Shades of WhiternRussia’s New Right Oppositionrnby Wayne Allensworthrn”M: ankind is in crisis . . . a long crisis which began 300,rn.and in some places, 400 years ago, when peoplernturned away from religion…. It is a crisis which led the Eastrnto Communism and the West to a pragmatic society. It is therncrisis of materialism.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.rnFollowing...

The Zhirinovsky Phenomenonrnby Alexander Yanovrn., -fT^rn’rn;- ‘j^ \rn^* i’rn/:rn•4rnirnirn’ ‘ rf^rnx’rnrrnLrnfrn’/rn*rnirn,1rn^^^^HH^^rnVladimir Zhirinovsky, one of President Yeltsin’s mostrnformidable opponents, is not well known in the West, hirnthe former Soviet Union, though, he is despised and feared byrnboth political camps: the reformers and the “patriots.” EvenrnLeonid Kravchuk, president of the Ukraine and a former communist,rnconsiders Zhirinovsky extremely...

VIEWSrnHow Do You Know?rnby George WatsonrnHow much is actually knowri and not just supposed orrnimagined? A lot more, surely, than it is fashionable tornthink, at least in the world that moral and literar)- theoristsrnseem to inhabit. So much more, that it is easy to forget howrnmuch by which we interpret the world and its texts...

Pain Without PurposernThe Modern Dilemmarnby Patrick ReillyrnWe must remain absolutely silent on what we cannotrntalk about.” Wittgenstein’s interdict would surelyrnapply to the mystery of human suffering; at certain intensities,rnpain becomes literally as well as idiomatically unspeakable.rnEven to allude to the educative value of pain is to risk an inhumanrnglibness, a cold-blooded reduction of the specificity...

The Ideology of Technologyrnby Thomas MolnarrnThe technological age has been in gestation since the laternMiddle Ages, when the Sorbonne professors (Oresme,rnBuridan), the Catalan Ramon Lull, and the German Nicholasrnof Cusa directed their quest away from the Scholastic philosophyrnof essences toward a method that explores relationships.rnThis quest was at the heart of modernity, and for centuriesrngreat...

VIEWSrnThe P’s and Q’s of ImmigrationrnA Letter to My Granddaughterrnby Garrett HardinrnDear Dinah: Sounds like your solo in the Boston churchrnwas a triumph. Your grandma and I wish we could havernbeen there to hear it. We’ll make it some time.rnNow to defend myself against your charge that I’m just anrnold Scrooge when it comes to...

The National Questionrnby Peter BrimelowrnPeter Brimelow was supposed to deliver the keynoternaddress at the John Randolph Club conference inrnChicago last December, but he was marooned in NewrnYork by weather conditions. What follows is an extractrnfrom his prepared remarks.rnIbelieve the central issue in American politics at the endrnof the century is what might be described as...

Cultural Diversity and Unityrnby Claes G. RynrnThere is plentiful historical evideirce that cultural diversityrnand immigration need not undermine a society’s cohesion.rnThey can be sources of enrichment and renewal. Especiallyrnin a vital civilization, groups of different religious,rnethnic, and national origin may be pulled, however reluctantlvrnin particular cases, into a dynamic arid fertile consensus.rnOne problem with immigration...

Therapeutic Democracyrnby Paul GottfriedrnIt is impossible to judge what is wrong with democracy unlessrnwe first understand its changing and constant features.rnThe democratic principle as we now encounter it is both ancientrnand rudely contemporary. Among the ancient aspects ofrnour contemporary democracy are the spirit of equality andrnthe dangers that result therefrom. Aristotle properly perceivedrnthat democracy involves...

VIEWSrnFixers for a Feernby Charles LewisrnJ ^^sjr~jT^rn^ ^ p i i ^ ^ prn^ ^ W^^rnIMHII HHr^^Br’rn•rni aHrnHxt^arnFor nearly a decade now, Washington has been mired inrnscandals involving senior Anrerican officials who havernhired themselves out to various foreign governments andrncompanies. What is new today about this disturbing phenomenon?rnBecause of several recent, investigative studies, wernknow much...

Puppets for Nipponrnby Pat ChoaternThe Japan Economic Journal reported in 1980 that “influencernin Washington is just like in Indonesia. It’s forrnsale.” It still is. Today, more than 100 foreign governmentsrnand hundreds of foreign corporations are running on-goingrnpolitical campaigns in the United States, as though they wererna third major political party.rnMexico, for instance, is spending more...

The Middle East Connectionrnby Arthur E. RowsernPat Buchanan set off political sparks during the 1992 primariesrnwith his charge that President Bush was allowingrnforeign agents to run his reelection campaign. Ross Perot laterrnfanned the sparks into a prairie fire with accusations thatrnformer government officials earn $25,000 and $30,000 arnmonth representing foreign interests. Bill Clinton joined inrnwith...

VIEWSrnThe Ingersoll PrizesrnTenth Presentationrn1992rnFrom the left: Dr.Thomas Fleming, executive secretary of the Ingersoll Prizes-rnMrsMuriel Spark, recipient of the ‘i [ S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing- ‘rnDr. Walter Burkert, recipient of the Richard M. Weaver Award for ScholarlyrnLetters; and Dr. John Howard, president of the Ingersoll Foundationrnon November 12, 1992, at the awards banquet in...

Work of Human Handsrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnThe priest liad just closed the volume by Thomas a Kempisrnon the bookmark and put away what was left of the bottlernof wine when the telephone rang. He answered it reluctantlyrnand recognized Mrs. Corclli’s voice on the line, begging him tornhurry and saying that the doctor was already on...

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The New Right of the Old Worldrnby Tomislav SunicrnIntellectual eonservatism in Europe began its odyssey withrnDonoso Cortes in the 19th century, only to end its shipwreckedrnvoyage a century later with Oswald Spengler. Europeanrneonscr’atism has always been a panic-stricken response tornthe egalitarian torrents that have been sweeping over Europernsince the American and PVench Revolutions. After 1945,...

The Consequence of IdeasrnThe Future of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europernby Mihajlo Mihajlovrn• ^^^B ^^^^^I^KiiirnS^’^^^^SH^Hrnlife” .;/’-Wi; ‘-^>=’rn1 ^ “”‘-^”v^j^^^– ^c Jtt^krniHij^iii^Hrn^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^lrn””^”'”^^^I^S^SIil^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^lrn^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^fcW^^:’^ i ^ ” ^rnl^^l^^l^l^^^HrnUnusual news is arriving from the former Soviet Union:rnleading democrats such as Yuri Afanasvcv, Yelena Bonner,rnand many others are publicly protesting against the managementrnof Radio I .ibcrty. The immediate cause...

The Politics of Employmentrnby Richard Vedder and Lowell GallawayrnJ; ” obs Issue Dominates Defense Cuts Debates,” the LosrnAngeles ‘iimes proelaimed in a recent artiele. The storyrninformed us that the end of the Cold War has brought aboutrnlavoffs for many workers in the defense industry. This, inrnturn, has led members of Congress to wonder if the...

VIEWSrnUncommon Propertiesrnby Thomas FlemingrnPick up any newspaper at random, and you will come uponrnstory after storv of children being murdered, beaten, andrnmolested. I begin this chapter on Monday, October 19, 1992,rnand looking over the Chicago ‘Tribune I discover: a frontpagernstory on Chicago schoolchildren venting their grief over thernmurder of their friends, a headline story on...

Believe the Children?rnChild Abuse and the American Legal Systemrnby Philip JenkinsrnWc may begin with a nightmare, hnagine that ou arernthe parent of a preschool child aird that one da- policernand child-protection officials appear at your door. Thcv informrnyou that a teacher or daycare worker suspects that vour childrnhas been abused and that subscc[ucnt interviews with...

VIEWSrnPriests and PedophilesrnThe Attack on the Cathohc Churchrnby Philip Jenkinsrn( atholic priests claim to be celibate, but we know whatrnV ^ they’re really up to. Most of them seduce women, thernrest like little boys. Priests trap them in the confessional, andrnwhen the priests are found out, the bishops let them off with arnslap on the...

The Pilgrimage of Malcolm Muggeridgernby Sally S. WrightrnIn the second segment of the several-part BBC documentaryrnon his life, Malcolm Muggeridge smoothed his white featheryrnhair away from his cherubic face, smiled cryptically, andrnsaid in his deep, rolling, gentle English voice, “There’s nothingrnin this world more instinctively abhorrent to me than findingrnmyself in agreement with my fellow...

VIEWSrnThe Revolt of the Nonvoterrnby Donald WarrenrnOn November 3, 1992, the most surprising news will notrnbe who has won the presidential election, but whether arnmajority of the 186 million Americans eligible to do so willrnhave voted. The salient question today is whether a moietyrnpromises to become a majority. Four years ago they barelyrnmissed the honor:...

The Homeless Majorityrnby William J. QuirkrnThe middle-class revolt of 1992 is an angry rebellion againstrnAmerica’s 25-year experiment with nondemocraticrngovernment. Around the mid-1960’s, both political partiesrnabandoned the average American, but for different reasons.rnThe Democrats, taken with the high morality of the counterculture,rndeserted him because their hearts turned against him;rnthey decided he was selfish and racist. By...

Reforming the Invisible Primaryrnby James S. Fishkinrn•,;,:; ^rni’^’V^^^’^rn^^mlaaa^S^^^S^rn- .’. ‘C’~ ‘ ‘-‘ . ‘rn’–‘-:_’ — ‘*^L^^7”’-‘rnWEiKit -^CS”‘.rn,i^,4si^3^”%t;-‘ “rn^^- -rtSrnV..-rn| ? vrnf^B^BBM^^^^rnGN^KD^Hs^SEt!?^^rn^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^rn^–:^r^^§^Hrn-. *””i;>>rn• X’-:V.”‘^rni^^K SrnR>^-” ffl^ 1rnaiv/y KJK& irnffiv^ tw^rnW^ %^mMrn3 Ws^rnB I £ ^ ! L W ^ Irn^^^SrnSr=i==^r”^^^^3-!UKi^^jJ|Akrn^^gsrZ^^^m,rnWfTCS^^^^aHH&iMM^iM^’rn^^MHSIrn^X^XiW^WKK^^J^^rnMIW^MrniSv ^s^^^M^^SSBffirrnWe have just completed another round in a continuingrnnational experiment in...

Gift: The Life of Lorenzo Da Pontenby David R. Slavittn•.i£’:^ •nNot merely a strange place, but the home of strangeness,nthe land stretching away west to vertiginousnspaces beyond the imagination.nPhiladelphia first,nthen New York, where Nancy is living.nThe Grahls have done well, chemists, merchants, physicians.nLorenzo and Nancy cross the river, settlenin Jersey, open a grocery storenin Elizabeth.nHe...

VIEWSnBlaming Columbusnby Christie DaviesnÂ¥nThe news that pohtically correct groups in the UnitednStates are greeting the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ndiscovery of America by denouncing the great explorer as annimperialist exploiter has been greeted with incredulity andnderision in Europe. After all, had he not discovered America,nthere would be no tax-fed intelligentsia of progressive Americansnto denounce him. They...

Margaret Fuller in Romenby E. Christian KopffnWhat is the greatest lost work of ancient literature? Wasnit Arctinus’ epic Aethiopis, which told of the battles ofnAchilles against Penthesilea, the Amazon Queen, and Memnon,nblack King of the Ethiopians? Was it Ovid’s tragedynMedea, or Livy’s account of the Civil Wars that ended thenRoman Republic? In American literature I...

VIEWSnCeline and French Reactionary ModernismnReactionary literature in France today—as opposed to earliernvarieties, for example the romantic, two centuriesnago—is distinguished by its despair, its radical style, its explorationnof new worids, its almost science-fiction approach tonlife and letters. Its most powerful motive is unquestionablyndespair: of democratic vulgarity, the machine civilization, thensocial monotony that spreads over the happily...

Wyndham Lewis and the Moronic InfernonLooking back today at the achievements of the heroic modernists,nwe must do so with at least some degree of ambivalence.nThe presence of those colossi has receded with thenpassing of the years; and we no longer regard them as theynthemselves taught us to do. Yet they still loom on the mentalnhorizon,...

‘•0y’7//-^^., i^.nImust now, in public, repeat what I privately expressed to thendirectors of the Ingersoll Foundation: my gratitude for theirnhaving chosen me as the present recipient of this honorificnaward. And I must add another source of my gratification,nwhich is the very phrasing of it: the Richard M. Weaver Awardnfor Scholarly Letters. How much more preferable...

The customary division of national laws of citizenship intonthe “principles” of jus soli (place of birth) or jus sanguinisn(line of descent) denotes the objective criteria most oftennused to determine one’s citizenship. But the conceptions ofnpolitical membership that have vied for supremacy in Anglo-nAmerican law implicate a different, more fundamental dichotomy—onenbetween the rival principles of ascription...

Great Nations Need Great CitizensnAnation’s wealth and status is like starlight—what you seenis not what is, but what was. Just as the light we seenfrom a distant star started its journey thousands of years ago, sonis the nation’s current success due principally to past actions.nGreat nations have great momentum; past investments in educationnand productivity continue...

Three Bads and an ExcellentnLet’s say that you have an enthusiasm for golf, tennis, orndining out but hve in an area in which the necessary facihtiesnare available exclusively on a membership basis in privatenclubs. Assume also that any very extended exclusion fromnthese activities leaves you bored, dejected, morose. In thesencircumstances, and on the added assumption...

Ahistory textbook used by thousands of college freshmennfor the last twenty years tells fledgling citizens thatndemocracy is the system of government which “trusts thenaverage man to free himself from tradition, prejudice, habit,nand by free discussion come to a rational conclusion.” Thisntissue of sophistry encapsulates the derailment of republicannself-government in our time. Most certainly democracynhas something...

Nationalism, Old and NewnIn the course of American history, nationahsm and republicanismnhave usually been enemies, not allies. From the daysnof Alexander Hamilton, nationalism has meant unification ofnthe country under a centralized government, the supremacy ofnthe executive over the legislative branch, the reduction ofnstates’ rights and local and sectional parochialism, governmentalnregulation of the economy and engineering...

The American Crisis Without Alternativenby E. Christian KopffnThe most important event of the waning years of the 20thncentury is the collapse of the last of the great national socialistnpowers whose rise and fall dominated the generations afternWorld War I. The Axis easily defeated their liberal and imperialnopponents, but were crushed by the national socialistnregimes of...

VIEWSnFighting Drugs, Taking LibertiesnIn the early 1980’s, the Reagan Justice Department announcedna far-reaching “war” to free the United States from illicit dmgnuse. There was skepticism at the time that govemment actionsncould cause such a fundamental change in entrenched publicnattitudes and behaviors, and there were different views aboutnthe means by which such a war could be...

Turning Bad Into Goodnby Graeme NewmannI n 1983 I noted in Just and Painful: A Case for the CorporalnPunishment of Criminals that there were approximatelyn315,000 individuals incarcerated in federal and state prisons,nplus some 158,000 persons in jails of various kinds. Thenannual cost of this incarceration was estimated then to ben$20,000 per inmate, amounting to an...

VIEWSnFrom El Paso to PlymouthnHispanic Contributions to American CulturenLast November, a delegation of citizens from the farnWest Texas border city of El Paso made the longnjourney to Plymouth, Massachusetts. The purpose of the ElnPasoans’ visit was to challenge Plymouth’s long-held — andnnearly universally accepted — claim that it was the site of thenfirst Thanksgiving to...

Europeans from Cortes to Graham Greene, and Americansnfrom Ambrose Bierce to the contemporary touristnwho is offered sugar-candy skulls to buy on the Day of thenDead and has his car stopped by men in anonymousnuniforms toting guns, have discovered Mexico to be ancountry characterized by a ferocious reality that very oftenncrosses over into the realm of...

VIEWSnThe Incredible Shrinking WomannMovies, according to conventional wisdom, reflectnsociety. And so they do. Politically, movies oftennreflect the perspective of Hollywood artistes who think theynpossess a gift for reflecting society. Commercially, moviesnreflect not only audience taste but what some director ornstudio executive assumes is audience taste; they reflect notnonly what we’re willing to buy but what...

Who Is Sylvia? What Is She?nby R.S. GwynnnUnlike the situation of only a few decades ago, thenposition occupied today by women poets in Americannliterary culture is so prominent, the range of their subjectsnand styles so wide, that it has become virtually impossible tonmake any generalizations about them or their work except tonnote that in diversity...

VIEWSnConfessions of a Housing Policy JunkienIspent the 1970’s looking for a social policy agenda I couldnlove. I thought I had found one in federal housingnsubsidies.nThe image of the free family on its homestead powerfullynappealed to my imagination. I saw the suburban home asnheir to the Jeffersonian agrarian spirit, its bond to propertynstimulating the vigor, independence,...

The Doctor and the StatenWhile cooling my preadolescent heels in the familyndoctor’s office forty-odd years ago, I was given tonstudying a Victorian Era print that hung on the waitingnroom wall. The Doctor was its title. A young woman, barenarm flung helplessly toward the viewer, lay stretched onnchairs in, apparently, the family parlor. The tailcoatedndoctor gazed...

Social Security as Family PolicynAlmost two years ago, Daniel Patrick Moynihan did thennation a great service by making Social Security safelyncontroversial. Acknowledging the approaching problem ofnthe huge baby boom retirement that will have to bensupported by the smaller baby bust generation, Moynihan’snplan would have eliminated the trust fund created by then1983 Social Security Reform Act...

VIEWSnProphet SustainednJames Burnham and the Managerial RevolutionnWhen National Review published a special obituarynissue on James Burnham soon after his death inn1987, perhaps the most remarkable contribution came fromnthe pen of John Kenneth Galbraith. The Harvard economistnreminisced about the eager welcome with which he andnfellow New Dealers in the Roosevelt administration hadnreceived Burnham’s The Managerial Revolution:...

Totalitarianism With a Capitalist FacenIn an essay dated January 1, 1991, and published last July,non the day Mikhail Gorbachev met John Major innLondon, 1 forecast the former’s demise. “Sadly for hisnWestern admirers,” I wrote, “even unprecedented dictatorialnpowers cannot guarantee political longevity innGorbachev’s case. He is a dictator by the grace of thensecret-police apparatus: what it...

The Decline and Splendor of NationalismnNo political phenomenon can be so creative and sondestructive as nationalism. Nationalism can be anmetaphor for the supreme truth but also an allegory for thennostalgia of death. No exotic country, no gold, no womanncan trigger such an outpouring of passion as the sacrednhomeland, and contrary to all Freudians more people...

In February 1941, the world was at war. Nazism andnfascism ruled virtually all of Europe and parts of Africa.nImperial Japan was poised to conquer much of East Asia.nJoseph Stalin still controlled the worfd’s largest land mass,nalthough Hitler was soon to shake Stalin’s throne. That year,nPitirim A. Sorokin, born in 1889, delivered the LowellnInstitute Lectures on...