he described Lombard provincialism as the locomotive of thernautonomist train.rnManara regards himself as the very opposite of an ideologue.rnAs a scientist, he is interested in the self-evident principlesrnof human nature as they are revealed in history and experience.rnFederalism, he insisted, because it is rooted inrnhuman nature, is a theory for human survival. We talked ofrnthe original American system of federalism as a successfulrnexample to set beside Switzerland. I explained that, whilernour svstem had been undone by war, the federalist thinking ofrnJefferson, Madison, and Calhoun had new relevance in bothrnEurope and the Americas.rnBut if the Italians have much to learn from our past, wcrncan benefit from a study of Italy’s present. In Genoa, becausernof an international convention of philatelists, I had tornstav in an old hotel out in Sturla. Neither the hotel nor thernneighborhood had much to recommend it, except for thernview of the harbor from my balcon’. It was from here thatrnGaribaldi launched his invasion of Sicily and helped to inauguraternthat process of centralization that every major Italianrnstatesman—from Cavour to Mussolini to Andrcotti—has followed.rnAfter World War II, various federalist provisions werernwritten into the new constitutions, but few were implementedrnand those few were circumvented if not hamstrung, corruptedrnif not ignored. The result is the familiar spectacle of arncorrupt conspiracy of a few thousand politicians micromanagingrnthe lives of millions of people, most of whom couldrnget along quite well with a minimum of intervention.rnThe current economic situation is so acute that many Italians,rnin and out of the leagues, are beginning to rethink the basicrnpolitical mvthologv of the nation—the Risorgimento,rnGanbaldi, and Ca’Our. We are not quite so desperate, here inrnthe United States, but who knows what thoughts we might entertainrnafter four vears of “Gompagno Bill” in the WhiternHouse.rnOur own political mythology is built on the doctrine ofrnequalitv, open borders at home, and the imposition of democracyrnabroad; the heroes of our mvths are Presidents Lincoln,rnWilson, and Roosevelt who made war for the sake of peace,rnsuspended laws for the sake of the Constitution, and thoughtrndomestic tyranny was the best vehicle for exporting democracy.rnSome Italians are brave enough to confess the mistakesrnof the past and intelligent enough to long for the kind ofrngocrnment our own ancestors lived under. What about us?rn=^ ^ =i.rnPOSTSCRIPT: Are Americans ready for something like arnLeague of their own? None of the three candidates in thernrecent presidential election was willing to face the reality of lifernin America: the rioting and rampages perpetrated by an underclassrnthat consists, for the most part, of unassimilated minorities.rnPillaging, arson, and murder have taken place in LosrnAngeles and Miami, but since these criminals were fightingrnunder the black flag of racial sensitivity, the leadership of thisrncountry refused to defend the innocent. In New York, a murdererrnwas turned loose by a jury, because the killer was blackrnand the victim Jewish. Shortly afterwards. Spike Lee turnedrnout a hagiographv of a pimp and a con-artist who exolved intorna leading anti-white racist, and the only controversy over thernfilm had to do with teenagers who sport the “X” symbol withoutrnreflecting deeply on its meaning. They do not need to reflectrnon Spike or Malcolm; they ha’e already imbibed thernsMiibol’s meaning from Ice-T and Sister Souljah.rnWith widespread public approval, the outgoing President,rneager to relive the thrill of the Gulf War, decided to sendrntroops to Somalia. To judge from the columns, news programs,rnand call-in shows, Americans think this is a good idea,rnbecause they could not bear to see all those pictures of star–rning Somalians on network television. Rather than turn offrnthe set and find a book to read, we go to yvar. What, in thernmeantime, is news, big news? News is when the addlepatedrnfemale who owns controlling interest in the Cincinnati Reds isrnaccused of telling race jokes in the office. This calls for investigations,rndenunciations in Congress, and demonstrationsrnorganized by such major-league racists as Al Sharpton andrnJesse Jacksfjn.rnApart from our collective soft head on matters of ethnicrnsensitivity, what is the connection between Marge Schott andrnthe invasion of Somalia? We no longer know how to mind ourrnown business, take care of our own neighborhoods, defendrnour own interests. We get our kicks from TV riots and Africanrncivil wars, and when the station signs off, we sleep a sleep untroubledrnby dreams of wliat we and our representative goernmentrnare doing, in failing to protect us at home while sendingrnarmies abroad to lay down the peace. We created the problemrnin Somalia by inflicting the humanitarian aid that resultedrnin a population that cannot be sustained. At the same time,rnwe are pursuing an immigration policy that exen David Broderrnnow realizes will turn the United States into Somalia. If humanrnlife is so precious, why don’t we protect it in Detroit, inrnMiami, or in Cabrini Green?rnIf something like a League movement were to develop herernin the States, urban majors would not be calling upon thernNational Guard to restore order; it would be up to the citiesrnand een the neighborhoods to defend themselves. We wouldrnhave a national government, but it would be restricted to defendingrnthe national interest, not to giving away Americanrnlives to a debating society for the criminally insane—the UnitedrnNations.rnThere are only two alternatives for this continental empirernthat has never been a real nation: either we find the means torndecentralize decision-making and restore authority to the oldrninstitutions of family and town and county (and even state), orrnelse wc lapse into a multifaceted civil war of blacks againstrnHispanics against whites against blacks against Jews. . . . It isrntoo late for a man on horseback leading a militia of populistrnrednecks. There aren’t enough rednecks to go around—besides,rnBubba is too busy watching X-ratcd movies on hisrnJapanese-made VCR. Bubba and his Midwestern counterpartsrnmight have just enough manhood left in them to standrnup for themselves and their families, if the have no alternative,rnbut they—or rather we—will have to be dragged, kickingrnand screaming, before we will take responsibility for ourseKes.rnThe revolution cannot be made oernight, and the firstrnstep would be the creation of a movement devoted to thernlong-range goals of political devolution, privatization (ours isrnnot a free enterprise system), protection of the national interestrnin matters of immigration, trade, and foreign policy, andrnthe reasscrtion of our old cultural identities as a Europeanrnand—dare we echo the Governor of Mississippi? —a Christianrnnation. If there is no movement or party willing tornembrace a Leghist program, then one needs to be formed,rnand if tliat is impossible, my advice is to stockpile ammunitionrnand invest in bullet-proof doors and .shutters.rnFEBRUARY 1993/1 .Srnrnrn