the alliance between neoconsenative leftists and free-marketrnconservatives would have been useful if only the conservativesrnhad borne in mind that their allies were, in all matters that reall-rncount. Jacobin radicals who despise the peth’ patriotismsrnand Christian “bigotrv” on which the right has been basedrnsince the French Revolution. On the strength of their anti-Stalinism,rnthe neoconservative left was able to take over the Americanrnright. Collaborating with their rivals on the left, they werernable to denigrate classical liberals and libertarians as anarchistsrnor heardess capitalists and to stigmatize virtually ever)’ brand ofrntraditional conservatism as a form of fascism. W’hat was left wasrnthe gray via media of Harry Truman liberals and Scoop JacksonrnDemocrats, a dull but crowded thoroughfare that can accommodaternever’one from George Will to Christopher Hitchensrn(the gamut from A to A-prime). Right and left are separated onh’rnb’ a broken white line, and anone who wants to pass is freernto switch lanes.rnCasablanca went into productionrnas America was gearing uprnfor war and isolationism was beingrnredefined as treason.rnSince the 1930’s, then, we have been living under a soft national-rnsocialist regime. For a time, conservative writers, especiallyrnat National Review, attempted to cobble together an ideologyrnthat could tie together the various protests against thernregime. “Fusionism,” for all its obvious faults — incoherencernand cynicism first among them —did have the merit of opposingrnthe New Deal, but as time v cut b, mainstream conser’ati’rnes quietly dropped whatever conxictions thev might oncernhae had, and while running in opposition to the regime, theyrnjoined it.rnIn describing the conser’ative leadership in Congress asrnNew Dealers, I intend no insult to politicians who forthrightK’rnexpress their admiration for FDR without larding their pronouncementsrnwith hypocritical references to Edmund Burkernor Ir’ing Babbitt. If there were a conservative argument beingrnmade somewhere in Washington or New York, Republicanrnpoliticians might well listen. But there is not. As we ha’ernpointed out in Chronicles over the past ten years, the movementrnis dead, and we shall see Latin made the official language of thernUnited States long before we shall hear a conservative argumentrnechoing in the halls of Congress or the seminar room of arnWashington think tank.rnThe national socialists have won, and in their victory thc’rnhave annihilated all attachments except for self-gratificahonrnand obedience to the state from which all blessings flow: familyrnand friends, region and race, faith and profession—none hasrnany legitimate standing in the e’cs of the regime which usurpsrnthe ultimate loyalt)’ that we owe only to God. “Let goods andrnkindred go,” they sing, “this mortal life also,” and increasinglyrnthey are tempted to throw in the next line; “the body we canrnkill/ifonly for the thrill.”rnMost political myths have a limited shelf-life. Who, apartrnfrom Bill Kauffman, will defend the honor of the Loco-Focos?rnTo a generahon of Americans who agree w ith Bill Clinton andrnNorman Podhoretz that America was invented in the 20th centur’,rnthe 1940’s are ancient histon,-. No matter how hard theyrntr-, with films like The Boys from Brazil and Marathon Man,rnthe anfi-fascists are running out of steam. Few Americans underrnthe age of 50 even know who fought whom in World WarrnII—the public schools have seen to that—and, if they are underrn30, still fewer care. An ex-fascist has become a dominant politicalrnforce in Italy, and here in America Pat Buchanan was hardlyrndamaged when national-socialist Bill Bennett accused himrnof flirting with fascism.rnWiat hurt Buchanan was the solid shield-wall of the media,rnreinforced b’ their “conservative” camp followers. ButrnBuchanan’s issues—which might be summed up as “Americarnfor Americans”—are not going awa’, and as the myth of antifascismrnfades away like a nightmare in the sunlight, it is nowpossible,rnfor the first time since the I940’s, for a real Americanrnright to lift up its head. Such a movement will be rooted in humanrnnature and in nature’s God, in the principles that underliernour Constitution, in the particularities of our experiences asrnwell as in our memories of the European civilization thatrnformed the minds and characters of our ancestors who camernhere as colonists and immigrants.rnAny true conservative ideology will be based not on the mindrnof John Adams and Edmimd Burke but on the deeper moralrnsentiments of kinship and lo-e, patriotism and faith, ambitionrnand revenge —”hearts ftfll of passion, jealousy and hate.” Thernsaving grace of Casablanca is the sentimental song that RudyrnVallee had already recorded some ears earlier. Mocking thernfilm’s devotion to the abstractions of anti-fascism, Dooley Wilsonrntold the audience what they really believed, that the problemsrnof two people are all there are on this sublunar world, thatrnevery ideology—Communism, Fascism, National Socialism,rnDemocratic Capitalism —is an enemy of what Eliot called “thernpermanent things.” The songwriter was even more to thernpoint: “the fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”rnTime has gone by, and it has stranded the national socialistsrnin their seats of power: rich, smug, and alienated. They ownrnthe goyernment and the stock exchanges; tiiey command thernarmy and have an arsenal of nuclear weapons. They controlrnthe words we read and the images that flicker on our retinalrnscreens, but try as they might, they cannot suppress the most basicrninstincts of human nature. The Soviets tried to eliminaterncompetition and status, and they devastated the economy. Ourrnown leaders have gone deeper, poisoning the minds of expectantrnmothers against the babies tiiey bear in their wombs, inspiringrnchildren with hatred and contempt for their parents andrntheir ancestors, chopping away at all the ties between husbandsrnand wies, parents and children, friends and neighbors and replacingrnthem all with a nexus, not of cold hard cash, but of government-rnissued paper.rnIncapable of human affections themselves, the leaders of ourrnregime cannot begin to realize the disgust they inspire in sornman- ordinary people who are starved for the things theirrngrandparents took for granted. Like Brutus Jones in EugenernO’Neill’s play, they cannot believe the primitive natives are capablernof resistance, and like the Emperor Jones, they will realizerntheir mistake only when the drums start beating in the junglesrnof the American heartiand. crn12/CHRONICLESrnrnrn