Daniel E. Ritchien”It is now possible to have ready and easy access to Burke’s wider discussionnof the French Revolution.” H.T. Dickinson, University of Edinburgh.nThis volume brings together, for the first time in accessible and unabridgednform, Edmund Burke’s most...

ernment in which the few enforce “rational” social policies (suchnas busing, affirmative action, coddling of criminals) overwhelminglynconsidered unjust and oppressive by the many; angovernment in which schools, local authorities, and even thentaxing power (immemorially reserved to the people) are takennover by unelected and untouchable judges. Democracy suddenlynrequires the people to submit to their betters, whethernthey...

ly to abuse the limits of power, which are the essential thing.nJefferson is here exactly in agreement with C.S. Lewis’s Christianndefense of democracy. That democracy makes sensenexactly because of original sin—^precisely because man (all men)ncannot be trusted to govern himself, much less others. But thenFederalist idea has prevailed since the War Between the States,nand in...

American citizen in any meaningful sense, to cheapen ourncitizenship beyond toleration. The restriction of immigrationnand citizenship rights will make American citizenship morenvalued and viable, not less so.nDemocracy, as our forefathers clearly recognized, is not a groupnof people living under common procedures and economicnexchanges. It is a social fabric of tradition, habit, and prejudicenthat makes self-government...

Randolph, John C. Calhoun, the leaders of the Confederacy,nthe Populists of the late 19th century and the Southern Agrariansnof the early 20th, and in the Old Right conservatism of thenera between Charles Lindbergh and Jesse Helms.nIn the 18th century, when the debate between these two sidesnof the American political coin still sparkled, it was possible...

them, exploit them, and dispossess them. They are at once thenreal victims of the regime and the core or nucleus of Americanncivilization, the Real America, the American Nation.nThroughout this century, Middle Americans have graduallynacquired a collective consciousness, an awareness of who theynare and what their position is in the regime that exploits them.nIn economically prosperous...

pragmatic—degenerated into a mask for individual, factional,nand sectional acquisition. It was not and could not be an authenticnnationalism that controlled and disciplined the partsnwithin the whole but only a pseudo-nationalism that allowednthe parts to seize control of the whole and define the whole innterms of the parts and their interests. As another of Hamilton’snbiographers, John...

and homogenized (though fragmented) culture of continuousnconsumption, distraction, entertainment, self-indulgence, surrendernof social responsibilities to mass organizations, andnthe erosion of the concrete social identities and intermediaryninstitutions that restrain the centralized manipulative power ofnboth political and corporate structures.nBy far the most strategically important effort of an emergingnMiddle-American counterelite would be a long countermarchnthrough the institutions of the...

status for their son. (After his death the son, Pericles “Junior,”nwas granted citizenship.) He passed his time with Anaxagoras,nwho proclaimed the sun no god but a hot rock about thensize of Southern Greece, and with Protagoras, for whom “Mannwas the measure of all things.” Pericles combined clear-eyed politicalnrealism with what amounted to open contempt for...

er lands how to behave. The 18th century saw in loyalty tonmonarch the essence of political virtue. Our Founding Fathersncame to think otherwise, but they did not proclaim the superioritynof our system to all others. It was better for us and thatnwas enough. It should be enough for us too. We should recognizende facto governments...

Between the tornadoes and the blossoming pears,nHard rock, hospitals, daycare centers, bombs.nWe sometimes, under stress, give way to prayersnOf gratitude or terror; but God numbsnUs to old visions and allows no new.nExcept computers, and, of course, TV,nBefore which we have knelt, as formerly wenWith more affection knelt, Lord Christ, to you.nTuring’s invention threatens to stop...

Why We Need A Smaller U.S. PopulationnAnd How We Can Achieve ItnWe need a smaller population in order to halt thendestruction of our environment, and to create an economynthat will be sustainable over the very long term.nWe are trying to address our steadily worseningnenvironmental problems without coming to grips with theirnroot cause – overpopulation.nIf present...

keted Capitol Hill to defend the company’snsale of critical submarine partsnto the Soviet Union—^and many of the instancesnof influence peddling recountednin Pat Choates’ 1990 Agents of Influence.nIf Mr. Crichton were rewriting hisnbook today, he would no doubt add somenmention of the latest scandal involvingnJapanese trade: on April 1 Japan’s largestnmilitary electronics manufacturer, JapanesenAviation, pleaded guilty...

well to consider how U.S.-Japanesenrelations would change if Tokyo evernagain translated the Japan First policynit pursues in the economic realm intonthe field of foreign policy and militarynstrategy. And Tokyo would likewise benwise to contemplate how relations will benaltered when a regime truly representativenof American interests does finallynrecapture the White House.nA second recent factor that shouldncause...

all having secret agreements among themselvesnto cooperate, and to share financingnand research.” Mr. Pickens recounts hownthe Japanese have tried to keep him offnthe corporate board; how he mustncontribute to the fees that Koito pays tonAmerican lobbyists who are working innWashington to keep him off the board;nhow they refuse to show him the corporatentax records; how...

while increasing their efficiency and competitiveness,nas well as, finally, their profitability.nThe third is that immigrants inntheir current numbers make assimilationninto American society unlikely if not impossible,nabsent a curtailment of the presentninflux such as halted the three previousnwaves of immigration to the UnitednStates. Fourth, Bouvier makes the cmcialnbut rarely stated case for the necessity ofnprotecting the...

er flirts with the wisdom of Deep Ecologynwhich holds that man is a coequal elementnof nature. Between the two partiesnthere is in fact a difference of sorts,nbut it is the difference between the creativendepartment of a national advertisingnagency and the accounting one.nWithout the Democratic counterbalance,nthe Republicans would inaugurate DonaldnTrump as President, strip-mine thenGrand Canyon, and...

The result of that unreflective acceptancenof writerly authority is a conventionalnbook that never asks the more interestingnquestions of its materials.nWhere, for instance, did Pound get hisnemotions about civilization and war? Itnis no use insisting, as the myth requires,nthat the experience of war must authenticatenthe art and poetry based on it,nif we then say that Ezra...

Letter FromnStockholmnby Allan CarlsonnThe Ants and Elephants ofnSwedish PohticsnIn February, I returned to Sweden afterna 15-year absence, and discovered a veryndifferent land. In 1976, Americans werenviewed with suspicion. We carried the immediatenlegacy of the Vietnam imbroglionand a vague reputation as “protofascists.”nThese were the heady early days of PrimenMinister Olaf Palme. The Swedes were,nas always, polite,...

here is sociologist Hans Zetterberg, longnof American residence, who spawned anparty campaign document hintingnthat the Moderates were riding thencrest of history. Turning Marx on hisnhead, Zetterberg suggests that the oldnpolitical system, resting on the 19th-centurynstress lines of industrialization, isnbreaking down, while a new system, rootingnin postindustrial, conservative values,nis being born. Zetterberg has recentlynmoved to TIMBRO,...

decisions on permanent status for up tonfour years.nIn the interim, the refugees receive statenallowances, free housing, and endlessnrounds of counseling, usually in “camps”nplaced in economically troubled smallntowns. Predictably, the good Swedishnburghers grow incensed over this lavishnsupport for refugees as a new leisure class,nwhile the latter nurse resentments over beingndenied the opportunity to work. Theneducational bureaucracy,...

governmental errors, and can freely criticizenwhen it suits its purposes. “Powernwithout responsibility” is not a badnposture for a populist party, but it is onenunlikely to last beyond this Riksdag’snthree-year term. Over the long run. NewnDemocracy’s leaders look toward a truen”right-wing” government in Sweden. Ifnthey can double their vote to 14 percent,na coalition of the Moderates,...

as if he was passing through anweb. He knew that he wasnleaving South [sic]. His handsngripped hard upon the hinges ofnhis knees, his muscles flexed, hisnteeth clamped tightly, and hisnjaws were hard. The train rollednover, he was North again. ^nHard and sharp and hot and taut—n”Every young man from the South has feltnthis precise and...

absence here of gay, sushi-eating, Unitariannpost-structuralists.nIncidentally, I don’t know what happened,nbut Doug Marlette recentlynmoved again, from New York to NorthnCarolina. He’s my neighbor now, justnup the road in Hillsborough, and if he hasnexplained that move in print, I haven’tnseen it. Maybe he feels no explanationnis necessary.n]ohn Shelton Reed lived for ten years innMassachusetts and New...

viving hotel has become the city hall, anothernan antique shop; one railroad stationnis the Chamber of Commerce,nthe other a garden center and farmers’nmarket. A cotton warehouse has becomena row of shops, an aerobic center, andna bakery. Mainstreet stores are all innbusiness. An industrial zone has attractednsome new plants including,nrecently, the first Japanese manufacturernto come to...

thing which is loose rolls to California.”nIn the last few years, however, it seemsnthat most of the great untethered massnhas run out of steam amid the cactusngroves of nearby Arizona, known in thesenparts as the poor man’s California and innany event just as open to whatever is bothnbizarre and lucrative.nThe land abounds in evidence. ExhibitnA...

Repudiating thenNational Debtnby Murray N. RothbardnIn the spring of 1981, conservative Republicansnin the House of Representativesncried. They cried because, in thenfirst flush of the Reagan Revolution thatnwas supposed to bring drastic cuts in taxesnand government spending, as well asna balanced budget, they were being askednby the White House and their own leadershipnto vote for an...

ing nonpayment. Often, debtors werenclapped into jail until they could pay—na bit Draconian perhaps, but at least innthe proper spirit of enforcing propertynrights and defending the sanctity of contracts.nThe major practical problem wasnthe difficulty for debtors in prison to earnnthe money to repay the loan; perhaps itnwould have been better to allow thendebtor to be...

to the government now in order to receivena share of tax loot in the future. This isnthe opposite of a free market, or a genuinelynvoluntary transaction. Both partiesnare immorally contracting to participatenin the violation of the propertynrights of citizens in the future. Both parties,ntherefore, are making agreementsnabout other people’s property, and bothndeserve the back of...

present debts incurred by the politiciansnand bureaucrats in Washington.nAlthough largely forgotten by historiansnand by the public, repudiation ofnpublic debt is a solid part of the Americanntradition. The first wave of repudiationnof state debt came during then1840’s, after the panics of 1837 and 1839.nThose panics were the consequence of anmassive inflationary boom fueled by thenWhig-run Second...

Star Turnsnby David R. SlavittnBugsynProduced by Mark ]ohnsonnWritten by ]ames TobacknDirected by Barry LevinsonnReleased by Tri-Star PicturesnMeeting VenusnProduced by David PuttnamnWritten by Istvdn Szabo andnMichael HirstnDirected by Istvdn SzabonReleased by Warner BrothersnGangster movies show us an arc, thenparabohc rise and fall of a careernwhere ambition comes a-cropper, wherenthere is payment extracted by the inexorablenfates for...

forms elocution exercises. (“Twenty ilar films comes immediately to mind,ndwarves took turns doing handstands on from A Night at the Opera to any ofnthe carpet.”) At first, these gestures seem those show-biz morality plays in whichnto be mere jokes, but one gets the sense the indomitable Judy Gariand and Mick­nthat the interior of Siegel, his...

Landmarknstudy ornliberalismnWhere it comes from.nThe many faces it wears.nAnd why it is stillnthe menacen”Communism isn’t the enemy,” observed Malcolm Muggeridge.n”Liberalism is the enemy.”nWhen Muggeridge said that, Communism was riding high. NownCommunism is in crisis, while liberalism continues to choke religionnand civilization. Mug^ridge saw the heart of the problem. Communismnwas an external threat; hljeralism not only...

The histoiy professionnis dominated by the samenforces that have tut’nednthe universities intonre-education camps for annarrow ideology. This isnespecially true of thenjournals that scholars andnstudents have traditionallynrelied upon to keep themselvesncurrent on the latestnthinking in the discipline.nBut. there is annalternative. Continuity,npublished twice yearly bynthe Young .America’snFoundation, is dedicatednto the study of histor’ as ansearch for the...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnEmily Grant AdamsnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelnFrancis, George Garrett, Russell Kirk,nE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDINC EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton ReednEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBUSHERnAllan G. CarlsonnPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuyC.ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and Advertising Offices:...