or prevalence in certain circles. The NewrnColor Line points out how even the mostrnbasic principles and values undergirdingrnthe American constitutional order wererncorrupted by its own institutions throughrnthe stealth and cunning of ideologistsrnmotivated by their visions of racial “justice.”rnThat this could happen meansrnthat something is drastically amiss in ourrnpolitical culture. It also serves to warn usrnto be ever vigilant: similar “progressive”rnideologies that range well beyond civilrnrights concerns find favor in elite circles,rnparticularly at our more prestigious lawrnschools in their various “critical legalrnstudies” programs.rnThe final message of The New ColorrnLine is perhaps the most important: “Ultimately,rneither quotas will go or democracvrnwill, because legal privileges basedrnon status are incompatible with democracy’srnrequirement of equal standing beforernthe law.” Quite so. But what is notrncertain is which one will go.rnGeorge W. Carey is a professor of politicalrnscience at Georgetown University.rnThe Mad Farmerrnby N. Alan CoinettrnAnother Turn of the Crankrnby Wendell BerryrnWashington, D.C.: Counterpoint;rn122pp.,$18.00rnThe Luddite tradition that WendellrnBerry hails so eloquently is thernsame, he insists, that caused the men ofrn76 to break from Britain. It is the JeffersonianrnDemocratic tradition that wasrnpartly destroyed (in both the North andrnthe South) by the War Between thernStates, and almost wholly wrecked byrnthe one-world fantasies of men likernWoodrow Wilson, and the centralizingrnnotions of men like Franklin DelanornRoosevelt. In his latest book. Berryrnproves that the tradition, though too oftenrnignored today, is alive and well. Hernhas been farming and writing in his nativernHenry County, Kentucky, for 30rnyears now. He has experienced the glitzrnof cosmopolitanism at Stanford and NewrnYork Universit)’, vet he prefers the hillsrnoverlooking the Kentucky River to thernfashionable academic scene. He prefersrnhis community of Port Royal to virtualrncommunities on the information superhighway.rnForemost, Berry prefers truthrnto the drivel fed to us every day b}’ thernpurveyors of popular culture.rnBerry begins Another Turn of thernCrank with a strike against rampantrnglobalism. In “Farming and the ClobalrnEconomy,” he reminds us that “thernwhole population of the world cannotrnlive on imported food.” Since WorldrnWar II, local farming communities havernbeen systematically annihilated, theirrnpopulations moved to urban centers.rnThe start of this, Berry notes, was thernswitch from solar energy to an almostrncomplete reliance on fossil fuels. Farmersrnare not its only victims: so are thernconsumers of their produce. Cities havernwatched complacently as food productionrnhas become more and more concentratedrnin a few, often distant areas. Localrnfood production is ignored, and evenrnthought to be unnecessary. Yet it is inrnthe best interest of cities to encourage arnvibrant countryside surrounding andrnsupporting them, rather than to rely onrnfood transported from thousands ofrnmiles away. In this way, both countryrnand city are bolstered, the origin of thernproduce known and its quality monitored;rnalso, community can be strengthened.rnBerry recognizes that our national politicalrnleaders do not have the “local affectionsrnand allegiances” that would permitrnthem to understand such concerns.rnThey will be of no help. As Berry writesrnin “Conserving Communities,” “Americanrnfarmers, who over the years havernwondered whether or not the’ counted,rnmay now put their minds at rest: they dornnot count.” Having destroyed the farmingrninterest, politicians can now ignorernthem. But reformists should no longerrndirect their efforts toward convincingrnmen of power that their cause is just: it isrnon the local level that changes must bernmade—through the civic groups, conservationrngroups, and co-ops, as well as,rnmost importantly, through direct consumerrnchoice. As in his last book of essavsrnand in his poem, “The Mad Farmer,rnFlying the Flag of Rough Branch, SecedesrnFrom the Union,” Berry urgesrnsecession: not formal political secession,rnbut secession from the global economyrnand a return to our communities. Ratherrnthan remaining subservient to thernDemocratic and Republican parties, tornNAFTA and GATT, to Disney andrnWarner, we need to align ourselves withinrnthe new political division that hasrncome to exist between the party thatrnholds that the communitv has no value,rnand the other that belie’es that it does.rnIn the interests of promoting the healthrnof communities, Berry suggests a numberrnof rules for action, including, “Alwaysrnsupply local needs first,” and “Makernsure that money paid in to a local economvrncirculates within the communitvrnfor as long as possible before it is paidrnout.”rnBerry addresses the theme of communityrnself-sufficiency in a wonderful essay,rn”Conserving Forest Communities,”rnwhere Berr- highlights the needs of EasternrnKentucky. What Berry fears, andrnwhat Appalachia should fear, is thatrnwhat happened with coal will happenrnwith timber: outside interests will movernin, exploit what is there, and leave, requiringrnthe next generation to cope withrnthe damage created by a boom-and-bustrneconomy. Berry is laot a tree-spiker opposedrnto the harvesting of timber; he is arnrealist who sees that the needs of EasternrnKentuckv will outrun the next 20 years.rnHe regards Kentucky’s forest lands as arnsustainable resource that can be maintainedrnto support an area indefinitely.rnForesting communities should not allowrnthemselves to remain a colonial economy,rnshipping logs to distant places; insteadrn”People in the local communitvrn[should] be employed in forest management,rnlogging, and sawmilling, in a varietyrnof value-added small factories andrnshops, and in satellite or supporting industries.”rnBerry offers as an example ofrnthe practicability of his suggestion thernMenominee Indians of Wisconsin. Inrnthe 140 years during which they havernheld their forest reservation, they haverncut two billion board feet of timber on arnforest currently estimated to contain onernand a half-billion board feet. The Indiansrnthere do not regard logging as anrneconomy, but as a culture.rnSuch an economy is impossible withoutrnclear concepts of both private propertyrnrights and stewardship. In recentrnyears, private property rights have beenrnunder assault from the government andrnfrom so-called environmentalists. Berrv,rnas a conservationist as well as a privaternproperty owner, perceives the dangers inrnthis attack against the private propertyrnrights of individuals, and also againstrnstewardship as it is properly understood.rnIn “Private Property and the Commonrn36/CHRONICLESrnrnrn