Tar and Feathering the Southrnby Michael HillrnDemonization as a political and social stratagem knows norntemporal or geographical bounds; it is a ploy as old as civilizationrnitself. The objective of the game is to dehumanize anrnopponent (an individual or a group) in order to gain public supportrnfor his marginalization or destruction. Modern Americarnabounds with examples of...

The Russian Demonrnby Wayne AllensworthrnIn the year 1818, Aleksandr Pushkin penned these lines inrnhis well-known verse “To Chaadaev,” addressed to his friendrnPeter Chaadaev, one of the leading Russian liberals of thernperiod:rnComrade, believe: joy’s star will leaprnUpon our sight, a radiant token;rnRussia will rouse from her long sleep;rnAnd where autocracy lies, broken.rnOur names shall yet be...

The Media War Against the Serbsrnby Negovan RajicrnIn the Yugoslav conflict, misinformation has exceeded anythingrnever witnessed during Worid War II. Television coveragernof the war has appealed to emotions and weakened our facultiesrnfor critical analysis, leaving them vulnerable tornmanipulation by opinion-makers.rnTo win any media war today, it is of prime importance to hirerna good public relations...

Demon StatesrnThe Construction of a Terrorist Networkrnby Philip JenkinsrnSometime in the early 1980’s, terrorism ceased to be seen asrna tactic and became a movement. Originally, the term referredrnto acts committed by a government against its own people,rnon the precedent of the French revolutionary Terror in thern1790’s. Gradually, the word shifted its meaning, to denote violentrnresistance...

VIEWSrnSacramental ParodiesrnG.K. Chesterton and Muriel Spark Confront the Spiritualistsrnby Father Ian Boydrn^*A / hat do you expect of a spiritualist? His mind’s at-rnV V tuned to the ghouls of the air all day long. How canrnhe be expected to consider the moral obligations of the flesh?rnThe man’s a dualist. No sacramental sense.” So speaks one...

Sacraments of Deathrnby Harold O.J. Brownrn”^rv.,,rnAmong the sacraments of the Christian churches, the onernmost frequently received is the Lord’s Supper, also knownrnas the Eucharist or Hoh’ Communion. In the classic Englishlanguagernliturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, the ministrantrnoffering the consecrated bread will sav, “The Body of the LordrnJesus Christ, broken for thee, preserve thy...

Confirmation and Indoctrinationrnby E. Christian KopffrnInstitutions survive because the old teach the young. ThernQuakers who founded Haverford and Swarthmore collegesrnin Pennslvania had to admit that the Hoi) Spirit could use thernhelp of explicit teaching to back up I lis direct conversation withrnthe human heart. For ages the Church has asked the young tornmemorize its basic...

The Rise of the Profanernby Thomas MolnarrnAt some point in their development, civilizations cease believingrnin the sacred and plunge into a new set of absolutes.rnNo community likes to speak of decadence and its usual-rnIv harsh symptoms; no one may even grasp the meaning of suchrnan upheaval. Yet new absolutes appear on the horizon whichrnseem to...

Teaching Religion and Religious Teachingrnby Philip JenkinsrnSome years ago, I was in Washington, D.C., for the annualrnconvention of the American Academy of Religion, a vastrngathering of college professors teaching in the area of ReligiousrnStudies, when an astonished cabdriver asked me who all thesernhordes of people were. When I explained the conference tornhim, he whistled and...

A House Without DoorsrnVote Fraud in Americarnby James J. Condit, Jr.rnor decades now CBS, ABC, and NBC have pretended on Computerized FraudrnJ- election night to be in hot competition to project thern”winner” and “loser.” We know the act well: Dan, Peter, orrnTom comes on the air and solemnly intones, “We can now projectrnthat President X...

None of the Abovernby Greg KazarnIam running against myself in the November 5 general election.rnFor the second time in my brief legislative tenure, I amrnproviding constituents with “None of the Above” (NOTA) adhesivernballot stickers. Michigan election law docs not provide arnNOTA option, but it does allow write-in campaigns using stickers.rnSo I have produced NOTA stickers,...

The Need for Real Majority Rulernby Clyde WilsonrnDemocracy, Churchill is supposed to have said, is a very unsatisfactoryrnform of government—only it’s better thanrnany other kind that has been tried. If man cannot be trusted torngovern himself, Jefferson wrote, how can he be trusted to governrnothers, which was a definitive reply to the elitism of Hamiltonrn(and...

The Ten Commandments of Communityrnby Richard D. LammrnWe arc sailing into a new world of publie policy—a worldrnas strange and new as Cohnnbus discovered. It is arnworid where infinite government demands have run straight intornfinite resourees. It is an America made up inereasingh’ of di-rncrse jjeople. At current immigration patterns, bv 2040, therernwill not be...

VIEWSrnHabla Therapy?rnby Janet Scott BarlowrnInstruction #1: “Gather the following materials: a pair ofrnscissors, paste or glue to use on paper, and a piece of constructionrnpaper, lightweight cardboard, or a plain piece of paperrn(in that order or preference) at least 8″ x 10″ and no larger thanrn16″ X 20.” You will also need to gather two...

VIEWSrnInvisible but Presentrnby Zbigniew HerbertrnThat Zbigniew Herbert cannot be here with us deserves a fewrnwords of comment. Zbigniew Herbert is 71 years old, and an intellectualrnof that age in the United States is usually perfectly ablernto travel, speak, and enjoy the golden years. Czeslaw Milosz, anotherrnPolish poet and Nobel Prize winner, is 13 years older...

Don’t Give Us IndiarnThe Multiculturalist Casernby George Watsonrn** I |on’t give us India,” Samuel Johnson once toldrnJ ‘ Boswell, when the talk was about how widelvrnmankind differed in its view of chastity and polygamy. Montesquieu,rnhe said, the great pioneer of anthropology, was inrnmany wavs a fellow of genius. Butrnwhenever he wants to support a strange...

The Portable Shakespearernby George GarrettrnNothing new here, really. Nothing that hasn’t been hashedrnand rehashed by my betters, the true scholars and criticsrnwhose faithful quest for knowledge has sometimes ended inrnearned wisdom for all of us. Sometimes not…. Anyway, somernthings, old and new, arc worth saying again (and again), indeedrnmust be said even at the risk...

The Unbanable BookrnThe Bible, Past and Presentrnby Harold O.J. BrownrnArecent full-page advertisement in the Chicago Tribune,rnwhich no longer calls itself “The World’s Greatest Newspaper,”rnlisted four documents that supposedly are foundational:rnthe Magna Carta, the Treaty of Versailles, the Declaration ofrnIndependence, and the Infiniti Retailer Pledge. These four, accordingrnto the advertiser, Infiniti, are totally trustworthy, because:rn”A promise...

VIEWSrnIt’s Sovereignty, Stupid!rnby William R. HawkinsrnOn March 18, President Bill Clinton tested the waters onrnthe foreign trade issue. These waters had been heated uprnby Republican contender Patrick l^uchanan’s attacks on “unfairrntrade deals,” which had hurt Americans for the benefit ofrntransnational corporations. Speaking in New Orieans, Clintonrndefended his “free trade” policies, quoting John F. Kennedyrnand citing...

Human Rights and Self-Governmentrnby Marshall DeRosarnIn the United States, the federal system of government is undergoingrnprofound changes that compel students of Americanrnpolitics to rethink traditional ideas about national identity.rnQuestions such as: “What does it mean to be a citizen of thernUnited States?” and “What are the duties and privileges of U.S.rncitizenship?” and “In what manner...

Suicide and States’ Rightsrnby Bill WeberrnIn early March, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals went exploringrnin the empty spaces beyond the text of the 14thrnAmendment and discovered a constitutionally protected rightrnto suicide. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, writing for an 8-3 majorityrnin Compassion in Dying v. Washington, went on to concludernthat a Washington State law forbidding assisted...

VIEWSrnThe Long ApprenticeshiprnAmerican Democracy and the Future of Europernby Francois FuretrnPrizes are a particular pleasure for people who engage in thernpeculiar metier of writing books, because they arc reassuring.rnWriting in fact involves a great deal of anxietv both before,rnduring, and after; rewards allow one, at least for a time, to putrnthose anxieties to rest. But...

A 28th AmendmentrnDemocracy and Constitutional Changernby William J. Quirk and Robert M. WilcoxrnHow different this country would be if we had a 28thrnAmendment which read: “An amendment approved byrnthe legislatures of three-fourths of the States shall be valid to allrnintents and purposes as part of this Constitution.” Threefourthsrnof the states, if they desired, would then...

Whither the Popuhst Wavernby Paul GottfriedrnFor at least a decade, a changing political climate has beenrnupsetting the media and the practitioners of politics asrnusual. Populist movements have been spreading through thernWest under such names as the Lcga Nord (Italy), the NationalrnFront (France), Freiheitliche Partei (Austria), the Reform Partvrn(Canada), and Pat Buchanan’s American Cause. Thoughrnthere are...

Why Americans Shouldn’t Voternby David MastiornEveryone is sure the American political system is broken,rnbut no one wants to blame the people in charge. JamesrnFallows has his nifty little book blaming the press; HowardrnKurtz blames our talk show culture; Frontline and The Centerrnfor Public Integrity point to our corrupt campaign financernsystem; conservatives tout their all-purpose reform,...

VIEWSrnConservation and Animal Welfarernby Stephen R.L. ClarkrnNot so long ago, nor all that far away, we knew our place.rnThe old could command the young, parents commandrnchildren, the well-born command the lowly-born, men commandrnwomen, and the High King over all. No one need havernany doubts about his duty. We all owed duties of deference tornthose above...

Searching for a Past That Never WasrnThe Strange Story of Ecosystem Preservationrnby Alston ChasernIn January 1995, residents of the small t(5wn of Libby, Montana,rnreceived a surprising invitation. Proffered by federalrnauthorities, it announced that meetings would be held on thern28th, simultaneously at Libby and 28 other locations throughoutrnMontana and Idaho, to discuss something called the InteriorrnColumbia...

Environmentalism, Culture, and Politicsrnby Ed Marston and Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnThe following remarks are excerpted and arranged from arnseries of letters exchanged between Ed Marston, publisherrnof the environmentalist newspaper in Paonia, Colorado, HighrnCountry News, and Chilton Williamson, Jr., of Chronicles, inrnresponse to questions posed by Mr. Williamson during Januaryrnand February 1996.rnDoes a traditional Western culture exist...

Lilliput vs. Leviathanrnby James CatronrnThere are lots of freckles, red hair, and Celtic names inrnCatron County, New Mexico. Though almost everyonernin the county has some Indian or Mexican blood, this is homernto the families and culture which David Haekett Fischer describesrnin Albion’s Seed as Scoteh-Irish, double distilled, first byrnthe Highland clearances and then by transportation...

VIEWSrnSocial Engineering in the BalkansrnBuilding a “New World” Staternby William R. HawkinsrnIn his November 27 televised speech explaining his rationalernfor sending United States troops into the Balkans, PresidentrnBill Clinton said his goal is “preserving Bosnia as a single state.”rnTestifying three days later before the House National SecurityrnCommittee, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said “onlyrnwith peace...

Uncle Sam, International Nannyrnby Doug BandowrnThe Cold War may have ended, but Washington pohcymakersrndon’t seem to have noticed. America, facing no seriousrnsecurity threats, accounts for roughly 40 percent of thernglobe’s military spending. Our expenditures outpace those ofrnRussia by three or more to one; America spends twice as muchrnas Britain, France, Germany, and Japan combined. What...

America Firstrnby Congressman James TraficantrnOn Michael New-rnOn January 24, I introduced a resolution condemning therncourt-martial in Germany of U.S. Army Specialist MichaelrnNew, who refused to wear the insignia of the I’nited Nations onrnhis uniform. My resolution, coauthored with CongressmanrnRoscoc Bartlett (Republican-Maryland), calls on PresidentrnClinton to vindicate the principle under which Michael Newrnmade his refusal, to...

VIEWSrnWith the Nietzscheans of Naumburgrnby Curtis GaternThe old cathedral town of Naumburg, where FriedrichrnNietzsche spent 12 of the first 18 and seven of the last tenrnyears of his life, is located in the southeastern corner of thernLand (province) of Sachsen-Anhalt, roughly halfway betweenrnWeimar and Leipzig. In late April and eady May of 1945, thisrnpart of...

Ancient Greek Religionrnby Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jonesrn, *S }* -^rn- ‘i”rn• •v , . •rn!^’;.;Jrn’ • . ‘ • » • – ••rn• ^ v ^ ‘ lrn. – . . < • / – .rn – ? ‘ :*=rn>* *””rn, • ‘ • > . • ‘ . ‘rn.rnrrr-rn •>•’rn”‘-‘Nrnit^rn.••?» .•.rn’ “^rn*rn• •rn» *rnA>vrn~rn• ....

Monotheism vs. Polytheismrnby Alain de BenoistrnCan we still conceive of the revival of pagan sensibility inrnan age so profoundly saturated by Judeo-Christianrnmonotheism and so ardently adhering to the tenets of liberalrndemocracy? In popular parlance the very word “paganism” mayrnincite some to derision and laughter. Who, after all, wants tornbe associated with witches and witchcraft, with...

The Twilight of the Sacredrnby Thomas MolnarrnAt the center of the contemporary pagan/Christian controversyrnare the nature, the localization, and the psychological-rnmythological motivation of the sacred. The last one dominatesrnthe debate because as the transcendent God becomesrnless focused the sacred turns into a basically human domain.rnThe question, no longer addressed to heaven, is not over howrnGod...

VIEWSrnFrom Household to NationrnThe Middle American Populism of Pat Buchananrnby Samuel FrancisrnIf there was any major difference between the presidentialrncampaign of Pat Buchanan in 1995 and his first run at thernRepublican nomination in 1992, it was the relative calm withrnwhich his enemies greeted the announcement of his secondrncandidacy and his rapid move last year to...

Who Can We Shoot?rnby Bill KauffmanrnWho better to kick off a discussion of American populismrnthan Henry James? In The Portrait of a Lady SocklessrnHank had Henrietta Staekpole define a “cosmopolite”: “Thatrnmeans he’s a little of everything and not much of any. I mustrnsay I think patriotism is like charity—it begins at home.” Likewise,rna healthy populism...

Campaign Finance Reformrnby Jack J. TawilrnIn accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidencyrnin 1908, this century’s greatest populist warned: “How canrnthe people hope to rule if they are not able to learn, until afterrnthe election, what the predatory interests are doing?” The manrnwas, of course, William Jennings Bryan, and he offered a “completernand effective” solution...

The Populist RainbowrnBlack Nationalists and the Militia Movementrnby Jesse WalkerrnIt is June 1994, and Anthony Hilder is attending a SouthernrnCalifornia gathering called “The New World Order.” Twornoverhead projectors beam book-covers alleging Masonic conspiraciesrnonto the walls. Hilder, white and middle-aged, is thernhost of two syndicated talk-radio shows, Radio Free Americarnand Radio Free World. He has brought...

Radical Populism on the VolgarnRussia’s Neo-Nazi Oppositionrnby Wayne AUensworthrnVrnp frnri ^rny^mrnwlrnWrnOn May 8, 1995, President Boris Yeltsin addressed an auditoriumrnfilled with gray-haired war veterans, their chestsrnbedecked with rows of ribbons and medals, and told them ofrnthe cost of victory in the Great Patriotic War. Citing newrnarchival research, Yeltsin revealed the “terrifying figure” ofrn26,549,000 Soviet citizens...

VIEWSrnThe Matter of MoneyrnMedia Empires and the Shaping of Democracyrnby Philip JenkinsrnOver the last year, the doings of the media have occupiedrncenter stage in the media themselves, an obsession thatrnseems harmless if somewhat incestuous. There has been arntournament atmosphere surrounding the issue of whether therndamsels CBS or ABC would fall to one or another suitor,...

Communication as ManipulationrnThe Case of Hillary Rodham Clintonrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnIn her chosen role as doting public grandmother to both Billrnand Hillary Clinton, columnist Mary McGrorv is ever on thernalert for opportunities to whip from her journalistic handbagrnher favorite images of those two extraordinary kids. In truerngrandma-like fashion, she is transfixed by their every utterancernand...

Shadowmetricsrnby Robert WeissbergrnThe public opinion poll has become an ubiquitous featurernof modern life. Seventy years ago, there were no professionalrnpollsters. Fifty years ago only a handful—Gallup,rnRoper—served as takers of the public pulse. Today, thanks torncomputer and telephone technology, thousands of publicrnopinion sccrs and sages arc for hire. The explosion of practitionersrnis only the most visible...

Cry, the Beloved Countryrnby Alex N. DragnichrnThe Yugoslav civil war will turn out to be, from the long perspectivernof the American experience, a mere dot on thernhorizon. But for a small part of the American landscape—thernAmericans of Serbian descent—the twisted portrayal of thisrnwar, by politicians and the media, will be painful and difficultrnto bear for...

VIEWSrnColeridge and the Battle of WaterloornCritical Theory Among the Englishrnby George WatsonrnThere is a story told about the late Roland Barthes. Once,rnin his Paris seminar on critical theory, a British visitorrnbravely remarked that something he had just said soundedrnrather like a point made by Coleridge in the Biographia Literaria.rnAn embarrassed silence followed. Then Barthes, in...

Postmodernism, Theory, and thernEnd of the Humanitiesrnby E. Christian KopffrnFor more than a decade now, Christopher Norris has beenrnwriting clear and informed discussions of where deconstructionrnand other versions of critical theory in the humanitiesrnare headed. The clarity of his accounts has been a public service,rnsince few of the philosophers and literary and cultural theoristsrnhe discusses...

Whig History and Lost Causesrnby Jeremy BlackrnIt is totally misleading to present history as if its course was inevitable.rnThe past cannot be understood if the elements ofrnchance and contingency are ignored. To assume that what happenedrnwas bound to happen—the teleological interpretation ofrnhistory—takes away the options facing individuals, groups, andrngovernments in the past. It is analytically...

Thomas Szasz Against the Theoristsrnby Irving Louis HorowitzrnSince the publication of The Myth of Mental Illness and PsychiatricrnJustice some 35 years ago, Thomas Szasz has battled thernpopular conception of mental illness as a disease “like any other.”rnHe has long argued against the involuntary interning of the mentallyrnill, against denying the mentally ill their constitutional rightrnto...

VIEWSrnDefenders of DemocracyrnCovert Policing and Dirty Tricksrnby Philip Jenkinsrn^^ T T i g h ranking police officials trained by the FBI andrnJ. Xarmed by a IJ.S. marshal formed a secret unit thatrnmay have committed political murders… under the banner ofrncounter-terrorism, the secret police turned into terrorists.” Untilrnrecently, most Americans reading such a news report wouldrnassume...