Category: Imported

blame me for a lot of other things.nThey probably think it’s my fault Randolph turned outnthe way he did, something about the way I am that madenhim choose what he chose; between Evvie and Randolphnmy Philo is never going to have any grandchildren and innthat family this is a big thing. They probably think it’s...

wished to live “expressively” and theirnidea of “success” differed sharply fromnthat of the prevailing culture. Theynenjoyed drinking, dancing, and romancing,nand their standards in regardnto these activities were considerablynlooser than those of the Victoriansnabove them. They were uninterested,nmoreover, in such niceties as punctualitynand cleanliness.nFor the first time in American —nprobably in world — history, the citiesnwere...

the private sector and not puttingnenough into the public one. He callsnfor more money for schools, drugnrehabilitation programs, and better policenforces; less for ski weekends, pizza,nand hunting weapons. He chastisesngovernment for failing to represent theninterests of the community. Yet surelynthe burden of the preceding chapters isnthat America is no longer a communitynin any fair sense...

claims and demands.nThis brings us to the second problemnof our simplistically legalistic culture:ndiscussion of law in America isnrarely about justice and almost alwaysnabout claims, assertion, will, and powern— in short, about rights. Where antheory of personal virtue is absent andnsome theoretical “right” is set in itsnplace, only will and power can decide.nContemporary American law, then,...

vents reasoned political debate; it is thatnindividual rights themselves have replacednpolitics.nGlendon does not attempt to explainnwhy some rights are legitimatenand others are not. (Nor, it seems, is itnpossible to give such an explanation.)nShe argues that some debates, such asnthat regarding abortion, ought not tonbe argued in terms of rights alone. Butnthis is simply because the...

your hometown, too.”nNo, it’s not. That “narrow and goodnand decent” mist is lazy Hollywoodnwistfulness; I half expected RonaldnReagan and Donna Reed to strollndown Teachout’s street on the way tonPop’s Soda Shop for a double malted.nNeighborliness and a shared historicalnmemory are among the wonderful featuresnof small-town living, but Teachout’snSikeston is never individuated; wendo not learn how...

Letter From Latvianby Kelly CherrynChoosing IndependencenThere are those moments in which yountravel back to some time and place younvisited earlier. A trick of light, a confluencenof sounds on a summer evening.nSometimes I am fooled into thinkingnthat I am back in Latvia, where Augustnnights around a white wrought-ironntable on the grass lasted the length of ancandle.nFor...

examination of the nature of meaning.nWhat was the meaning of those memories?nThose August nights on whichnwe talked about art, music, drama, andnpoetry were, perhaps, our own declarahonnof independence. Our ideas werenindependent, we seem to have beennsaying, our feelings couldn’t be dictated,nand ideas and feelings would outlastnany bureaucracy, because seriousnart survives.nI believe that, just as I...

vertising; special interest advocacyngroups; foreign aid; subsidies and taxnconcessions to business; Crown corporationsn(to be sold); and universal socialnprograms such as daycare.nTax reform would be undertakennwith the principal objective of raisingnfunds to pay for government programsnthe people approve. The party opposesnthe use of tax concessions in attemptsnto manipulate investment behavior andnindustrial structure. All consumptionntaxes should be...

case the majority was right. WhennBuddy Roemer, the Democrat-turned-nRepublican incumbent flake, proved tonbe as inept at campaigning as at governingnand came in third, he set up thenEdwards-Duke contest.nNow, not even- National Public Radiontried to present that as a straight-upnmorality play. In bed with the oil andnchemical companies, a gambler andnwomanizer, oft-indicted (though ne’ernconvicted), the former...

The Politics ofnRapenby Betsy ClarkenWhen an acquitted William KennedynSmith emerged from thenFlorida courtroom last December declaringnhis faith in the system, a viewerncould only query, “Why?” There stoodna young man who was indicted for rapenand forced to spend over one millionndollars defending himself on the basis ofnthe word of one person, the word beingnuncorroborated by either...

of the Women’s Studies department atnMount Holyoke, for example, has instructednher students that rape is “anynunwanted sexual contact.” A Novembern1991 Teen magazine author obfuscates,nbut tries to leave the impressionnthat rape is considerably less invasiventhan it is. As she writes in an ardclentitled “Acquaintance Rape,” “if someonenyou know does something sexuallynto you against your will, then...

the opportunity to .hear all relevantnevidence in the case.” But, of course,nall relevant evidence is precisely whatnthe jury will not hear. Dishonest andnincompetent though they are, the mediannow offer the only avenue thenpublic has to learn the full truth surroundingnrape charges. Even thenACLU opposes anonymity for accusers.nAt last we come to the presumptionnof innocence that...

transmitted to males, who rarely manifestnsymptoms (and who also maynbecome infertile). Chlamydia-inducednPID carries a sterility rate of 25 percentnwith a single episode; with a secondnsubsequent episode, the rate of sterilitynincreases to 50 percent. There are 20nmillion known cases of incurable herpes;nantibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea,nsyphilis, and the human papillomanvirus (often followed by cervicalncancer) all are on...

either cannot — or is unwilling to — gonthrough nine months of pregnancy:nhence surrogate motherhood contracts.nAlthough most Western nationsnhave outlawed this practice, surrogacyncontracts have become a thriving businessnin the United States. Very fewnstates have regulated surrogacy, andnonly a handful, such asMichigan, havenoutlawed it. Virginia recently passed anlaw (with a 1993 enactment date)nlegitimizing the practice. Nationwide,nthe...

sons.” The New York Times (May 30,n1985) carried a story stating: “A mothernwith two girls had amniocentesis andnfound out she was carrying anotherngirl. She had her aborted.” The feministnSojourner: The Woman’s Forumn(December 1988) reported: “A womannwho had tried all methods she knewnto conceive a female child found outnfrom chorionic villus sampling that shenwas carrying a...

transactionnNew and Recent Books on Family and PolicynThenSwedishnExperimentnin FamilynPoliticsnTHE MYROALS ANDnTHE I N TE R W A RnPOPULATION CRISISnAllannCarlsonnThenpoliticsnHumannfsjaturenThomas FlemingnFajTiilynQuestlpiisnW^ ^’nReflections on thenAmerican Social CrisisnAllan C. CarlsonnTHE SWEDISH EXPERIMENT INnFAMILY POLITICSnTHE MYRDALSAND THE INTERWAR POPULATION CRISISnAllan CarlsonnThis devastating account of the wori< of Gunnar and Alva Myrdal portraysnhow two young scholars used the power of...

Landmarknstudy ofnliberalismnWhere 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. Muggeridge saw the heart of the problem. Communismnwas an external threat; liberalism not only...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnEmily Grant AdamsnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSn]ohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.}.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...

tions, where I had to promise themnDickens, Chesterton, Wodehouse, andneven a little Shakespeare just to inducenthem to consider going back tonwork, an agreement was finallynreached, and I am happy to report theynPATRICK J. BUCHANAN had notneven formally announced his candidacynfor the White House last Novembernthan a platoon of the Beltway rightnsuddenly fell out of ranks...

global democracy, Big Governmentnconservatism, unlimited free trade andnimmigration, and perpetual war fornperpetual nonpeace are what’s on thenmenu of the soft right, but no one’sngoing to order it, much less swallow it.nThe issues Mr. Buchanan shouldnand probably will address have to donnot with the cerebrations of think tanksnand the preferences of institutionalncash cows, but with the...

been better saved for a more importantnoccasion. There remains somethingninherently foolish — and tragic —nabout using an artillery battery to kill anrat, a rat that was half dead already. Butnpolitical capital totally aside, criticismnof the war, now that the action is over,nwould be, for a principled oppositionnparty, the right thing to do, which isnwhy it...

back on the Louisiana gubernatorialnelection of 1991 as a turning point innAmerican history. Democrats andnliberals have spent the last year whiningnthat Duke represents the logical culminationnof the conservative resurgencenof Ronald Reagan, and,conservatives,nfor the most part, have spent an equalnamount of time denying it. The Democratsnand liberals are, for once, deadnright, though as usual they miss...

fear that middle-class Americans experiencenthroughout the country—beatingnthe political drums in support ofnglobal democracy, the virtues of immigrationnand free trade, and free marketnpurism no more excites and attractsnvoters than the aforesaid controversiesnover holocaust revisionism.nYet, while Mr. Duke has proved thatnAmerican politics no longer swingsnaround conventional ideological pivots,nthe problem he has is that he lacks annaccessible and...

^ * T n the midst of life we are in death.” The old PrayernX Book’s admonition has never been more true or lessnunderstood than it is today. Modern man, despite his refusalnto consider his own mortality, is busily politicizing all thenlittle decisions and circumstances that attend his departure.nDeath penalty statutes, abortion regulations, right-to-dieninitiatives, and...

nationalized, there is already a lively discussion over thenexcessive social costs. A few years ago Daniel Callahanncreated a controversy by suggesting that our resources werennot infinite, that the more we subsidized organ transplantsnfor drug addicts, the less money we had available for prenatalncare. Callahan was attacked as an inhuman monster, butnunder any national health plan,...

this was a tradition of natural rights and individual liberties.nIt begins with Hobbes’ assertion of the sovereign’s role innestablishing civil order and ends, in the later 19th century,nwith the declaration that the state is the ultimate guarantornof the common good.nIn America the transformadon has been somewhat retardednby the peculiarities of our federal system, but in...

nation in flight from every reality, not least the reality ofndeath.nThe fear of dying trumps even our fear of death. Let menlive, we tell ourselves, a solid seventy-five to eighty years inngood health, patched up from time to time by the surgeons,nand then let us “go gentle into that good night” without painnor fear. To...

fell steadily between 1946 and 1960, while the number ofnnew households created each year soared. Young Americannwomen embraced suburban domesticity with a fervor thatnembarrassed their suffragette mothers and grandmothers. Bynall signs, the laws of sociology and history had beennshattered and a familistic America had been reborn. In mynmost dreamy-eyed moments, I even imagined that the...

and be far more dependent on government “services” thannthe semiautonomous families they had displaced.nBut this awful realization was merely the beginning of mynreeducation. Looking back, I grew aware that the UnitednStates had paid another large price through its submission tonthe engineers of federal housing policy: a weird homogenizaHonnthat cut at the fabric of authendc pluralism...

tongue-tied principle, New Orleans’ suburbs would be built government welfare program, quietly working out thento resemble Boston’s suburbs, to resemble Tucson’s suburbs, perverse logic of the great New Deal experiment in statento resemble Minneapolis’ suburbs, in the imperative federal capitalism, launched sixty years ago.nquest for homogenization and harmony. Clear-eyed now, the experience leaves me unnerved....

with subsequent savings of $78 billion thanks to “costcontainment”nrequirements. We eat our cake and have it,ntoo. The collapse of the Soviet Union as an active adversarynwill redouble the agitation for siphoning defense dollars intonhealth care.nThe Democrats start with an incontestable datum: millionsnof Americans (estimates range from thirty to thirtysevennmillion) lack health insurance, hence affordable accessnto...

on the dollar. Again the customers suffer; doctors will notntake them on. Too much hassle, not enough money, toonmuch government entanglement.nIt is a curious thing: while the ex-communist blocnstruggles to throw off the incubus of state control, Americannpoliticians and businessmen rush to its fetid embrace. Alarmnbells should clang from every steeple whenever the breathlessnargument is...

additional workers will also be needed to keep the economyngoing. Already we are hearing calls from Washington tonallow more generous immigration to solve this problem, butnimmigration brings its own problems. Since, for example,nthe success of the Social Security system depends on thenwillingness of young workers to pay for their parents’ andngrandparents’ retirement, immigrants may be...

children; of course, in order to benefit, recipients must raisenchildren. Second, the United States will benefit economicallynand spiritually and educationally if our society is reorientednto the idea that children constitute a positive good. Andnfinally, a clear connection between having children andnreceiving Social Security benefits would thereby be established.nAfter all, if nobody has children, there will...

OPINIONSnTruth or Consequencesnby Theodore Pappasn”I don’t know where democracy will end, but it can’t end in a quiet old age.”n— Klemens von MetternichnThe Illusion of a ConservativenReagan Revolutionnby Larry M. SchwabnNew Brunswick, New Jersey:nTransaction Publishers;n243 pp., $29.95nMinority Party: Why DemocratsnFace Defeat in 1992nand Beyondnby Peter BrownnWashington: Regnery Gateway;n350 pp., $21.95nRowland Evans and Robert Novaknwere among...

election.nSchwab never tires of pointing outnthat, contrary to national memory,nRonald Reagan was not one of thencountry’s most popular Presidents. Henhad only a 60 percent approval ratingnafter seven months in oflRce, comparednto President Bush’s 70 percent. By thenend of his first year, Reagan’s popularitynhad dropped to 49 percent. Althoughnhis ratings improved in laten1983 and 1984 with...

offering a tough diagnosis and recommendingntough medicine as the onlynroad to recovery. That is how the booknis intended — not to harm the party,nbut to help it.” Brown also realizesnthat, because of his frankness about thenpolitics of race, some critics will undoubtedlynbrand his book “racist.” “Inhope not,” he says, “for those who donwill be failing...

Civil War to the Second World War innthose of Faulkner. That is to say,nMencken did not subjectivize thenAmerican scene, he recreated it —nexactly what every literary artist of thenfirst rank has always done, and alwaysnwill do.nIt is an inherent weakness of thenpresent anthology that Marion Rodgersnhas restricted herself to reprintingnthe material as Mencken wrote it...

On dancing to jazz: “[A]npuerile writhing on a narrownspot.” (1934)nOn letting the Old World go to Hell innits own way: Mencken was never morenfarseeing, perhaps, than when he contendednthat Germany, not England,ndeserved to win the Great War. ThenTeutons are at least as civilized anpeople as the British, he argued, andnmaybe more so. Had the demori...

Letter From SannDiegonby Barbara McCarthynWelfare and IllegalnImmigrationnTwo San Diego police officers, respondingnin the early morning darknessnto a call that a school was being burglarized,narrived just as two suspects werenfleeing into a nearby canyon. As thenSan Diego Union reported, the officersndid not plunge into the canyon innpursuit — the terrain was dangerous,nnight visibility almost zero, and...

out of five prisoners in American jails isnan illegal alien. This costs the publicnmoney in arrests, trials, public defenders,nand incarceration, let alone in thenopportunity costs entailed.nThose who try to get hard figures onnuses of public money for illegal aliensnare usually stonewalled.’ “We don’tnkeep our records that way.” In manyncases, agencies that provide money andnservices have...

The [textile] baron knew thesenworkmen familiarly as Bill andnSam and George and Dick, ornas Lil and Sal and Jane andnLucy. More, he knew theirnpedigrees and their histories.nMore still, with that innocentnlove of personal detail native tonSoutherners, he kept himselfnposted as to their lives as theynwere lived under his wing; knewntheir little adventures andnscandals and hopes...

Playing Marketnby Jeffrey A. Tuckern’HOPE’ and Housing andnUrban DevelopmentnJack Kemp arrived in February 1989nat the dark halls of the Departmentnor Housing and Urban Developmentn(HUD). During the Energy Crisis, thenlights had been dimmed to save electricity,nbut as secretary, Kemp orderednthem turned up. With that action, henbegan a two-year spending spree whichnhas transformed its colossal concretenheadquarters in...

information. A glossy book targeted atnthe public and distributed by the agencyn(“Home Ownership and AffordablenHousing: The Opportunities”) featuresnpictures of Kimi Grey receivingnthe key to 132 renovated units. But thenbook makes no mention of the rise inncosts. The agency’s book lists no aggregatenfigures for any of the 17 “successful”ncases of conversion to tenant ownership,ngiving it the...

right from time to time. The NationalnReview has attacked the home ownershipnprogram in strong terms, but ultimatelynplaces the blame for flaws onnCongress, a tactic that worked to keepnReagan’s reputation alive among conservativesnfor his two terms. The NationalnRight to Work Committee hasnblasted Kemp for favoring unions innthe distribution of housing contracts. Inhave criticized in these pages...

aged to use Medicaid and other programsnlike food stamps and Section 8nhousing; those of retirement age receivenSocial Security and Medicare.nSponsoring organizations dispense additionalngovernment-funded benefits.nThe New York Association for NewnAmericans, the largest such organizationnfor Soviet Jews, is like an extensionnof Health and Human Services run bynimmigrants. It is described in the immigrantncommunity as a “Soviet-stylenMafia.”nRefugees are...

station by posting the schedule of departuresnand the destination of thentrain, what the INS calls getting thenmessage “back to the villages.” Fromnthe perspective of the Soviet village,nthe deal being offered resembles annall-expenses-paid vacation to Disneyland.nImmigration, even with thenfreebies, is no picnic, and anyone whondoes not think beyond the “good life”nand 24-hour cable TV is bound...

item “for sale” from Uncle Sam.nDon Barnett is a writer fromnBrentwood, Tennessee, who lived innthe Soviet Union for two years. Henhas been in regular contact withnSoviet citizens for 15 years.nDirty Secretsnby Robert G. HollandnRace-Norming Lives OnnAyear after the nasty secret got outnof how race-norming works on thennation’s most widely used job test, thenestablishment news herd...

view the responses, I have learned twonlessons: (1) federal bureaucrats do notnreally consider these comments to ben”public,” and (2) bureaucracies havenno more scruples about manipulatingnpublic comments to their own advantagenthan they do about falsifying testnresults.nThe DOL’s Employment Servicenwaited six weeks to reply to my Marchn8, 1991, Freedom of Information Actnrequest for the public comments (evennthough...