roney boasted he could reach thernPresident anytime lie wanted,rnwhere Trudeau would have beenrnlucky to get past the Wliite Housernoperator.. . . Canada under Mulroneyrngenerally supported the UnitedrnStates on foreign policy issuesrndespite differences in approach.rnThe relationship was so chummy thatrnBush, who coined the term “New WorldrnOrder,” suggested Mulroney run forrnU.N. Secretary General when the positionrnbecame vacant in late 1991.rnLike President Bush, Mulroney sawrntroubling signs of nationalism in thernQuebec separatist movement. To a globalist,rnQuebecois independence is a steprnaway from the much-acclaimed NewrnWorld Order and its homogenized culture.rnIn 1987, Mulroney attempted tornsolve the Quebec problem by negotiatingrnan agreement among the provincial premiersrnat Quebec’s Meech Lake. The accord,rnwhich recognized Quebec’s statusrnas “a distinct society,” required the approvalrnof all ten Canadian provincial legislaturesrnby 1990. Despite criticism thatrnQuebec received too much underrnMeech Lake, the deal was soon ratifiedrnby seven provinces. Power shifted, however,rnin three provinces, and their premiersrnhad second thoughts. In the interim,rnQuebec’s provincial governmentrnoverrode a Canadian supreme court decisionrnthat a ban on English-languagernoutdoor signs was imconstitiitional. AnglophonernCanada was outraged, andrnhard-line Quebec separatists exploitedrnthe resulting fallout.rnIn the end, Meech Lake was defeatedrnby a filibustering member of the Manitobarnprovincial legislature and the oppositionrnof Newfoundland’s premier. Mulroneyrnpaid a steep political price for hisrnfailure to speak out for a united Canadarnuntil late in the ratification process. Andrnseparatists in Quebec, apparently nornlonger welcome in Canada, eventuallyrnbenefited from the fallout. In 1980, a referendumrnon sovereignty lost in Quebecrnby a margin of 60 to 40 percent; followingrnMeech Lake’s demise, support forrnsovereignty steadily gained ground in thernprovince. By 1995, only slightly morernthan 50 percent of voters cast their ballotsrnagainst a similar referendum. The defeatrnof the Meech Lake Accord may yet contributernto Canada’s breakup into tvvo, orrneven three, separate countries.rnYet the latest word in some Washingtonrncircles is that the Republicans canrnlearn from Mulroney, and George W.rnBush seems a willing student. Earlierrnthis year, Mulroney made a pilgrimage tornAustin, and while Governor Bush, accordingrnto the Dallas Morning News,rn”declined to say whether the formerrnprime minister had urged him to seek thernpresidency,” he did pass on this advicernfrom Mulroney: “He believes that it’s importantrnfor the Republican Party to unify.rnHe’s worried that the party would tend tornshatter on certain issues as opposed tornunify’ on issues.”rnMulroney’s tenure as prime minister,rnsome Republican insiders claim, provesrnthe wisdom of a compassionate, pragmaticrnleader who, most importantly, understandsrnthe endless possibilities affordedrnby the abandonment of a party’s conservativernbase. Foremost among these is anrninsincere respectability in certain mediarncircles. Another benefit of Red Toryism,rnit is said, is political respectability and acceptancernamong moderate voting blocs.rnThose who make this argument in Washingtonrnand deep in the heart of Texas forgetrnhistory; Kim Campbell, Mulroney’srnsuccessor as Progressive Conservativernleader, presided over the party’s 1993rndrubbing, which resulted in the ascensionrnof the Reform Party. Reform’s leader,rnPreston Manning, has no intention ofrnabandoning his conservative base.rnBrian Mulroney’s rehabilitation is fiirtherrnproof of a saying beloved by myrnCanadian relatives: Only in America.rnGreg Kaza is a former Michigan staternrepresentative.rnSOCIETYrnTransgressing thernPietiesrnby David MilkrnAs every alert American has noticed,rnfeminist leaders have jumped to therndefense of President Clinton ever sincernhe was first accused of sexually abusing arnyoung woman who thought she was invitedrnto see the then-governor for a talk, perhapsrnabout a job. In doing so, they havernmade a remarkable reversal of the standardsrnfor sexual propriefy’ which they hadrnfuriously demanded for the last threerndecades.rnOnce their cry had been “Believe thernwoman,” no matter what the evidence.rnOnce they had declared, and worked tornhave written into law, that any sexual relationrnbetween a superior and an inferiorrnwas by definition abusive because the victimrncould not safely decline. The imbalancernof power, so they plausibly argued,rnmade consensual sex impossible—andrnthey did not spare even the pro-abortionrnSen. Robert Packwood for pressing himself,rnand not just his intentions, uponrnwomen in his office. (His being a Republican,rnand therefore on many issues arnpolitical enemy, presumably lost himrntheir support.)rnBut those were the days of “consciousness-rnraising,” a phrase with the pleasingrnimplication that those who did not agreernwith them had low, probably subterranean,rnconsciousnesses. These “are thernnew days of consciousness-lowering,” asrnNoemie Emery wrote in the WeeklyrnStandard, when feminist leaders tellrnwomenrnto unlearn everything they knew.rnThey are being told now that thernaccused male merits the presumptionrnof innocence; that without absoluternproof, the man’s word isrnvalid; that if it’s an old story, it nornlonger has meaning; and that arnrape charge shouldn’t be allowed torninterfere with the career of a prominentrnman.rnEven before the latest revelation, thernspokeswomen of American feminismrnhad, to a woman, sided with the Presidentrnand against the women who accusedrnhim —women whose testimonyrnthey would have accepted without questionrnhad it been directed at one of theirrnenemies, as they accepted without questionrnAnita Hill’s story of sexual harassmentrnby Clarence Thomas.rnInterviewed in the New York Obsener,rna group of prominent feminist writersrncheered on the President’s affair withrnMiss Lewinsky, one famously announcingrnthat she would herself enliven PresidentrnClinton’s day as a reward for his havingrnkept abortion legal. Others madernsimilar offers and expressed some envyrnfor the young intern’s closeness to power.rnThe group included Erica Jong, who,rnwith her novel Fear of Flying, proved thatrnyou could make a best-seller out of a fewrnbanal ideas as long as you were the firstrn46/CHRONICLESrnrnrn