are concerned. No one is content withrnliimself or witli other people; no one satisfiedrnwith Hfc —his own or his neighbor’srnor the nation’s. People wish to be leftrnalone solely to pursne their vices, some ofrnwhich are encouraged by the regime;rnotherwise, they feel pleased and fnlfilledrnonly when inserting themselves into odierrnpeople’s lives. Unlike relaxed Americans,rnmobilized ones are not willing tornlive and let live. The Old America wonldrndeny the New America abortion, gayrnmarriage, and certain other demandsrnfundamentally at odds with natural lawrnand traditional morality. The NewrnAmerica would deny the Old anything itrnfinds incompahble with the progressivernagenda du jour: tobacco, alcohol, fastrnfood, red meat, keeping caged birds,rnhunting, rodeos, sport shooting, prayer atrnfootball games, hate speech, free speech,rnfreedom of association, four-wheel-driverntrucks, guufi. Cheyenne, Wyoming, canrntolerate the existence of New York Cityrnand Los Angeles, but L.A. and New Yorkrncan’t abide knowing that, out there onrnthe steppes and in die mountains of filernGreat American Desert, the odicr Americarnis leading an existence that fits its ownrnparticular circumstances, customs, andrnpreferences.rnIt vvoidd be helpful if the two Americas,rnOld and New, were arranged on tlicrnmap as conveniendy as the Union andrnConfederacy once were. As things stand,rnthe Old America cannot part companyrnterritorially widi the New. (kAcn if diatrnwere possible, it would surely he viewedrnby Washington as another rogue nationrnneeding to be converted—by force if necessaryrn—to die principles of global democraticrnsecularism.) This means die OldrnAmerica has to confront the fiireat headrnon, though all signs point to what is likely,rnin t!ie end, to be a losing fight, sincernthe New America, as represented by diernDemocratic Party, holds most of therncards. One of the most striking phenomenarndisplayed during the late elecHon isrnhow in the mind of the New America,rnthe media, and even the Republican Partyrnitself, the Democrats are regarded —rnand deferred to —as America’s premierrnpolitical party, not one of two et|uallyrnprivileged majoritarian ftictions. Againrnand again as the political drama in Floridarnunfolded, die Democrats’ aggressivernbehavior and rhetoric, as well as die deferencernshown to the part)’ by the mediarnand certain of the courts, demonstratedrnthe extent to which the Democratic Part)’rnperceives itself, and is widely perceivedrnby die country at large, as the organizationalrnembodiment of a national conscience.rnTwo vears ago the Republicans,rnaware of dieir peculiar disadvantage, allowedrndiemselves to be intimidated inrnthe impeachment proceedings; in Floridarnthey recovered their nerve as their outragernincreased and fought back—to thernamazed indignation of their opponents,rnriic Clintonized Democracy, the Republicansrndiscovered, is run by highlyrndangerous people, people entirely capablernof attempting to pull off what BillrnKristol —of all people! —has described asrna coup. (Pat Caddell, Jimmy Carter’srnpollster, actually declared that his part)’rnhad been taken oer by gangsters.)rnF.qually plain to the Republicans,rnonce the smoke of battle has cleared,rnmust he die imminent danger of a comingrnone-parti’ system in the United States.rnThrough die wclfere state. Third Worldrnimmigration, an expedited citizenshiprnprocess, and plain old demagognerv’, thernDemocrats for the past 35 years havernbeen practicing commercial voter farmingrnon a grand scale. little by little, electionrnby election, these cultivated votersrnhave paid off for dicni, until by 2000 dicyrnwere crucial in the attempt to put a nationalrnDemocratic ticket over the top; thernfinal proof of their piussance woidd berntheir abilih’ to keep it there. Several politicalrnobservers, including Samuel Francis,rnhave noted the extent to which thernpopular vote in this election dividedrnclearly along racial lines, hiimigration isrnnot an issue defined exclusively by race,rnbut race certainly is a component of it.rnAnother potential result of 2000 may bernthat die mainstream of die RepublicanrnPartv, and perhaps even its neoeonser’atiyernwing, may be ready to reassess therndangers immigrafion poses to the Americanrntwo-parti’ system. By now, die neoconsrnhave pretti’ well succeeded in theirrngoal of diluting die Furopean majorit)’ inrnAmerica to the point where, in decadesrnto come, it is likely to find itself reducedrnto simply one among several minorityrngroups. Is it possible diey will takernappropriate satisfaction from their accomplishmentrn—and do an about-facernon immigration in order to forfend arndiousand-ycar lOemocrafic Reich? If immigrafionrnconfinues unchecked, in 2004rnthere will be another six to ten millionrnimmigrants in the United States, all ofrndicni ready and willing to vote to put andrnto keep die lOemocrafic Part}’ in power.rn7nd if die GOP, still in control of Congress,rnfights to hold destructiye Democraticrnlegislation at bay, it will be accusedrnof gridlock and tossed out by the SoccerrnMoms, the Million Mom Marchers,rnHandgun Control, hic, the Sierra Club,rnand all the odier usual suspects, and replacedrnby right-thinking thugs in thernDemocratic mob.rnFor years I’ve described the Republicansrnas being no more than die complementaryrnshell of the American politicalrnwalnut. To some extent they are that, butrntimes are changing, and may changernsome more. For one tiling, if the Republicansrnhad dieir eyes shut before to therntrue nature, aim, and tactics of their opponents,rnthey have had them openedrnwide now. Another is the collapse—forrnnow, at least, and probably in the foreseeablernfuture —of the diird-party strategy.rnPat Buchanan, it is safe to say, will neverrnreach for the presidency again, whilernRalph Nader, despite the ballyhoo thernmedia generated on his behalf, has aboutrnas much mileage left in him, politicallyrnspeaking, as a I960 Corvair. Secure inrnthe knowledge that Wyoming was as likelyrnto go into the Gore column as palmrntrees are to sprout in the Wind RiverrnMountains, I voted for Buchanan—andrnimmediately regretted it when he aiinouneedrndiat his 3,000 Palm Beach votesrnmust have been intended for Al Gore.rnIt’s an awful thing to say, but in the circumstancesrnwe were probably lucky tornhave had George W. Bush to vote for inrndie 2000 election. Worse, I believe wernwill be lucky to have him — or someonernhalf as palatable as he —to choose inrn2004. Unless, of course, the RepublicanrnPart)’ takes the events of 2000 to heart andrngenerates enough fire in its belly to reorganizernas the Democracy’s true opposition.rnIt’s the only vehicle, in the shortrnrun, for holding disaster at bay (for thernlonger one, the hour may already be toornlate), and it needs reeducation, encouragement,rninspiration. What, after all,rndoes it stand to lose? The Hispanic vote,rnmaybe? Don’t make Arnold Forres, andrnthe 65 percent of the Hispanic votingrnbloc tiiat punched chads for Gore, laugh.rnSwish .. . nudge . . . swish. The seaterrndie operates swiftly, smoothly, almostrnsilently, seating one 140-grain SpitzerrnBoattail bullet in every primed andrncharged cartridge, row after row of prettyrnpointed missiles three quarters of an inchrnlong. Yes, it’s legal; Wyoming is absolutelyrnstill Wyoming; and the U.S. of A., asrnof last hour’s news broadcast, is still keepingrnup the fight to remain America.rncrn50/CHRONICLESrnrnrn