quires lawyers to assist clients whonwish to perjure themselves). But millionsnof other Americans have likewisenlost any sense of right and wrong notnenforced by the judge and policeman.nIn his 1978 Harvard CommencementnAddress, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn complainednthat in America “voluntarynself-restraint is almost unheard of:neverybody strives toward further expansionnto the extreme limit of thenlegal frames.” When voluntary selfrestraintncollapses, the coercive forcenof litigation will inevitably take itsnplace, and no amount of legislationncan set things right.nAvaricious and power-hungry lawyersnand their greedy clients do offendnthe moral sensibilities of the majoritynof Americans, and appropriate legislationnmay abate the current litigationncrisis to some extent. But to the degreenthat litigation fever is but one symptomnof a cultural disease afflicting thenpopulace at large, the place to look fornremedies is not the statehouse but thenhome and the chapel.nThe death of Rick Nelson comes as andeferred punctuation mark to the decadenof the 50’s. An entire generation ofnAmericans grew up watching Davidnand Ricky grow up. We discoverednElvis and Jerry Lee Lewis at the samentime, and when Ricky picked up thenguitar and sang rockabilly music, wenlistened. Of course, it wasn’t the realnthing — Ricky singing a Jerry LeenLewis song was a little like GuynLombardo doing Beethoven. He justnstood there moving his lips as if henwere almost afraid of the music. Still,nit was reassuring for suburban andnsmall-town Middle Americans: IfnRicky played rock ‘n’ roll, how badncould it be?nIn the 1960’s we parted company.nRicky — now Rick—went Western,nwhile the “kids” went to pot. Whenn50’s nostalgia became the rage in thenearly 70’s, Nelson surfaced again (he’dnkept working all those years), and henplayed the big revival concert at MadisonnSquare Garden. It was not a goodnexperience, although ironically it producednhis only really good song, “GardennParty,” in which a grown-up RicknNelson declared, “If memories werenall I sang / I’d rather drive a truck.”nNelson went on singing into thenReagan years, in some ways a replay ofnthe Eisenhower years. He went back tonhis first love, rockabilly music. Whennhe died in a plane crash, he was on hisnway to another job. The crash nownappears to have been caused by someonenfreebasing cocaine. Time finallyncaught up with the relic of the 50’snrock. Hank Williams killed himselfnwith booze and pain pills; Jerry LeenLewis has almost drunk himself tondeath more than once; Elvis tranquilizednhimself to destruction. But fornthe middle-aged and middle-class RicknNelson, the cause of death was all toonappropriate.nThe sanctuary movement continues tonstay out of the news. By now everyonenhas heard of the heroic efforts ofnAmerican churches willing to risknpunishment in their zeal to obey anhigher law. More interesting are somenof the things the press is not telling us.nWe are told, for example, that illegalnimmigrants deported to El Salvadornface political persecution. Evidencencollected by the IntergovernmentalnCommittee for Migration suggests thencontrary. Since December 1984 ICMnhas assisted 5,000 deportees by providingnlodging, meals, and travel tickets.nThey also give the deportees six letters,nwhich they are to complete and returnnto ICM. In the letter they are requestednto indicate if they are working,nwhere they live, whether or not theynhave any health problems or any othernproblems for which they would likenICM assistance. Of the only 22 whonwanted help, two wanted to escape thendraft, seven were in circumstances thatnICM felt justified emigration. It seemsnclear from their survey that deporteesnare not endangered by returning to ElnSalvador and that their main reasonsnfor coming to the U.S. are economic.nWhen Gentral American illegals arenadopted by Churches, they sometimesnprove to be more than a handful. Theynare involved in at least one celebratednmurder case, and there are rumors thatnQuaker sanctuary workers are appallednby the alcoholism, wife-beating, shoplifting,nand assault engaged in by theirnwards. One church is reported to havensolved its problems by passing them onnto another congregation, whom theynduped into thinking they were gettingnparagons of virtue, only to receivenanother lot equally bad. Religiousngroups now prefer church sanctuary,nbecause they are apparently afraid tonlet the illegals into their homes. Safelynlocked up in church, the immigrantsnare also prevented from engaging innstreet crime. Still, the sanctuarynchurches continue to bask in the glownof public attention and speak grandlynof doing the Lord’s work. Jesus madenan appropriate observation on goingnpublic with generosity:nWhen thou doest thine alms,ndo not sound a trumpet beforenthee, as the hypocrites do innthe synagogues and in thenstreets, that they may havenglory of men. Verily I say untonyou, they have their reward.nVerily.nnnIrving Kristol has come a long way innhis perilous journey from the left.nWhile some of his “fellow travelers”non the trip have been tempted to stopnat certain comfortable resortsn—democratic socialism, Zionism, orneven democratic capitalism—Kristol’snintellectual restlessness continues tonspur him on in search of a genuinelynAmerican vision. Most recently he hasnshown signs of accepting certain premisesnwhich once found favor with T.S.nEliot, Charles Peguy, and the FalangenEspanol. Writing in Commentary, henobserves, “It is not mass democracynthat makes modern societies less habitablenthan anticipated, it is secular,n’progressive liberalism,'” which he describesnas “the religion of our elitesn. . . but not the religion of a majoritynof the American people.”nIn looking for a new consensus innthe West, Kristol thinks it will be builtnon three pillars: “a commitment toneconomic growth as measured by jobsnand economic opportunity for the averagenperson,” patriotic nationalism,nand religious morality. Kristol, a professornof social thought at NYU, is notnentirely sure he wants to live in a worldndesigned by William Jennings Bryannin consultation with Jose Antonio, butnthat makes his penetration even morenremarkable. If we went in for chartingncareers on the basis of left/right polarityn(which we would never do), wenwould have to put Mr. Kristol somewherento the right of Jerry Falwell. ccnAPRIL 1986/9n