could afford sucfi luxuries as adultery, divorce, gambling.nToday, it is well within the reach of any hardware dealernto spend a week at a “business convention” in Vegas withna side-trip to the Mustang Ranch and write the whole thingnoff on his taxes.nThroughout this century, the leaders of the American regimenhave attempted to be all things to all people: defense contractsnfor business, social security for the working classes, welfare programsnand affirmative racial discrimination for the poor. Potentialntroublemakers—intellectuals and artists—have beennbought off with academic jobs and federal grants.nGovernment assistance is an addition that saps the moralnvitality of the recipients. What begins as a bad habit innwhich a free man might choose to indulge from time to timenturns into a demon that subverts the will and enslaves the mindnof the possessed. We were once a free people with distinctive,nif somewhat limited, virtues, but we have conspired with ournwould-be masters to constmct the institutions of the servile state.nCan a servile population, such as ours, restore the institu^ntions of a free republic? Probably not, although there maynbe a significant minority who would like to give it a try.nRevolutions, despite the textbook versions of history wenlearn in school, are not made by the masses. Neither thenJacobins nor the Bolsheviks, neither the Fascists nor the Nazis,nrepresented the opinion of the majority. If a hard-corenmovement could be formed out of the elements supporting Mr.nBuchanan’s bid for the Republican nomination, it mightnwell possess sufficient resources and momentum for a socialnand political transformation that goes well beyond the misnamednReagan Revolution.nI am addressing my remarks, now, exclusively to peoplenwho have the courage of their convictions. It is worth the ef-‘nfort, even to reason with the misguided souls who honestly supportnGeorge Bush or his Democratic alter egos. But it is a wastenof breath speaking to the self-styled conservative Republicansnwho support the President: they are like sheep, frisking andngamboling on the way to the slaughter house. They marvel atnthe modern elegance of their new home, comparing it favorablynwith the bams and pastures of their youth, and they are particularlynimpressed by the meat-processing machinery— realnstate-of-the-art stuff. They are embarrassed to think of all thosenyears they spent exposed to the wind and the rain.nThere are still some conservatives who do not have thensense to come in out of the rain, who prefer a life of principlednindependence out in the cold or back in the fever swamp. Somenof them, watching the antics of their “allies” on the right arenbeginning to wonder if we are so corrupt as a nation that we donnot deserve to enjoy—could not enjoy if it were handed to us—,nrepublican liberty. The truth is that in any nation, it is only anminority that can enjoy the blessings of liberty. Most men arenmade to lick the boots of their oppressors, and the classical republicanismnof the 18th century was the creed of aristocrats.nThe real American experiment was our attempt to share thosenblessings with a large part, perhaps even a majority of thenpopulation. But any good thing may lose its value if shared toonbroadly. A spirited horse, harnessed to a cab or a hay wagon,nwill lose his character, and there are few men who would sharentheir girlfriends and wives with even their best friends.nwhen we speak of “restoring the republic,” we cannot meannthe immediate reconstruction of republican institutions for everynman, woman, and illegal immigrant who happens to be re­n12/CHRONICLESnnnsiding somewhere between Ganada and Mexico. The first tasknis the repair and reempowerment of a class of citizens whonwill take their responsibilities seriously. The Roman civil andnmilitary aristocracy of the imperial period constituted such anclass, as did the gentlemen—broadly defined—who creatednand administered the British Empire.nThe task seems, on the face of it, impossible. All the institutionsnthat form the American character—schools, churches,nthe press, the arts—are responsible for the currently dilapidatednstate of our morals and manners. Give your son allnthe advantages of wealth and position—the Episcopal Church,ngood prep schools, and four years at Yale—and he comesnout George Bush. In the short run, at least, we have to writenoff the great institutions and the current class of leadersnbeing produced by them.nThe only elements from which the next elite class can be constructednare the various religious and cultural sects that havenattempted to secede from the main stream: some Baptist andnLutheran groups as well as various other evangelical andnfundamentalist denominations, antimodern communitarians,nmaverick individualists. What do these people have in common?nOn the surface very little, although I have run into an60’s hippie who turned Christian and is now a leader innthe Christian home schooling movement. Two things have tonhappen in order to forge a new republican class out of such disparatenelements. First, each of these groups has to straightennout its own house. My limited observation of conservativenreligious groups has not been encouraging. The laymen are,nby and large, good solid people, but the clergy are almostnunbelievably ignorant, and their ignorance makes them easynprey for any political or cultural fad that is not positively excludednby the Bible. I have seen, very recently, a paean to Afrocentricneducation in a publication of the Lutheran ChurchnWisconsin Synod. “It seems like the end of the world,” onenchurch member said. The tougher, more sectarian groupsnmay do a better job of preserving the primitive faith thannthe main-line churches, but their contempt for civilizationnmakes me shudder at the prospects for a Christian America.nOnce upon a time, Calvinist and Methodist preachers were seriousnand educated men, and it is up to Christian communitiesnto insist upon preachers that are both learned and virile.nIntemal reform is a long-term process. In the short mn, therenmust be a small and disciplined class of leaders with the energynand courage displayed by that small group of New Englanders,nVirginians, Yorkers, and Carolinians who dragged theirncolonies kicking and screaming out of the British Empire.nBy the time this essay is published, Pat Buchanan may wellnhave withdrawn from the race, but the 1992 election wasnnever the only motive for his campaign, and for many of hisnsupporters, it was not even the primary motivation. The reallynimportant point of the Buchanan movement is that it finallyngives the remnants of the American Republic a place to takentheir stand. With Ronald Reagan, they had a leader likenHomer’s Menelaus, who was “good at the battle cry” but rarelynup to a fight against the most powerful enemies. With Mr.nBuchanan, a street-brawler turned politician, they have a generalnwho is willing to lead the charge in person.n”Give me somewhere to stand, and I shall move the Earth,” saidnArchimedes, who only needed a lever long enough. Mr.nBuchanan’s challenge gives small “r” republicans of every typena place to stand and fight against the servile state, but it is upnto them, in all their little communities, to provide the lever.n