At this writing, the bombing campaignrnappears relentless. But perhaps Guido’srnfate may help predict what will happen tornthe President. The Reverend Jackson,rnbefore he left Serbia, was given a privaterncommunication from Mr. Milosevic, detailingrnthe terms under v-hich he wouldrnaccept foreign peacekeeping troops inrnKosovo. (These were also spelled out inrnan extensive interview which Milosevicrngave to UPI.) Even more interesting, arndelegahon of U.S. congressmen, meeUngrnwith their counterparts from the RussianrnDuma and an advisor to President Milosevic,rnclaims to have worked out “arnframework to resolve the Kosovo crisis,”rnwhich sounds like the one set out in thernUPI interview. The “framework” mostrnlikely will be implemented through otherrndiplomatic offices, probably those ofrn”special presidential envoy” ViktorrnChernomvrdin, perhaps with Mr. Clintonrnbeing brought in to sign final accordsrnin the Rose Garden in another near-Hollywoodrnextravaganza. As in a Fellini film,rnhowever, the surface glitter may be thernsurest sign of the emphness beneath.rn—Stephen B. PresserrnCONCEALED HANDGUNS couldrnhave been carried by law-abiding, responsiblerncitizens of Missouri underrnProposition B, but on April 6, Missourirnvoters defeated the measure by a smallrnmargin (52 to 48 percent). To qualif)’ forrna concealed-carry permit, one wouldrnhave had to be at least 21, have taken 12rnhours of state-approved firearms training,rnand have undergone an extensive backgroundrncheck designed to weed outrnfelons, drug addicts, those with a historyrnof violent behavior, and the mentally ill.rnThe negative vote is full of hard lessonsrnfor paleoconservatives and libertarians,rnand it tells us much about the state ofrncontemporar)’ society and the persistencernof pre-industrial cultural patterns in modernrnAmerica.rnFirst of all, the vote dispels the notionrnthat we will win as long as we can get ourrnmessage out. Supporters of Proposihon Brnoutspent their opponents by five-to-one,rnflooding the airwaves with television andrnradio commercials for at least a monthrnbefore the vote. (Of course, opponentsrngot free adverhsing from anti-B editorialsrnin the state’s major newspapers, all ofrnwhich are leftist and anti-gun.) Second,rnemotionalism counts more with the majorityrnthan does rationalism. W’hile pro-Brncommercials stressed that women couldrnbetter protect themselves with a concealedrnweapon and that the crime raternhas gone down in every state that hasrnpassed a concealed-carn’ gun law, opponentsrnsuggested that gun-toting Missouriansrnwould start shooting each other inrntraffic jams, at bars, and at professionalrnsporting events. Third, corporate Americarnis acting as the money chest for thernhard left. The anti-B campaign wasrnbankrolled largely by 32 corporationsrnbased in St. Louis and Kansas City. (Thernpro-B campaign was frmded largely byrnthe National Rifle Association.) Fourth,rnthe cultural gap between urban/suburbanrnand rural America continues tornwiden. Citizens in the St. Louis andrnKansas City metropolitan areas votedrnagainst B by about 65 to 35 percent,rnwhile the rest of the state voted for B, 61rnto 39 percent. Of the state’s 114 counties,rn103 went for B, while only 11 defeated it.rnOf those 11 counties, only three werernpredominantly rural. An)’one who drovernthrough the Missouri countryside beforernthe election can testify that virtually everyrnother farmhouse had a pro-B sign. Fifth,rnthe vote offers more evidence that Midwesternrnsuburban America is not yetrnready for a Middle American Revolution.rnAffluent and mostly white St. LouisrnCounty voted against B bv an astoundingrn70 to 30 percent. When one considersrnthat the working class is generally progun,rnit seems clear which groups formedrnthe bulk of the no vote; single women,rnsoccer moms, and the henpecked, sportswatching,rnmale employees of corporaternAmerica. When people vote down a referendumrndesigned to restore a constitutionalrnright, they are saying that they arerncomfortable with their status as subjectsrnand that they trust the state to provide forrntheir security: not exactly the stuff ofrnwhich revolutions are made.rnFinally, the vote reveals that Missourirncontinues to be divided between a Southernrnand a Northern culture. Outside ofrnits two large metropolitan areas (St. Louisrnand Kansas City), Missouri remains anrnupper South state. While no one missedrnthe importance of the urban/rural divisionrnin voting, only by taking thernNorth/South division into account canrnwe explain why three predominantlyrnnon-rural Missouri counties voted forrnconcealed carry. Greene County, in thernsouthwestern corner of the state, includesrnthe small city of Springfield (populationrn143,000). Jefferson Count)-, a populousrncounty of 200,000, is part of the St. Louisrnmetropolitan area. Jackson Count)’, inrnthe southeastern corner of the state, isrnhome to Cape Girardeau (35,000), a universit)’rntown. The one thing that all threerncounties have in common is that theirrnpopulation is still predominantiy Southern.rnFurthermore, consider two similarrncounties in the northern part of the state.rnNodaway, located in the northwesternrncorner of Missouri, has a county seat ofrn10,000 people that is the home of NorthwestrnMissouri State University. Its votersrnrejected B. Adair, in the northeasternrncorner of the state, has a county seat ofrn17,000 that is the home of Truman StaternUniversity. Its voters approved B. Thernexplanation seems to lie in historical andrncultural differences. The northeasternrncorner of Missouri was a hotbed ofrnSouthern resistance to Republican militaryrnoccupation during the War of NorthernrnAggression. To this day, it remainsrnmore Southern in population and culturernthan the northwestern corner.rn—H. Arthur Scott TrashrnO B I T E R DICTA: Richard Moore, arnpoet from Belmont, Massachusetts, returnsrnto our pages this month. Mr.rnMoore is the author of nine books of poetry’,rnas well as translations of Plautus andrnEuripides, a book of literary essays, and arnnovel. The Investigator. Mr. Moore givesrnfrequent readings in the Boston area.rnTimothy Murphy, our second poetrnthis month, hails from Fargo, NorthrnDakota. The Deed of Gift, a collection ofrnMr. Murphy’s verse with a critical prefacernby IngersoU Prize recipient RichardrnWilbur, was published last year by Stor)’rnLine Press.rnA new artist graces our pages thisrnmonth. Darren Gygi has been illustratingrnmagazines for over two years. A lifelongrnstudent of caricature, Mr. Gygi residesrnin Utah with his wife, Megan.rnMore samples of his work can be foundrnin his online portfolio, www.theispot.com/rnartist/gygi.rnGregory L. Newbold, who illustratedrnour June issue, has provided the artworkrnfor “Christianity and Slavery in the OldrnSouth” (p. 31).’ Mr. Newbold’s clientsrnhave included Sony/Tri Star Pictures,rnHewlett Packard, Cadillac, and thernHouston Grand Opera. He has illustratedrntwo children’s books, and his paintingsrnappear on Mountain Sun Natural Juices.rnHis work has been recognized by the Society’rnof Illustrators and the American Instituternof Graphic Arts, among others.rnJULY 1999/9rnrnrn