was to trim the fat, hold the line, and wait for the next onslaughtrnof soeialism that would earry the ball ever eloser to thern100-vard line of 100 pereent government. These were thernpolicies of the Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan administrations,rnand the fact—staring us in the face—the fact of their utter failurernccn to slow the advance, much less reerse the progress, ofrnsoeialism tells us everything we need to know about the futilitvrnof such Fabian tactics.rnMost contemporary conservatives—all honorable men—rnassume there is enough health in the American body politic tornmake it worth preserving. They are wrong. It is not conservativerntemperaments that are needed in the coming struggle, butrnradicals who are willing to change things root and branch. Forrnthis reason I prefer to speak of the right or the right wing, notrnso much because it indicates a movement of opposition to thernleft, but because what we are upholding is the right, now andrnforever.rnIf we wish to be honest with ourselves, there are only twornchoices. We can be cither Jacobins or Jacobites, communists orrnChristians. I here is no Anglican via media between God andrnthe devil. You must take your stand and make the best of it,rnand if vou choose not to choose—that is, if you wish to be neoconscrvative,rnncolibcral, fusionist conservative, or Tory Wet—rnthen ‘ou have consigned yourselves to those suburbs of hellrnDante resercd for the angels who could not make up theirrnminds which side thev were on.rnlb fight against the politics of Kant and his uniersal duty,rnwc need the polities of Aristotle, who tells us that justice andrnfriendship are coextensive, that if we do what is right becausernit is commanded, we act out of fear, and that we can onlv bernjust if we act out of love toward people we know. Aristotle’srngreatest student, St. Thomas, puts the question very clearly.rnRather than lavish our wealth on the evil—criminals, drugrnaddicts, child molesters, AIDS-stricken homosexuals, unwedrnmothers, and vagrants—^Thomas tells us that we should will therngreatest good to those who are closest to God. On the otherrnhand, our charitable responsibilities are also proportional to therndegree of affinitv: “hi what concerns nature we should love ourrnkinsmen most, . . . and we are more closely bound to providernthem with necessities of life.”rnThe entire welfare state of public schools. Social Security,rnAFDC, enterprise zones, food stamps, een foreign aid is builtrnon the opposite premise. The more evil a man is—or as wernshould sav, ethically challenged—the more money he receives;rnand each of us, through taxes, is compelled to divert wealth andrnresources away from family and friends and into the pockets ofrnstrangers and those who claim to minister to their needs.rnThese are not policy questions or problems for a cost/ljenefitrnanalvsis. Welfare programs represent the svstematie organizationrnof evil, hell institutionalized on earth, and we must beginrnto fight them on moral and theological grounds.rnBut if our American education is too limited for Latin andrnGreek, if Aristotle and Thomas are both too difficult, we ha’ernother resources on which to build a conservative rejection of thernwelfare state. A recent bogus best-seller was a piece of nonsensernentitled All I Really Need to Know 1 Learned in Kindergarten.rnThis title might have made sense, if children were still taughtrnthe proerbs and Mother Goose rhymes that formed ourrngrandparents’ character.rnThe answer to national health care is the old saw that anrnapple a da keeps the doctor away, or early to bed, eady to risernmakes a man hcalthv, wealthy, and wise—which is to sa’, takerncare of our health and welfare by working hard and livingrnpropedy. To the calls for consumer protection, I say unto vou,rn”A fool and his mone are soon parted.” And to the wholernpanoply of New Deal welfare-state policies and dreams, I offer:rn”If wishes were horses, beggars would ride; if turnips werernwatches, I’d wear one by my side; and if if’s and an’s were potsrnand pans, there’d be no work for tinkers.” Finally, to Kant andrnRousseau’s dream of universal philanthropy, consider this wisestrnbit of proverbial wisdom: “Gharity begins at home.”rnThese are simple home truths, not the lies and distortionsrnthat we pretend to believe. We must begin the reformation ofrnthe countrv by first reforming ourselves, and the place to startrnis to call things bv their right names. Managed competitionrnand empowerment are both nothing less than soeialism, andrnmuch that flies the conservative flag these davs would havernbeen called communism een in the 19>0’s.rnAs Confucius realized, “ancients who wished to demonstratern irtue throughout the world would first govern theirrnown states well. Wishing to govern their own states well, theyrnwould first regulate their families. Wishing to regulate theirrnfamilies, they would first cultivate their own persons. Wishingrnto cultivate their own persons, they would first rectify theirrnhearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they would first seekrnsincerity in their thoughts”—this last item is explained asrnallowing no self-deception. Calling a spade a spade. I lere, overrn2,000 years ago, is an outline of the only welfare policy an OldrnRight conservatixc can believe in. crnPast Life Regressionrnhy Kathciinc McAlpiiwrnGranted my present life is quiti- enoughrnto deal vvitli.what am I doing hcie wilh iouitecnrnother fruitcakes, lying on the flfxirrndeep-breathing, making like I bclicNc this stuff?rn”You are at peace, in perfect harmony….”rnTaped ocean whooshes as the h plU)^i^lrntells us to visualize a silver mistrnand then step through it, inio . . . SiiddenUrnI’m nudged awake, curtly intormed 1 ‘-iioiecirnstraight through everyone cisi- >. M.iiiic jauntsrnto Greece, ,’tlantis, and galactic li:mnts.rnChalk up another partv-poop award.rn”Some souls,” I’m told, “arc .>>liil earlh-ixuiiidrnand lessrnready to make the journey.” Yeah, I guess.rnlUNEl 994/1 ,irnrnrn