Category: Imported

GOVERNOR CLINTON’S candidacynfor President, plagued as it’s beennby charges of marital infidelity and draftnevasion, has brought to the fore oncenagain the question of whether personalncharacter is relevant to fitness for publicnoffice. There are those to whom it isnobvious that private behavior is relevantnto public office. Others contend thatnpublic officials should be measured byntheir public acts...

our accountant gambles, or our clergymannlives too well, and we are entitled to knownwhat we need to know that is relevant tonjudging the character of those who seeknto be entrusted with the fate of thenRepublic. It is reasonable to assume thatnthe people are smart enough to distinguishnbetween a youthful indiscretion,nwhich few have escaped, and a...

to comment on his own hapless existence.nGeorge Bush, give the devil his due,nunderstands some of this, and the Presidentnhas for years pretended to an interestnin country music, going so far as tonattend last year’s CMA ceremony. Realnpeople with votes—as opposed to drugnaddicts, boat people, and worldwide victimsnof discrimination—real people likencountry music and take it far...

New World BaseballnFor all the subtle grace that distinguishesnJapanese civilization, the esoteric gabblenof Western diplomacy seems tonelude its leaders. Every few months,nsome titan of Tokyo pronounces hisnlow opinion of America and Americans,nunveiling his view that our schools arendreadful, our racial minorities backward,nour politicians crooks, or our workersnlazy.nWhere they get such ideas I can’tnimagine, but unlike...

Just so. While Americans bemusenthemselves that they have no collectiveneconomic interest, Japan has long sincenliberated itself from such 19th-centurynsuperstition and is aggressively pursuingnpolicies intended to enhance not only itsnown wealth but also its power. It may notnactually plan to dismember the UnitednStates and Canada, but the long-termneffect of its policies is to promote just thatnresult....

All civilization rests upon the executioner. Despite ournfeelings of revulsion, “He is the horror and bond of humannassociation. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the worid,nand at that very moment, order gives way to chaos, thrones topple,nand society disappears.” Joseph de Maistre’s insight hasnalarmed most readers—among them not a few Catholic reactionaries—whonhave encountered it. There are,...

the lawless by sticking them in little rooms all by themselves—non this point they were in complete agreement. We have Godnto thank that philosophers are only rarely kings, since Bentham’snplan for a totally controlled prison, his famous panopticon, wasna nightmarish model for the total state.nThe term penitentiary is no euphemism, for it was notndesigned as...

minor crime, the subject of jokes and televised trials. However,nthe same book out of which we read the rights to rapistsnand murderers gets thrown in the face of anyone who challengesnthe regime either by protesting taxes or making an insensitivenremark.nLast and least, a criminal justice system for a civilized peoplenshould be humane, that is, it...

law, went further in transfemng authority to the state, but theynnever repudiated the right of each man to repel force with force.nThe Germanic conquerors of Europe brought with themnmore personal and familial legal notions that would not havenseemed entirely strange to Romans of the early Republic.nAnglo-Saxon law was slow to abandon the idea that the...

with a democratic society. In the words of sociologist HowardnBecker, “The final outcome of a moral cmsade is a police force.”nThis is especially true of federal law enforcement, which isnlargely the creation of successive cmsades and moral panics overnthe last century. In 1900, the Secret Service was virtually thenonly national enforcement agency, and the “Bureau...

measures are enacted, and then justified by courts, only to createna precedent for future restrictions on liberty or constitutionalnrights. Drugs are by no means the only such area, as issuesnlike dmnk driving and child abuse have both been used in suchna way; but dmgs offer perhaps the clearest recent illustrations.nPrivate gun ownership has been one...

scheme was barely workable before the drug war, but theninflux of petty dealers and couriers has brought most urban courtnand jail systems to a state of collapse.nIn a city like Chicago or Los Angeles, it is all but impossiblento impose pretrial detention for anything except the mostnegregious act of violence, and often not then. There...

the drug war were part of a national penance required tonmake amends for the excesses of the high-flying 1960’s and thenSybaritic 1970’s. In some cases—especially in the MeesenJustice Department—there may also have been a hidden agendanof using the drug war to enhance police and prosecutablenpowers limited by the Warren Supreme Court. However, thenactivists were also...

thing any more.” This argument seems to imply that we arenmore “civilized” today in our punishments than were ournancestors. Yet it is easy to demolish. The death penalty (anfavorite punishment of our ancestors) is again on the increasenin this country. Some 70 percent of the people support it. Thenviolent and crowded conditions in many prisons...

merited, will go the way of other “alternatives” to punishment,nbecause it does not address the fact that punishment must benpunishment. The public, in my view, understands and demandsnthis. Legislators understand this to a point, by enacting severenprison terms, but they ignore the fiscal implications of theirnlegislation. These alternatives to prison have simply subvertednthe central idea...

the application of the death penalty) even though he may wellndeserve to suffer terribly for his crimes.nWhat “good” did the execution of the serial killer TednBundy do? We know that such penalties do not deter, so thisnwas not the “good.” Did it “satisfy” justice? But what kind ofnjustice is it that feeds on the killing...

When mild-mannered Bemhard Goetz shot four blacknyouths who attempted to rob him in a New Yorknsubway in 1984, news reporters inevitably called him the “subwaynvigilante.” But Goetz was not a vigilante; he was not a membernof a vigilant group of concerned citizens patrolling the subwaysnas keepers of the peace. On the contrary, he was anfrightened...

ulators of the 1840’s. This was a perilous period in this region’snhistory. Immigration into the Rock River Valley had flourishednsince the end of the Black Hawk War in 1832, and the pioneersnand primitive frontier communities that blanketed the area werenvirtually defenseless against criminals. Even with these migrations,nthere were often no more than two or three...

air was filled with threats of vengeance against [the Driscolls],nand nothing but the lives of the murderous gang would pay thenpenalty. . . . Monday afternoon Rockford was more like andeserted village, than a bustling, busy little town. Every mannthat could go, went—all determined to avenge Campbell’sndeath.” John Driscoll was found at his son David’s...

define—or to redefine—the nature andnpurpose of American civilization. Thenweapons deployed in this war include thenmedia, direct-mail solicitation, and politicalncampaigns whose substance is morensymbolic than programmatical; yetnbecause both sides defend radicallynopposed ground and argue on separatenrhetorical planes, each finds itself speakingnpast the other. Between them, debatenis finally impossible. Hopeless of makingnconverts among their opponents, theynconcentrate instead...

tin Luther King, Jr. was a great mannand that anybody to the right of himselfn(for instance Pat Buchanan) is un-Americannand probably a dangerous demagoguento boot. Although he perceivesninitially that, “a culture war … is anwar to the death,” he is too much thenofficial spokesman and intellectual trimmernto resist contradicting himself bynforeseeing a happy conclusion to...

Yankees” is an affectionate evoca”tionnof the original basis of American variety,nthe difference between the South andnNew England that goes back to the beginning,nand of the need for preserving it. InnVermont the quintessential Southernernfound relief from the pressure that surroundednhim in Tennessee and fromnsummers in the South. Place, belief,nweather, and history account for the differencenbetween Brother...

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...

justification of liberal democracy producesnin this book a tension that has apparentlyngone unnoticed by its author. Weigelnrightly criticizes those who want tondemocratize the Church, but he does notnask whether this might be the inevitablenresult of the Church’s having given theologicalnsanction to liberal democracy asna political theory.nThe kind of Catholic to whom Weigelnobjects is represented by...

how-to manuals in the form of writers’nnotebooks — famously those of HenrynJames, Anton Chekhov, and ThomasnWolfe—useful for obtaining glimpsesninto the difficult process of creation fornanyone who would take the craft ofnwriting seriously.nBut there are other difficulties as wellnin writing, hardships many steps removednfrom finding a voice and getting subjectsnand verbs to agree. Among them are...

Letter From PrisonnCORRESPONDENCEnwanted to know him. To this day I won­ until the police came. For the next sixnder how I might have turned out if I had months I was in and out of foster homes,nknown him. He would come by my and often the homes were no better thanngrandmother’s house and give me...

refused to move me out of there, I setnone of the rooms on fire. My caseworkernthen had me sent to Lake Bluff, Illinois,nwhere I was put in another group homenfor about two months, until I ran awaynagain. When they caught me this time,nI had broken so many laws that theynsent me on my 13th birthday...

toward a college degree. This workednout fine, for about a year, until the gangnfights began again because of my tattoo.nTTie Disciples at this prison told me thatnif I didn’t get the tattoo removed, theynwere going to burn it off me. After fournfights with gang members, I talked to thenprison officers and warden and told themnthe...

reactions, I’m sure they thought I wasndeliberately trying to humiliate them; innfact, I was only responding to what Infelt were honest doubts and a desire tonerr on the side of safety.nBut having to make quick decisions onnthe basis of inadequate evidence is ansurefire formula for mishap. One night,nwhile stopped at a red light at 96th...

later the alarm went out to law enforcementnofficials. It was too late. Jones wasnacross the state line and two days laternstabbed Randall Garvin Reeves and hisnstepdaughter, Leigh Drew, on the porchnof their Lincolnton home. Reeves wasndead on arrival at a Washington, Georgia,nhospital and, after threatening Mrs.nReeves and her son, Jones.made hisnescape driving their car. Police...

plea bargain away the death penalty in ancase where a teenager was murdered overna football jersey, at least partially to escapenthe massive trial cost. The district attorneynhad promised repeatedly that CarnelnClyde Frasure would pay the ultimatenprice for allegedly shooting a 16-year-oldnchild over a Miami Hurricanes jersey.nFrasure—a “cold-blooded, executionstyle”nkiller, according to the district attorney—isnnow eligible for...

England and the likes of CongressmannMervyn Dymally in the United States,nwho formed ad hoc committees posingnas larger voter bodies (Dymally’s as thenwhole of the U.S. Congress) and sentnfaxed petitions on behalf of the Coardites.nThen Amnesty International gotninto the act, with mmors that Jesse Jacksonnwas not far behind.nThis was curious since none of thesensensitive souls had...

we were struck by how much less Englishnthe place seems these days. We’d nonsooner entered the Underground than wenwere looking at a big poster showing ancouple of guys sitting on a front porch innwhat was said to be Benson, North Carolina,ndrinking Budweiser. Yeah, it’s nicenthat Benson is still exotic enough to havensome cachet, but I...

Coping With StreetnCrimenby Murray N. RothbardnA ny cogent discussion of crime mustnbegin by casting aside the obfuscationsnof criminologists and social scientistsnwho habitually lump together allntypes of crime. But while most peoplencan be made to wax indignant againstnfraud or against such abstract “crimes”nas insider trading, or even become outragednat employees taking pencils fromntheir employer, these “white-collarncrimes”...

“may well be better off without him.”nBanfield makes it clear that the high-timenpreference person’s lack of a steady jobnis not due to lack of “employment opf>ortunities,”nbut because this sort of personnhas no intention of subjecting himself tonthe discipline of engaging in full-timensteady work.nIn his trenchant analysis Banfield consciouslynharks back to the great politicalnphilosophers of the...

worry about the “rights” of criminalsnwhen the persons and property of allnof us are at risk every day in a rising tidenof crime. It is almost as if the currentnprocedures of criminal law are designedndeliberately to encourage street criminalsnand to weaken defenses against crime.nBut to make such an assertion would bento lay oneself open to...

rogues” who robbed and murdered travelers.nThe statute was also aimed at them.nSir William Blackstone gave muchnattention to the English vagrancy acts,nincluding one of Henry VIII’s that targetedngypsies, a people whose entire culture—thennas now—is based on theft.nThe gypsies were described as “outlandishnpeople, calling themselves Egyptians,nusing no craft nor feat of merchandise,nwho have come into this realm...

If you like Pat Buchanan,nyou’D love his book.nEnjoy it — FREEnPat Buchanan grew up in strange times. Mothers stayednhome to raise the children, and no Phil Donahue puttingnsick ideas into their heads. Big Government meant the fedsnwere spending $35 billion. Even the liberals wanted a strongnAmerica.nSo if some of Buchanan’s NEW ideas startle you, this...

PERSPECTIVESnA Judeo-Christian view ofneducation issues on video.nParental-Choice, Vouchers, and How To Improve Our Schools-Both Public & PrivatenPERSPECTIVES is a five-part videonseries (VHS). Each is over 50 minutesnlong, and features tiie nation’s most pro­nminent value-based educators and leadersnin the Judeo-Christian tradition.nII.nVIDEO SUBJECT;nParental-Choice & ValuesnThe Three “C’s” of EducationnContent, Character & Choicenni. Parental-ChoicenThe “How To” SolutionnIV. From...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, Jr.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...

Tacitus, as valid as the anecdotes of anGreek propagandist for foreign imperialism,nlike Polybius. The campaignnScipio volunteered for ended with thenmassacre of the Spanish leaders duringna truce. That notorious naysayer, Catonthe Censor, tried vainly to get thencommander in chief, Sulpicius Galba,ncondemned, and put his speech againstnGalba into his great Origins of thenCities of Italy. Scipio went...

man is not merely a molecule in thencosmic soup. As Chesterton brilliantlynput it in his book on Aquinas, man isnneither a thing like a mole, burrowingnin the earth (as the environmentalistsnwould have it), nor a thing like anballoon floating disembodied throughnthe sky (as in Neoplatonism, or as innthe modernist caricature of the orthodoxnChristian position), but...

I HE APRIL Chronicles examinesnseveral aspects of the Hispanic contributionnto the civilization of this hemisphere.nFive hundred years ago anGenoan captain led a small Spanishnexpedition to the terra incognita thatnhas become the Americas, and in anyear in which we will hear the hootsnand jeers of semiliterate journalistsn(Kirkpatrick Sale) bent on defamingnthe Spanish conquest, we thought itnwould...

dressed to Adam and Noah. Theynprohibit idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed,nsexual sins, theft, eating from anliving animal, and contain the injunctionnto establish a legal system for thenobservance of the other six laws. Somenscholars view them as a link betweennJudaism and Christianity, as universalnnorms of ethical conduct and as anmeans of determining internationalnlaw and fundamental human rights.nThe Lubavitchers’...

come all of these onto its soil? Again, itnis strange how a history of good deeds,nmuch more than bad ones, is perceivednin the end to create still further obligationnon the part of the benefactor.nJackson argues that the refugees notnonly should, but ought to be, repatriatednas soon as democracy is restored tonHaiti. When will that be?...

out the world do not originate fromnJerusalem. Derivative, repetitive, trivial,nself-serving exercises in arid eruditionntake the place of the world-classnscholarship of an earlier better day atnthe Hebrew University of Jerusalem.nThe great generation of the founders isnnow dead, and those surviving arenthird-rate, sterile erudites who knowneverything and understand nothing.nNo wonder they raised the stakes sonhigh in trying...

The Jungle of EmpirenOne of the redeeming features of imperialismnis that it makes for greatnadventure stories. The works of H.nRider Haggard and Rudyard Kiplingnand the literature of the American Westnfrom James Fenimore Cooper to LouisnL’Amour would not have been possiblenwithout the empires and imperial problemsnthat provide the setting for theirntales. The reason for the relationshipnought...

based in the American South and laternin the West, that was strongly attachednto such social groupings as community,nregion, family, race, and nation, and thenother, based in the Northeast, that wasninnovative, more loosely attached tonelemental social bonds and identities,nand resembled in some ways the Athensnof the Golden Age. The conflict betweennthe two was resolved in thenAmerican...

with communism but to enhance thendomestic power of those who designed,nbought, built, and managed them andnthe bureaucracies that produced them.nInstead of war and repressionnthrough force, the managerial systemnrelies on the manipulative arts of modernncommunications, public administration,nadvertising, propaganda, andnmass entertainment. In order to extendnits reach to the fullest, it has to breakndown the institutional bonds and...

Nothing has pushed forward cultural life as much as theninvention of printing, nor has anything contributednmore to its democratization. From Gutenberg’s time untilntoday, the book has been the best propeller and depository ofnknowledge, as well as an irreplaceable source of pleasure.nHowever, to many, its future is uncertain. I recall anlecture I heard at Cambridge a...