Category: Polemics & Exchanges

David A. Hartman’s “Wall Street’s Turn” (Vital Signs, December 2002) accurately outlined several factors that drove the U.S. stock market to extreme valuations in the late 1990’s, and, as an equity portfolio manager, I found his insight to be both refreshing and a welcome respite from the utter nonsense of the mountebanks at the brokerage...

Don’t you guys ever give up?  Sean Scallon (“Letter From Canada: A Pocket Full of Sovereigns,” Correspondence, November 2002) writes that, “From reading [the Macleans] account, you might guess that the sovereignty question in Quebec has been solved . . . that is what Canada’s establishment, from Macleans on down, would like to believe.” What...

In “The 99th’s Last Mission” (Correspondence, October 2002), Brian Kirkpatrick discusses his father’s attitude toward service in World War II.  I was born in 1920, a close contemporary of Dr. Kirkpatrick’s father.  I served in six major battles of World War II, from before the beginning until after the end, and while one man’s experience...

I find it hard to share Doug Bandow’s enthusiasm for the minimal religious freedom allowed Christians in Kuwait (“Letter From Kuwait: Religious Freedom in the Gulf,” Correspondence, November 2002). While Kuwait does allow Christian clergymen to minister to their flocks, it is those who have never heard the Gospel who primarily need the evangelist.  Is...

Let me take issue with one aspect of the recent and inspired E. Michael Jones piece, “The Family Against the Globalists” (Views, November 2002).  Dr. Jones suggests that television is supplanting the virtues that are central to families with the values central to the global marketplace and includes a call to action, something frequently lacking...

Roger McGrath’s article “American MAGIC and Japanese-American Spies” (Sins of Omission, October 2002) deserves a reply. I am not ignorant of the MAGIC?intercepts, but I insist that the United States was wrong to put the Nisei into concentration camps.  California Japanese born in Japan did become enemy aliens on December 7, 1941, subject to internment. ...

In “George W. Bush: Wilsonian Liberal” (Views, October 2002), Mark Royden Winchell writes: “As despicable as the attack [on the Lusitania] may have been, [she] was carrying British munitions.” Robert Ballard, the undersea explorer who explored the Titanic and the Bismark, also extensively explored the Lusitania in August 1993 and wrote of his findings in...

I would like to commend B.K. Eakman for her superb piece, “Bushwacking Johnny” (Vital Signs, September).  It is the first thing of hers I have read, and I am most impressed by the way she has captured the essence of the moral and spiritual crisis in education today. I am a college professor, a baby...

Many thanks for Roger McGrath’s, Joe Guzzardi’s, and Myles Kantor’s pieces in your September issue.  Rather than heaping lofty, obscurantist scorn on various currents, they actually wrestle with glaring, concrete issues, which suggests proper strategies for waging the culture war instead of merely talking about it.  For instance, it does no good merely to criticize...

Philip Jenkins was right about the absurdities involved in the anthrax investigation (“The Butler Didn’t Do It,” Breaking Glass, September), but I see two other reasons why many seem determined to find culprits other than Middle Eastern terrorists. Many on the left are uncomfortable with ethnic villains.  Frequently, they view non-Westerners as spiritually superior.  While outraged...

Samuel Francis sounds like a Clintonoid in his column “Will Europe Survive?” (Principalities & Powers, August).  He chides the few Republicans who sought the truth about the serious crimes allegedly committed by the Clintons as “conspiracy mongers,” while avoiding such major policy issues as immigration and affirmative action. While Dr. Francis is correct to criticize...

Joseph E. Fallon’s thesis (“Lincoln and the Death of the Old Republic,” Vital Signs, August) that the Lincoln administration destroyed the Old Republic of the Founding Fathers and replaced it with the ideological foundations of today’s welfare state is unassailable.  Indeed, this result is celebrated by such left-wing legal scholars as George P. Fletcher, author...

I had already read Robin Anderson’s biography of Pope Pius VII, but if a book review or anything else has Thomas Fleming’s name on it, I read it.  Alas, no more than nine lines into his review (“The Church Militant,” Reviews, August), I was startled by the first of several attacks on Catholic traditionalists that...

As the “legendary agent” mentioned so prominently in Dr. Philip Jenkins’ article (“The Next Intelligence Crisis,” Vital Signs, June), I would like to make a few points of my own. I agree with much of what Dr. Jenkins says, particularly that “the United States needs a much stronger and more proactive intelligence apparatus.”  I also...

In the April 30 issue of the Remnant, Christopher Ferrara cites a priest in New York who claims that the percentage of seminarians within his diocese who are homosexual may be conservatively estimated at 60 percent.  If this is what Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford (quoted in “De Profundis,” The Rockford Files, June) refers to...

Tomislav Sunic’s useful reminder of the dark legacy of Islam in the Balkans (“The Ghost of Islam in the Balkans, Vital Signs, June) is in need of a few corrections. While most members of other SS units were volunteers, the Yugoslav “Schwaben” belonging to the Prinz Eugen Division were not.  Heinrich Himmler wanted to turn...

Near the latter part of each month, I anticipate having my day brightened by the delivery of the current issue of Chronicles.  It isn’t the content that lifts my spirit so much as the unwavering commitment to truth, common sense, morality, and transcendent values. “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our...

I found myself in complete agreement with Donald W. Livingston’s (and thus Thomas Naylor’s) arguments for downsizing the U.S.A. (“A ‘Containment Policy’ for the New Cold War,” Vital Signs, May).  The very next article, however, left me bewildered (“What’s Good for General Motors . . . ,” Vital Signs).  It was hard to believe that...

As a practicing child psychiatrist, I agree with some of B.K. Eakman’s points regarding psychotropic medications (Cultural Revolutions, May) but not with the main thrust of her argument. Before the mid-1950’s, there were no effective treatments for mental illness.  None.  Psychotherapy was, of course, in full flower, and psychoanalytical theorists (Freud and his followers) ruled...

Scott P. Richert’s article on the Islamic school in Rockford (“Through a Glass, Darkly,” The Rockford Files, April), was extremely tasteful—and also very disturbing. There are several Islamic private schools here in Washington, D.C.  The Washington Post did a story on the phenomenon a couple of years ago, listing  some of the same selling points...

Dr. Samuel Francis is an outstanding scholar, and he is usually right on target, but, speaking as an attorney, I’m afraid his article “Tribunals for Terror” (Views, March) is seriously flawed. Supporters have argued that tribunals are necessary, in part, to avoid potential intimidation of jurors.  Dr. Francis, however, believes that Timothy McVeigh and the...

I read with interest Mark Royden Winchell’s “When They Bare the Iron Hand” (Vital Signs, March).  I do not dispute his account of the events of 1865, but in Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, Congress, not the president, is given the authority to grant letters of marque and reprisal.  Current sensibilities no doubt...

A person who has been ravaged by liberalism might loudly attack Scott P. Richert for his reminiscences on Russell Kirk’s noble reclamation project in Mecosta County (“Ghosts of the Midwest,” Views, February), especially if that person were a partisan of all things Native American.  The logic goes like this: Native Americans, the true Agrarians, first...

I agree with Srdja Trifkovic (“Time for Arafat to Go,” The American Interest, February) that Yasser Arafat is not the best leader for the Palestinians and may well be an impediment to peace.  But Dr. Trifkovic repeats a common misconception when he says, in effect, that the Israeli offer at Camp David was just too...

Greg Kaza (“Economic Liberty and American Manufacturing,” Views, January) is to be congratulated for seizing hold of two important realities: that the late 1990’s saw a financial bubble of historic proportions, the origins and implications of which are poorly understood; and that incomes for the median- and lower-wage earner, when adjusted for inflation, have seen...

Thomas Fleming’s criticism of Ludwig von Mises and his student, Friedrich von Hayek (“Abuse Your Illusions,” Perspective, January), overlooks or misinterprets major contributions of both.  In Socialism (1922), Mises was the first economist to show the unworkability of socialist systems.  He based his analysis on the impossibility of establishing a price structure for the various...

I enjoyed Mark Winchell’s “Tracts Against Capitalism” (Vital Signs, January) when it presented facts regarding the Agrarians, but I must take issue with a number of his opinions. Peaceful Valley residents have more than two options regarding Wal-Mart.  They could, for example, form a corporation (non-profit or otherwise) to buy the land in question, or...

In “‘Bless the Lord, All You Works of the Lord’: Nature and the Incarnation” (Views, December 2001), Scott P. Richert asserts that “modern environmentalist thought” seeks to preserve a closed, idyllic system through the exclusion of man.  This is either disingenuous or uninformed; either way, it is a wholly inaccurate characterization of modern environmentalism.  While...

I am very sympathetic toward the central point and direction of Aaron D. Wolf’s “A Tender, Unitarian Christmas” (Views, December 2001), but I must register one significant complaint.  If we were trying to decide which historical group has been modernity’s favorite whipping boy, the Puritans would have to be in the front rank of contestants. ...

Your December 2001 issue contains a number of articles attacking Unitarianism.  Frankly, as a Unitarian, upon reading Aaron D. Wolf’s piece decrying the unitarianization of Christmas, I was able to enjoy the holiday as seldom before.  But I am astonished and offended by Thomas Fleming’s line, “Better a foolish Turk . . . than a...

I would like to thank Dr. Thomas Fleming and his staff at Chronicles for putting out the best magazine in the United States.  I have been a reader for many years and have never been disappointed—until now.  In the November 2001 issue, Dr. Fleming’s Foreword discussed the destruction of our country and announced, “The party...

Third World immigration, contrary to the claim of Philip Jenkins?(“A New Christian America,” Views, November 2001), is not making America more Christian.  The Catholicism of Latin America and the Caribbean (the leading source of immigrants), is often nominal—a veneer covering a wide variety of pre-Columbian superstitions, African spirituality (e.g., Santeria), and simple unbelief.  It is...

I am an unabashed lover—not a worshipper (I reserve that for Someone Else)—of Abraham Lincoln, forever grateful for what he was and what he did for our country.  While I don’t question the patriotism of Chronicles’ editors, I believe it is supremely ironic that you publish your magazine from the “Land of Lincoln,” since you...

I have become resigned to the often gratuitous trashing of my Yankee heritage that is a regular feature of Chronicles.  Sometimes, we even deserve it.  After all, it is your magazine, and it’s a very, very good one.  I cannot, however, let Clyde Wilson’s outrageous statement in “Confederate Rainbow” (Reviews, October 2001) go unchallenged.  He...

In “Real Diversity” (Views, September), Dr. Roger McGrath implies that the Cornish are virtuous or otherwise worthy of praise because they could serve their East Anglian, whiggish industrial masters with ant-like aplomb and distinction. He praises just those qualities that a mechanized society of robotic workers would covet. In his mind, the Cornish people were...

Janet Scott Barlow missed the point completely in her article about the Houston woman who drowned her six children in June (“Hearing More, Feeling Less,” Vital Signs, September). She interpreted the woman’s husband’s matter-of-fact, emotionless demeanor in front of the press the day after the killing as a byproduct of “an explosion of coverage.” Thus,...

My experiences aboard a Navy aircraft carrier that often entered and departed Pearl Harbor, each time passing by the U.S.S. Arizona, overrode George McCartney’s review of Pearl Harbor (In the Dark, August). I think the film is outstanding—indeed, one of the best of its kind ever produced. It splendidly teaches history to American generations that...

Regarding Aaron D. Wolfs article concerning Ned Flanders’ appearance on the cover of Christianity Today (Cultural Revolutions, May): While I agree that Ned is not a flattering portrayal of evangelical Christianity, we must remember that, when dealing with The Simpsons, no one is portrayed in a manner any better than Ned. I doubt the show’s...

I disagree with Stephen B. Presser’s statement (The 225th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence: A Chronicles Roundtable, June 2001) that the Declaration of Independence is not part of the U.S. Constitution. True, as the professor says, the Declaration was not adopted by conventions in the 13 states in the manner prescribed in the seventh...

Chronicles crackles with goodness and excitement, and I hope that one of these days I can send it something worth including either in the magazine or in the Chronicles Extra! section of your website. I was introduced to Chronicles thanks to the “critique” the Weekly Standard gave it back in 1996, right after Pat Buchanan’s...

I must take up computer and mouse in indignation. How could you include Elvis on your “celebrity” cover? What possessed you to put the King amongst a group of the world’s great sleazeballs? And at the head of the table? Have you no shame, gentlemen? True, the King was famous, and true, in his latter...

In his review of John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama (In the Dark, June), George McCartney comments in detail and at great length on what he perceives to be the film’s merits. Some of these are real, though hardly worthy of the extravagant praise that McCartney bestows. He especially praises Pierce Brosnan for his portrayal...

While I enjoy Chronicles immensely, a particular issue sometimes exceeds your high standards. Timothy Murphy’s Horses For My Father (June) was, to my taste, the finest piece of American poetry of the last 50 years. The seventh stanza was particularly poignant because it evoked memories of my mother’s father, who farmed a quarter-section in Caldwell,...

In “The Proletarian Weapon” (Principalities & Powers, May), Samuel Francis has restated his theory that we are living “in a society that is between civilizations,” the old one being “bourgeois, Western, and generally Christian” and the new one “managerial, non-Western . . . egalitarian.” When he first said this, I thought he was being ironic,...

Just what does Chilton Williamson, Jr., your “environmental” thinker, believe? In “Now Hear This!!!” (The Hundredth Meridian, May), he claims that the federal government wants to “remove the existing rural population from the land.” That is an outlandish remark. Mr. Williamson says that “nearly all environmentalists are effectively Deep Ecologists now . . . ”...

John O’Neill’s “Letter From Detroit: Field of Schemes (Correspondence, April)” caught my eve, as I have visited some 30 different Major League Baseball parks in my 50-plus years of existence. When I found out that 1999 was the final year for Tiger Stadium, I decided to spend a week in Detroit and catch a few...

Srdja Trifkovic’s twin contributions to the April 2001 issue (Cultural Revolutions and “Sharon’s Victory and U.S. Policy in the Middle East,” The American Interest) reveal the two sides of the same sadly debased coinage of mindset which has led the Serbs into their present morass. He writes that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica “is a moral...

I applaud your interest in property rights in the April 2001 issue, “Your Land Is Their Land.” I was especially interested in the article “For Keeps! A Christian Defense of Property” by Scott P. Richert (Views), since I have come to know and work with two of the four families who are used as examples...

E. Michael Jones’ article on Adam Weisshaupt and the Illuminati (“A Room With a View: Debunking the Whig Theory of History,” Views, March) was extremely interesting and informative, but seriously flawed in some areas. Jones is hoisted on his own petard when he suggests that Weisshaupt was demoted at the University of Ingolstadt and subsequently...

William Murchison’s take on President George W. Bush (Cultural Revolutions, February) reminded me of a cartoon called “Jim’s journal” that I used to see in one of the student newspapers at the University of Wisconsin. This simplistic drawing, complete with stick-figure characters, centered around Jim and his daily life. For every event, whether mundane or...