there was one ethnic group Maurrasndistrusted more than the Jews, it wasnthe Germans. He moved his newspapernto a nonoccupied zone of Francenand continually criticized the Nazisnthroughout the war. And his politicalndream, based on decentralized, autonomousnregional governments with anbenevolent monarchial head in Paris,nhad nothing in common with the totalitarianismnof Hitler’s henchmen.nAlthough history proved him wrong,nhe sincerely believed that De Gaulle’snrebels would bring a Gommunist takeovernin France. Certainly, with thenhigh percentage of Communists in thenResistance in the South of France,nwhere the memory of the war betweennCatholics and Communists in Spainnwas very vivid, there was some justificationnfor his fears. Most Americans—nhaving never lost a war on our homenground and believing the French cowardlynlost theirs with Germany afternfour days and not, as is more accurate,nafter 70 years of bloodletting—willnnever understand the tragedy of thosenyears of civil war in France, symbolizednso vividly by De Gaulle’s painfulndecision to wage war against the namesakenand godfather of his own son.nMarshal Petain. Nor will we see thenanalogy of Petain to Robert E. Lee.nWould not Lee have condemned thenresurgent Ku Klux Klan as anarchistsnthe way Maurras condemned the Resistancenas Communists? Even thosenless forgiving towards Maurras mustnadmit the strong parallels of his decentralizingnpolicies with those of anSouthern statesman like John C. Calhoun.nFor that matter, were not Maurras’nProvengal felibres somehow akin tonour own homespun Southern agrarians?nIs there not a certain parallelnbetween the patriotic, populist writingsnof a camelot du roi like Bernanos andnthe writings of a man like DonaldnDavidson, both trying desperately tonkeep alive the best of the old world andnthe new? Witness the youthful Bernanos’nindictment of the pacifist philosophernAlain, “When the blood of youngnFrenchmen is flowing everywhere, it isnnot to an obscure sophist like yourselfnthat the mothers will hold up theirnimmolated sons.” Or the older Bernanos’nhonest efforts at expunging thentaint of anti-Semitism from Frenchntraditionalism, “I am only ‘racist’ innthe manner in which I affirm thatnthere are races . . . that racism of thenGerman Nazis or the American KKKnhas always been, for a Frenchman, andisgusting monstrosity.”nRobert Speaight, Bernanos’ biographer,nhits a visionary cue when hensays, “Bernanos, like Briickberger, wasnmore an antique Trojan than anGreek.” Following the example of thencourtly, chivalric tradition of Aeneasnon through to France’s gift of Romanntraditions and civil law might provenuseful to a country like ours, sweatingnand struggling beneath the excesses ofna precedent-ridden Anglo-Saxon legalnsystem. “The weakness and frailty of anconstitution are in exact proportion tonthe number of constitutional provisionsnthat are written” (Joseph denMaistre). Who knows? Perhaps thenFrench kings had the right idea inncalling their legislative body only innemergencies, wars, famines, and thenlike—instead of paying a bunch ofnfull-time politicians/lawyers year-innand year-out to think up more andnmore unnecessary laws. “The state willnnever leave go of what it once hasntaken” (Bernanos).nRussell Desmond writes from NewnOrleans.nLetter FromnHollywoodnby Father Andrew L.J. JamesnTake ‘Em to Court!nAmericans are said to be a litigiousnpeople. So powerful is our desire tonjustify ourselves that there is even anman who was willing to let himself bencalled a thief and a liar in front ofnmillions of people, rather than pay men$60 for an article he had pirated.nIt started this way: I read throughnWriter’s Market, 1984, and found thenname of a religious publication whichnclaims it wants “exposes,” and not anyn”All’s well with Christ” manuscripts.nSince they seemed to want to be trendiernthan thou, I decided theirs wouldnbe a good magazine to send an articlenabout the establishment of an EasternnOrthodox ministry at Chillicothe CorrectionalnInstitute, in central Ohio.nThey seemed to like the article too;nnnthey published it, but as a letter to theneditor!nSince I have routinely placed thenwords “Copyright, date, all rights reserved”non material which I have submittednfor publication for pay—whichnwould protect the matter in question,nuntil such time a magazine wouldnoffer “First North American serialnrights” payment—the editor had notnjust been ethically unconscionable butnhad broken the law.nI wrote him to say, “If you thoughtnmy material was worthy of publication,nyou should have paid me. If younthought it unworthy, you should havenrejected it. You did neither.”nHe lamely responded: “We gave youncredit for it.” He would make the samenremark (with the editorial addition ofnthe adjective “full” in an appropriatenplace) to Judge Wapner at the hearing:n”We gave him full credit for it,” meaningnthey published my name as thenauthor.nI demanded payment. The editornrefused. I took up the matter with thenCalifornia Attorney General’s Office.nThey contacted the editor, who indicatednto them he would make amends.nHe did nothing.nI sued the gentieman in the smallnclaims court, in Fullerton, California.nBefore long, I received a telephonencall from one of the producers of ThenPeople’s Court, who invited me tonappear on the show. “I would benwilling,” I said, “to call them thievesnand liars in front of millions of othernpeople, but I expect they will not wantnthat.”nBut they did. I flew to California,nwhere Tim Owen (an aspiring actornfrom Ohio who works as a productionnassistant for Ralph Edwards Productions)npicked me up at Burbank andnhustled me into Hollywood to thenstudio.nThe plane was an hour and a halfnlate; they were already filming onensegment when we arrived. The defendantnpeeked at me from behind anscreen. One of the producers said:n”Keep talking. Talkers tend to win.”nNo matter what Judge Wapner decided,nI had won. I had brought thenmiscreants to “justice,” even if it wasnthe sort only Hollywood can provide.nThe Judge heard both sides, thennwent out for the commercial breaknsaying: “I’ll be back and give you mynOCTOBER 1987! 41n