EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIREGTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.J. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, Srdja TrifkovicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIREGTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnGIRGIILATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 Nortfi Main Street. Rockford, IL 61105.rnEditorial Phone: (SIS) 964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815)964-5813.rnSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc.. One Media Wa’. 12406 R(. 250rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705rnCopnght © 1998 b;- The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights resen’ed.rnChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publisliedrnmonthly for $39.00 (foreign subscriphons add $12rnfor surface deliver)’, $48 for Air Mail) per year byrnThe Rockford Institute, 928 North Main Street,rnRockford, II. 61103-7061. Preferred periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices. POSTMASIT’.R: Send address changesrnto Chronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris,rnIL 61054.rnThe ‘iew5 expressed in Chronicles are thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe views of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernrehirned unless acct)mpanicd by a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 22, No, 5 Ln 1W,SrnPrinted iii llie l.’nittd States of AiiieticarnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn Samuel Francis and thernLeague of the SouthrnDr. Samuel Francis seems to think thatrnthose of us who hope to reform thernAmerican empire by devolution are sufferingrnfrom an “infandle disorder” andrnpursuing a goal neither possible or desirablern(Principalities & Powers, February).rnThen he turns around and admits thatrnnothing else has worked. His only hopernseems to be a fantasy of “white MiddlernAmerican solidarity” that is even morernchimerical than the possibility of real polihcalrndevolution. Dr. Francis seems tornthink that we need only change thern”power elite.” He imagines the Rockefellersrnmeehng late at night in secret conclavernto force the “Middle American majority”rnto accept Madonna, airbags. BobrnDole, Nigerian taxi drivers, and all thernrest of the flotsam of empire.rnLet me suggest a simpler explanation.rnWe have just the kind of governmentrnand culture New York and Californiarnwant and deserve. Dr. Francis wouldrnhave Southerners hang on in the hope ofrnsaving others from the fate to which theyrnhave readily consigned us.rn— Clyde WilsonrnColumbia, SCrnReading “An hifantile Disorder” in yourrnFebruary issue didn’t affect me as it didrnm}’ League of the South friends who hadrnwarned me about Samuel Francis’s attackrnon our movement. When I toldrnthem so, they wondered why I didn’t feelrnbetraved by a fellow Southern conservative.rnI replied that there was no betrayalrnbecause Francis is no Southern conservativern—he’s his own unique creation.rnFm convinced that Francis’s excursionsrninto the darkness of Marxist-Leninistrnthought have overwhelmed hisrnpolitics. The temptation is obvious: surveyingrna directionless American majorityrncowed by a well-oiled liberal-left establishment,rnFrancis sought an intellectualrnundergirding that could support and focusrnthe majority’s disparate voices, andrnhe eventually cobbled his “MiddlernAmerican Radical” ideology from Marxist-rnLeninist scrap parts. Like Ayn Rand,rnwho mirrored Marxist philosophy in herrnObjectivist manifesto of capitalism, hedonisticrnmaterialism, and atheism, Francisrnfabricated a conservative-soundingrnphilosophy on a superstructure borrowedrnfrom the enemy.rnConfusion, however, is inevitablernwhen you try to hang conservative wallpaperrnin a Marxist den. For example,rnFrancis argues that the South isn’t distinctivernenough to be its own nation.rnThen, without blinking, he asserts thatrnthere are too many cultural divisionsrnwithin the South to maintain unity,rnpointing to the different cultures in easternrnVirginia and eastern Tennessee, andrnin northern and southern Louisiana.rnThe cultural differences between variousrnareas of the South, he declares, are “atrnleast” as great as the differences betweenrnEngland and Scotland. I would concludernthat if Chattanooga and Norfolkrnare as different as London and Edinburgh,rnthen the greater differences betweenrnBoston and all Southern cities certainlyrnjustify a Southern version of thernScottish National Part)-.rnBut a “Middle American Radical”rnpeering at life through a Marxist-inspired,rnclass-based ideology focused onrn”middle-income, white” Americans cannotrncomprehend Southern nationalism.rnFrancis exhorts his readers to resist “therndomination of the rirling class” by buildingrna “Middle American solidarity.” Hernthen ridicules Southerners who refer tornwhite Northerners as, of all things, “Yankees,”rnand admonishes them instead tornlink arms with their Northern brothers torn”stand firm” against the “overclass-utrderclassrnalliance.” Regional differencesrnare illusions, since “White Southernersrnare a vital part of the Middle Americanrncore, as are their Northern counterparts.”rnThis echoes Lenin’s ranting againstrnthe workers who passionately preparedrnfor war against their “fellow workers”rnat the outbreak of World War L Whenrnconfronted with the German Socialists’rnsupport of their country’s militaryrnbudget, Lenin raged that “it must berna forgery!” Trotsky agreed, assertingrn”Workers have no Fatherland!” NowrnFrancis tells us that middle-incomernSoutherners have no Dixie.rnEven the title of Francis’s attackrnon the League of the South has arncreepy Leninist ring to it. AnticipatingrnBukharin’s and other “left” communists’rnopposition to limited free-market re-rn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn