On Oct. 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the U.S. Department of State to monitor anti-Semitism worldwide. To monitor anti-Semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel lobby and Abe ...
Year: 2009
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Jim Crow Liberalism
Having lost both houses of Congress and the White House in two straight elections, Republicans are going through an identity crisis, its leaders holding town hall meetings to “listen” to the people. “What should we focus on? Should we drop the social issues? How do we get the young people back?” Such angst and soul-searching...
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Sheep Before Swine
As Mexico reels from the swine flu panic, there’s fierce talk of the disastrous impact on that country of North American methods of intensive livestock production. In the eye of the storm have been the huge pig factories in the state of Veracruz, owned by Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of Smithfield Farms, active in North...
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What Is History? Part 31
Intelligence is international; stupidity is national; art is local. —Ezra Pound The historian in particular is a camp-follower of the successful army. —David Donald Accidents don’t happen to people who take accidents personally. —Don Vito Corleone A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. —Will Durant We are...
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And More American Contributions to Civilisation
All-you-can-eat restaurants The Three Stooges The new Three Stooges: George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and Douglas Feith Donald Trump Talentless best-selling authors Talentless movie and music stars Great constitutional scholars like Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, and Warren Burger Reverse discrimination Eleanor Roosevelt Anarcho/Tyranny (though forms of this doubtless appeared earlier in history) The “Great Society”...
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“Empathy” And The Court
The President wants an empathetic jurist to replace David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. He will likely get such a one. What the country will get in that event is one more senator or cabinet member—as straw boss, head knocker, high and mighty arbiter of high and mighty matters. A sort of modern Roman...
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A Share in the Patria
God likes farmers. Not gigantic corporate agribusiness, but farmers. He made man from the dirt and for the dirt, to cultivate His Garden. Adam means “of the red” or “of the soil.” When the children of Israel clamored for a king, so that they might rely on him to protect them from foreign invaders, the...
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A Share in the Patria: What a Republic Is Good For
God likes farmers. Not gigantic corporate agribusiness, but farmers. He made man from the dirt and for the dirt, to cultivate His Garden. Adam means “of the red” or “of the soil.” When the children of Israel clamored for a king, so that they might rely on him to protect them from foreign invaders, the...
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The Bishop Takes a Stand
In recent years America has seemed to lack the sort of bold churchman who is willing to put his penny-loafered foot down and say enough is enough. But according to recent press reports, the shoe has dropped. Even in these degraded times, there is a limit—a line you just can’t cross. What is that line?...
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The Blind Ape
In the 1970’s, one hardly ever heard the word atheist. One had the impression that the impassive majority never considered the subject long enough to have made the term a part of their active vocabulary; while the typical exception would proffer, with an upraised finger and a coy smirk, something along the lines of “let’s...
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A Teacher Complains
November, and my undergraduates’ glazed expressions are as good as a calendar. They’re limping through to Thanksgiving. So am I, and perhaps my eyes, too, are glazed. I find myself uneasy about teaching, for the first time in a while. In my experience this is the way with teaching: a dozen good classes, one after...
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The Puzzle of France
Robert Gildea, professor of modern history at Oxford, is the author of some half-dozen volumes dealing with France after 1800 or, in one case, Europe as a whole. Most are broad studies or learned surveys (the terms are not intended as pejorative), very detailed, usually concentrating on one or more aspects of the picture. One...
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The Classless Republic: An Impossible Society
I cannot see the least possibility of recreating either an elite republican class (if, by “elite,” one means an untitled aristocracy) or the American Republic itself. The notion of a republic is a product of classical political thinking, which is now virtually dead in the Western world, and never appeared elsewhere. Not only has the classical...
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Return to Rome
Paul Theroux laments that the world is aging badly, that the world he knew as a young man has nearly vanished, that the decline and decay of precious things is everywhere apparent. Theroux should know; he travels more than I do. Also my own ventures at home and abroad depressingly confirm his impressions. Except when...
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Antifascists on the March
All over Britain and Ireland, including the unpleasing town where I live, which is run by a left-wing junta, there are memorials to those who fought in the International Brigades on the Red Republican side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Even though there are but a few British and Irish survivors of the battles...
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A Limited Presidency: From Cincinnatus to Caesar
The American president began as Cincinnatus, a patriot called to the temporary service of his country (a republican confederation). The president ends as Caesar, a despot of almost unlimited power, presiding over a global empire. Like the Caesars, in some quarters the president is even worshiped as a god. Cincinnatus was called because of his...
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Is America a “Republic”?
I entirely agree with the spirit of this roundtable but not with the language of restoring “the Republic.” The United States is not now and has never been a republic. It is a federation of states, each of which, in Article IV of the Constitution, is guaranteed a republican form of government. But a federation of...
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Infelix Culpa?
“The oldest sins the newest kind of ways . . . ” —William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2 Kingsley Amis called him “Grim Grin,” an apt name for a novelist who aggressively insisted that the path to God runs through the wilderness of lust, degradation, deceit, and betrayal. Like his spiritual ancestor, Nathaniel Hawthorne,...
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The Ponderous and the Fleet
Watchmen Produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures Directed by Zack Snyder Screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse Duplicity Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures Directed and written by Tony Gilroy The title of Alan Moore’s 1986 comic-book series Watchmen alludes to the Roman satirist Juvenal, who asked, “Who watches the...
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Preparing for Battle
Your Excellency: May is once again upon us, bringing that mad dash in which you sprint from parish to parish, rubbing oily crosses on the smooth foreheads of gawky teens, confirmandi mentally and spiritually armed to do battle with the dragons facing God’s holy Church. My youngest son, who is even now preparing to receive...
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Arnold’s Pyrite State
The most obscene political speech I ever heard was delivered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 for the Orange County Republican Party’s annual Flag Day dinner. He began with his stock boy-immigrant-from-Austria spiel, a version of which you might have heard him give at the 2004 GOP National Convention. Then he brought up the red-white-and-blue...
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The Moral Temper
Fr. James Pereiro’s new history of the Victorian Church examines a much-neglected element of the Oxford Movement’s central tenets. Ethos, he contends, was the key component in the development of a complex theory of knowledge that Tractarians—named after the movement’s “Tracts for the Times”—would adopt as their own. The idea was conceived by Anglican priest...
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Adams’ Federalism
In 1786, John Adams wrote in his diary that a friend, “lamenting the differences of character between Virginia and New England,” welcomed from Adams a recipe for a Chesapeake makeover: “I recommended to him town meetings, training days, town schools, and ministers”; these “are the scenes where New England men were formed.” Because Adams started...
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The Martyrdom of Chas Freeman
It was a cold, blustery day in Washington, D.C., when the spies met their mark. The place: Union Station. The mark: one Lawrence Franklin, then a 56-year-old Iran specialist who worked as a top official at the Pentagon. Franklin was convinced that Israel was being shortchanged by the United States, and that Iran posed a...
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How Things Change Out From Under Us
Anyone who has been around for a while and who pays any attention to the news sees many disturbing changes. Recently, I read a report that two children, ages seven and eight, had an altercation at school during recess. They were carted off in handcuffs by the police. The teachers or principal had dealt with...
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A Time to Sue
After years of complaining about liability lawsuits against doctors and businessmen that award millions to plaintiffs and enrich unscrupulous lawyers, conservatives may finally have a few lawsuits they can support. Across the country, victims of illegal-alien crime are filing suit against businessmen who hire them and cities that protect them. In other words, leftists who...
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Mr. Outside: Glenn Davis
As the 20th century drew to a close lists of the century’s greatest figures in various fields of endeavor appeared regularly in newspapers and magazines. Revealing that memories were short, the lists tended to be dominated by figures of recent vintage, especially in the sports world. This is probably a consequence of the ephemeral nature...
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The United States, In Congress Assembled
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States . . . ” Thus run the first words of Article I, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution, clearly laying out the Framers’ understanding of the nature and the role of Congress. Everything else enumerated in Article I—the various powers...
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Now He Knows the Rest of the Story
“Hello, Americans. This is Paul Harvey. Stand by for . . . news!” His voice was arguably the most recognized in the history of radio. His broadcasting career lasted over three quarters of a century, from his days as a high-school intern at KVOO in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma, until 2009. Yet few of the...
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Reviewing Judicial Review: A Government of Justices
In the most famous defense of the U.S. Supreme Court’s power to declare acts of the federal and state legislatures unconstitutional, Alexander Hamilton argued that it was the Court’s job only to implement the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution. If the Court went beyond that—interpreting the document to include things that...
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Europe’s P.C. Fatwa
Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember that Europe was the cradle of democracy. For today Europe seems to be sliding inexorably into a culture of control that would have made Stalin proud. Carol Thatcher, the daughter of the great Lady T, was recently banned from the BBC for referring to an unnamed tennis...
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China Ups the Ante
Despite professions of friendship and cooperation in Washington and Beijing, U.S.-Chinese relations in the Obama era are off to a rocky start. The most prominent cause of tension was an incident in early March in the South China Sea. U.S.S. Impeccable, a “survey vessel” (spy ship) was conducting operations some 30 miles off the coast...
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Free Men of a Republic
“The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.” I first heard this wise insight into the American way of life from Sam Ervin, who was, as I have since learned, quoting John Ciardi. I should not be surprised: Poets always get to the heart of the matter a...
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No Problem
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Just One More Thing
Alexander Hamilton said debt is a blessing: It oils the wheels of business and enhances national power. Jefferson said debt is a curse: It binds future generations without their consent, striking at the very heart of the Republic—the consent of the governed. Bloomberg News reports (February 9) that the so-called financial crisis has added $9.7...
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On Men in Dark Rooms
When I first read a derogatory comment by Scott P. Richert about Dr. Alan Keyes in the May 2008 issue of Chronicles (“Tan, Rested, and Ready,” The Rockford Files), I was moved to write—but am glad I waited. At the time I found it to be very uncharacteristic of the magazine, in general, and certainly...
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A Limited Presidency
The American president began as Cincinnatus, a patriot called to the temporary service of his country (a republican confederation). The president ends as Caesar, a despot of almost unlimited power, presiding over a global empire. Like the Caesars, in some quarters the president is even worshiped as a god. Cincinnatus was called because of his...
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Adams’ Federalism
In 1786, John Adams wrote in his diary that a friend, “lamenting the differences of character between Virginia and New England,” welcomed from Adams a recipe for a Chesapeake makeover: “I recommended to him town meetings, training days, town schools, and ministers”; these “are the scenes where New England men were formed.” Because Adams started...
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Is America a “Republic”?
I entirely agree with the spirit of this roundtable but not with the language of restoring “the Republic.” The United States is not now and has never been a republic. It is a federation of states, each of which, in Article IV of the Constitution, is guaranteed a republican form of government. But a federation of...
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Just One More Thing
Alexander Hamilton said debt is a blessing: It oils the wheels of business and enhances national power. Jefferson said debt is a curse: It binds future generations without their consent, striking at the very heart of the Republic—the consent of the governed. Bloomberg News reports (February 9) that the so-called financial crisis has added $9.7...
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Not Our Fathers’ Auto Industry
The U.S. automotive industry operates in a highly regulated environment, a fact largely overlooked in recent congressional hearings over federal loan guarantees to domestic firms. These regulations affect more than three million American blue- and white-collar workers employed in the industry, along with shareholders and other investors, including retirees (and ...
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Reviewing Judicial Review
In the most famous defense of the U.S. Supreme Court’s power to declare acts of the federal and state legislatures unconstitutional, Alexander Hamilton argued that it was the Court’s job only to implement the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution. If the Court went beyond that—interpreting the document to include things that...
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The Classless Republic
I cannot see the least possibility of recreating either an elite republican class (if, by “elite,” one means an untitled aristocracy) or the American Republic itself. The notion of a republic is a product of classical political thinking, which is now virtually dead in the Western world, and never appeared elsewhere. Not only has the classical...
Post
The United States, In Congress Assembled
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States . . . ” Thus run the first words of Article I, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution, clearly laying out the Framers’ understanding of the nature and the role of Congress. Everything else enumerated in Article I—the various powers...
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A Republic, If You Can Restore It
PERSPECTIVE Free Men of a Republicby Thomas Fleming ROUND TABLE Can the Republic Be Restored? “A Limited Presidency” by Clyde Wilson“Adams’ Federalism” by John Willson“Just One More Thing” by William J. Quirk“Is America a Republic?” by Donald Livingston“Reviewing Judicial Review” by Stephen B. Presser“The Classless Republic” by Chilton Williamson, Jr.“The United States, In Congress Assembled”...
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The Ponderous and the Fleet
A review of Watchmen (produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures; directed by Zack Snyder; screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse) and Duplicity (produced and distributed by Universal Pictures; directed and written by Tony Gilroy) The title of Alan Moore’s 1986 comic-book series Watchmen alludes to the Roman satirist Juvenal, who asked, “Who watches...
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American Contributions to World Civilisation
Many of the prominent characteristics of our culture—venal politicians, callous and stupid bureaucrats and police, promiscuous and perverted clergymen, debased currency—were inherited from the Old World, where they have a long history. However, we Americans are proverbially an inventive people and we have made many innovative cultural contributions of our own to the world. Like...
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Gay “Marriage” Fantasy
You really can’t have “gay marriage,” you know, irrespective of what a court or a legislature may say. You can have something some people call gay marriage because to them the idea sounds worthy and necessary, but to say a thing is other than it is, is to stand reality on its head, hoping to...
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Return to Rome
Paul Theroux laments that the world is aging badly, that the world he knew as a young man has nearly vanished, that the decline and decay of precious things is everywhere apparent. Theroux should know; he travels more than I do. Also my own ventures at home and abroad depressingly confirm his impressions. Except when...
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Cold Gospel
Just as the New York Times was front-paging a supposed upsurge in atheism (God? What God?) came complementary tidings from the Pew Research Center. To wit, it’s not church spats over “gay marriage” or pedophilia that seem to be driving explicit Christians out the door. A complex of concerns causes their switch to another religion...