unassertive, and selfless, she neither rep- mands upon anyone, nor does she try to small part, may be due to what some resents the virtues of local custom, like distinguish herself in any respect. Her critics have seen as Dickens's limitation: Pickwick, nor strains toward universality behavior is geared entirely to the needs his inability to conceptualize in a style of value, like Myshkin. She is a figure at and feelings of those who are near her. persuasive to modern readers, or still rest, in a setting where everything else is She is a great comforter, which may be more to the point, his lack of interest in turbulent and false; she is sufficient unto all that goodness can be in this world. trying to conceptualize. Dickens makes herself, harmonious in nature, unquali- No one could possibly say of Little Dor- no claim for Little Dorrit, he fits her into fiedly responsive to others. She has no rit, as Aglaya says of Prince Myshkin, no theological or theoretical system, he need to think about, nor in responding that she lacks tenderness and "has noth- cares little if at all about her symbolic to her do we feel obliged to invoke, the ing but the truth." What can truth be to resonance. He simply sees her, a gleam of Categorical Imperative, or any universal- her, who lives by the grace of daily imagination. He trusts to the sufficiency ization of Christian values. Her goodness obligation? of his depiction, a feat of discipline by a is a quality of being without any pres- Little Dorrit is an astonishing concep- writer not always disciplined. sure to invoke whatever might be "high- tion, perhaps the sole entirely persuasive Quite deliberately Dickens shrinks er" than or "beyond" goodness. The figure of "positive goodness" in modern Little Dorrit in size, voice, will, and ges- imaginative realization of this figure is fiction. As against Dostoyevsky's pre- ture. Though clearly an adult, she seems so pure and lucid, mere ideas fade away. scription, she is drawn neither in the almost childlike. She loves Arthur Clen- Little Dorrit is not innocent, and rare- comic mode nor as an innocent. For nam, the thoughtful, melancholy man ly, if ever, sentimental. No one who has modem readers she constitutes a severe worn down by failure. They marry, not grown up in the Marshaisea prison could problem. Some dismiss her as insipid, in a rush of sensuality but as a pact of be innocent; no one who has had to put others find it difficult to credit her reali- "making do," two people bruised into up with aii those wretched Dorrits could ty, and perhaps difficult to live with that tenderness. Other writers seeking to val- long be sentimental. She knows quite reality if they do credit it. Finally, as idate goodness have fixed upon their enough about the varieties of selfish- with all literary judgments, we reach a characters revealing flaws in order to re- ness; that's why Dickens has provided point where exegesis, persuasion, and el- tain some plausibility. Dickens, howev- her with the family she has, to educate oquence break down, and fundamental er, presents a goodness not through the her in the ways of the world. And differences of perception have to be ac- persuasiveness of a flaw, but through though she exists entirely within the knowledged. 1 feel myself that a failure the realism of a price. The price of Little world, she has no designs upon it, nei- to respond to the shy magnificence of Dorrit's goodness, as of her marriage to ther to transform nor to transcend it. She what Dickens has done here signifies a Clennam, is a sadly reduced sexuality— has no designs of any kind; she is simply depletion of life. an equivalent, perhaps, to Billy Budd's stammer. It is as if Dickens had an un- a possibility, very rare, of our existence. How does he manage? I wish there spoken belief that a precondition for What seems to have inspired the cre- were some great clinching formula, but I goodness is the removal of that aggres- ation of Little Dorrit was Dickens's re- do not believe there is—a part of critical sion which may well be intrinsic to the sidual sentiment of Christianity, a sense wisdom is to recognize the limits of criti- sexual life. or memory of a faith unalloyed by dog- cal reach. Part of the answer, a fairly ma, aggression, or institution. This is a "religion," if religion at all, of affection, or an ethic without prescription or for- mula. Dickens himself, as he knew quite well, was far from embodying anything of the sort; but his imagination cherished the possibility, arousing in him the sort LOSING MORE GROUND of upwelling emotions that the vision of Billy Budd must have aroused in Mel- In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government ville. Tlie religious experience had large- by Charles Murray ly been lost to Dickens, except insofar as {Simon and Schuster, 341 pp., $19.95) it might leave a sediment of purity. Little Dorrit is not at all a "Christ fig- If happiness lies only in "justified satis- modest way, to the happiness of the ure." She does not ask anyone to aban- faction," as Charles Murray tells us in species. don the world's goods and follow her; his new book, the pursuit of happiness Though difficult to measure, the con- she could not drive the money changers can easily turn into a pursuit of justifica- tribution of conservative intellectuals to from the temple; nor can one imagine tion. A pig seems happy when merely human happiness must surely be the her on a cross, though she might be satisfied; but the happiness of a human largest. I do not wish to disparage the among those mourning near it. Nothing being, or an entire society, uniquely re- work of liberals, but it only seems fair to even requires that we see her as a dis- quires that its satisfaction be justified. recognize that conservative intellectuals tinctively Christian figure, though noth- Fortunately, justifications are not diffi- have supplied justifications more reli- ing prevents us either. The great demand cult to find, especially since intellectuals, ably and to larger numbers of the satis- upon the reader of Little Dorrit—it can among others, are ever ready to contrive fied. Some might think that the job bring on a virtual moral crisis—is to see them. Intellectuals specialize in supply- would have been finished by now, but in her quite as she is, unhaloed, not at all ing the highest justifications, affording fact it requires constant effort and end- "symbolic," perhaps sublime but in no the deepest and most lasting satisfac- less ingenuity. Ever since the '60s way transcendent. She makes no de- tions, and thereby contributing, in a brought satisfaction under suspicion,

32 THE NEW REPUBLIC and even more so when satisfaction ertarian ones." The first two parts, in Murray slips in assumptions that begin made a comeback in the '70s and '80s, other words, do not exactly lay a logical preparing the ground for his laissez-faire the tasks of conservative justification foundation for Murray's politics. They conclusions. He says that since govern- have had a special urgency. Conservative are, rather, a kind of psychological prep- ment can only enable people to pursue intellectuals have not been satisfied, aration for the political views that Mur- happiness, not achieve it for them, gov- moreover, merely to justify reductions ray anticipates most of his readers will ernment can attempt to meet human already made in obligations to the poor. not readily accept. Several times Murray needs only by creating certain minimum They have gone one step better, showing calls upon the reader to relax, play with enabling conditions. "Minimalism," ac- that because all public efforts backfire, ideas, undertake little "thought experi- cording to Murray, is "intrinsic." His we could do much less, perhaps nothing ments," contemplate basic questions. next move is to stand on its head the at all, and still be justified in our satis- What is happiness, after all? Does mon- hierarchy of human needs originally de- factions. No one has done this work on ey really matter? Is material poverty veloped by Abraham Maslow, Material behalf of human happiness better than such a bad thing? Readers disarmed by wealth, we all know, does not guarantee Charles Murray. these ruminations will only later find happiness, and poverty does not pre- Murray shows in his new volume that, their wallets missing. clude it. Hence, under Murray's happi- if anything, we underestimated from his In the course of these preliminaries. ness standard for public policy, we need last book. Losing Ground, the scale of his philosophical and political ambitions. There he argued that anti-poverty ef- forts were a failure, and modestly pro- Exercise posed to scrap "the entire federal wel- fare and income support structure for working-aged persons, including AFDC, More with Less Medicaid, Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance, Worker's Compensation, sub- MMORE EFFECTIVE By Because sidized housing, disability insurance, duplicating the motion of NordicTrack is so efficient, and all the rest." Not a man to hesitate cross country skiing, the you burn more calories and when the logic of his argument leads world's best exercise, get a better aerobic workout him into the abyss, he now invites us to NordicTrack provides the in less time. dismantle the whole framework of the ideal aerobic workout. MNO DIETING No modern state, to return to what he de- MMORE COMPLETE other exercise scribes, mistakenly, as a Jeffersonian vi- Unlike bikes and machine burns sion of democracy. other sitciown more calories exercisers, than NordicTrack NordicTrack . ..So you can 'HE AMBITION of the new book is exercises all lose weight Tevident from its structure. Its first, the body's faster with- rather brief part proposes that the true major muscles out dieting. end of government is individual happi- for a total MNO ness, defined as "lasting and justified body workout. satisfaction with one's life as a whole." IMPACT (What counts as adequate justification MMORE Running and Murray declines to say, but there must CALORIES some aerobic be some.) In the middle portion, Murray BURNED In workouts can explores four basic human needs—mate- tests at a major uni- cause painful and rial resources, safety, self-respect, enjoy- versity, NordicTrack potentially harmful ment—which he says must be minimally burned more calories jarring. A satisfied to enable people to pursue hap- than an exercise bike and NordicTrack workout piness. The final section, concerning a rowing machine.* is completely jarless. Murray's philosophy of government, MMORE CONVENIENT MNO SKIING EXPERI- concludes that government should with- With NordicTrack, you can ENCE REQUIRED Even if draw from its domestic functions, other exercise in the comfort of your you've never skied, in a few than maintaining order, to "permit com- home. NordicTrack easily minutes you'll be "tracking" munities to be communities" and to folds, requiring storage space yourway to better health. leave people alone to "take trouble" over of only 17" X 23", their own lives. 'Stientihc test resull* includeJ in FREE BROCHURE AND VIDEO NordicTratk brochure. Many readers who find themselves Call Toll Free Or Write: engaged, if not convinced, by the first 1-800-328-5888 two parts of the book will find it hard to In Cuudl 1400433-45112 accompany Murray as he jumps to the ^ordicjrack 141 Jonathan Blvd, N, Chaska. MN 55318 third, Murray himself admits that his n Please send (ree brochure THE BEST WAY TO FITNESS r Also free video Upe H VHS H BETA discussion of human needs could be Name Sireet used to argue for "socialist states or capi- A CML COMPANY r 1988 Nordicr™k Cily Slate Zip talist ones, communitarian states or lib- Phone I ,azsue

DECEMBER 5, 1988 33 not regard poverty as an obstacle that rations are no exception. Not even the good. The problem here, it seems, is "ag- must first be overcome before meeting rosy glow of conservative illusion, more- gregation." Consider his example. Re- the non-material needs. Indeed, Murray over, can obscure all the many petty tyr- search indicates that the 55 mile per hour suggests, we should be wiiiing to impose annies and deep cruelties in the history speed limit has saved some 7,466 lives hardship, if by doing so we can better of families and insular communities. each year since its enactment, Murray satisfy other human needs such as self- That Murray should consider men acting does not dispute the figure. He insists, respect and enjoyment (which he viev^s privately to be generally benign is evi- instead, that this is the wrong perspec- as individual and internal capacities). dence of his frame of mind, but it does tive. No longer should we hold "in our This is the conservative equivalent of not qualify as an argument. head a concept of the aggregate public granola: money doesn't matter, what Nor should we take seriously his good, nor .,. estimate savings for the counts is in your heart. Except that in- statement that men acting politically are nation as a whole." Murray wants us to stead of justifying retreat into oneself, "inherently destructive" of rights and look at it purely from an individual view- the anti-materialist ethic now becomes a freedoms. First of all, we would not have point. Assuming a 250-mile trip between prescription {of poverty) for others, any rights and freedoms if people did Washington and New York, as Murray not act politically. Politics is what se- does, the added safety from the 55 mile IBERAL-MINDED readers may first cures freedom. A nation made of "men per hour speed limit comes to a reduction IJ think that the basic framework of acting privately" is sure to lose it. Sec- in the chance of being killed from Murray's argument assumes that govern- ond, it is a presumption of democratic 0.00000006 to 0,00000004, On the other ment has some responsibility for meeting government that the very process of hand, the result of the speed limit is a loss the whole hierarchy of human needs. public deliberation can lead "private of time. There is, according to Murray, no Quite the contrary, Murray's point is that men" to see interests broader than their balance to be struck: "The effective value government meets its social responsibil- own, to arrive at policies that separately of the safety variable is zero." ities best by not purporting to meet any. they might not have understood or This is an extraordinary view. At a For whatever government does, it dilutes imagined. single stroke, it abolishes the entire field the sense of individual responsibility, The Founding Fathers were committed of public health, most concerns about which Murray believes must be total. At to this idea—to government by discus- the environment, occupational and con- one point, for example, he slides from sion—or else we would not have had a sumer product safety—indeed, any arena talking about the responsibility people republic at all. Murray's suggestion that of public policy where the stakes involve ought to feel "for their actions" into talk- the Founding Fathers shared his idea of small probabilities of large harms. And ing about the responsibility they ought to man—benign when private, destructive Murray's central assumption, of course, feel "for their lives." But surely our lives when public—is utterly false. In The is not that happiness should be the stan- are not the outcome solely of our own ac- Federalist Papers, in a passage that dard. It is that the rationality of a policy tions. It should bo possible to insist that Murray quotes, Madison observes, "If can be tested entirely from a single indi- people are responsible for their actions men were angels, no government would vidual's ex ante perspective. Murray's while acknowledging a public responsi- be necessary." In other words, men act- own thinking about risk perfectly illus- bility for circumstances of life that are be- ing in private capacities cannot be as- trates the short horizons of private judg- yond any individual's control. sumed to be benign. Not that Madison ment that pubiic deliberation often helps After conceding that human needs so assumed poiitical men to be benign, ei- to extend—to the great benefit of those conceived could justify a variety of re- ther. The distrust was equal. Defending thousands of people whose happiness, gimes, Murray lays all the weight of his the idea of checks and balances, Madi- we may assume, may be lessened by political argument on what he calls "an son remarks, "This policy of supplying, their being killed. idea of man," This idea is that human by opposite and rival interests, the de- nature is divided in two: "man acting in fect of better motives, might be traced UT MURRAY is not a pure individ- his private capacity—if restrained from through the whole system of human af- B ualist; he has a tender regard for the the use of force—is resourceful and be- fairs, private as well as public." The "little platoons" of community life—"lit- nign; while man acting as a public and point of building such internal checks tle platoons" being a phrase of Edmund political creature is resourceful and dan- into the federal government was not to Burke now superseded by George Bush's gerous, inherently destructive of the cripple it, but to ensure its steady con- (or rather, Peggy Noonan's) "thousand rights and freedoms of his fellow men," trol, just as the designer of a car installs points of light," Murray has a zero-sum No evidence for this notion is adduced. strong brakes not to guarantee a slow view of the relation between govern- Here, as so often in the book, Murray speed, but to permit a fast one. The au- ments and communities. The more ser- appeals to the reader's intuition, and thors of The Federalist Papers were ar- vices undertaken by government, the falsely calls upon the Founding Fathers guing, after all, for a stronger govern- more voluntary community action wilts. in support of his view. ment, not a weaker one. If Murray Conversely, take away government bene- wants support for his notion that poli- The public man/private man distinc- fits, and communities will regain their tics is inherently destructive, he is look- vitality. Unlike Murray's rather idio- tion will simply not take the weight that ing in the wrong place, Murray puts upon It. It is hard to be- syncratic assault on the "aggregate lieve, for example, that differences in the Murray claims that in thinking about public good," this view of governments behavior of governments and private public policies, we have had thoroughly and communities is a pervasive and corporations are best explained by a gap- mistaken standards of evaluation. In deep assumption of much conservative ing split in human nature. Large organi- particular, he proposes to substitute his argument. zations of all kinds diffuse the sense of standard of individual happiness for the But the zero-sum view is wrong as individual responsibility; private corpo- misguided conception of the public history, and it is misleading as a premise

J4 THE NEW REPUBLIC for policy. Undoubtedly, geographically porations do not exist, and there arc no But why he should assume that he will defined communities have lost much of business cycles, no depressions, hence no get enough teachers of this kind is mys- their importance. But they have lost that concern for economic stabilization. If terious. Those who love teaching may importance because they no longer modern government has anything to do also love their families and want to pro- match the scale of economic organization with such instabilities, we would never vide them with a decent living. It is en- or mass communication, not because know it from Murray. Indeed, economic tirely arbitrary for him to assume that a government stole vital functions away reasoning is not exactly his strong suit, if raise, even a moderate one, will attract from them. Voluntary organizations we can judge by one section of his book only second-raters, but that without a continue to play a vit.il role, often in that explains why raising teachers' sala- raise the schools will be able to hire channeling public benefits; rather than ries will likely lower the quality of peo- enough teachers without reaching down being a substitute for government, they ple attracted to teaching, Murray's argu- to the poorly qualified and poorly moti- are, typically, a partner. Many of those ment is that if teachers' salaries are kept vated. On the same theory, we ought to thousand points of light would grow low, the only people interested in teach- improve the quality of many fields by dim without public electrification. To ing will be people who love to teach and reducing pay, I should be interested to expect purely voluntary effort to substi- love children. These will be wonderful hear Murray's cure for the current nurs- tute for public expenditure is a chimera. teachers. To be sure, if we raised salaries ing shortage. While taxes may be detested, they can to $100,000 a year, we would secure first- But why stop with professions fol- be collected at relatively little expense. rate teachers. However, if we give teach- lowed primarily by women? Surely he Anyone familiar with the techniques of ers more modest and practical raises, we cannot be implying that only women private fund-raising (benefits, direct wil! attract the sort of people who teach work more for love than for money. If mail, door-to-door campaigns) knows only for the money: "the marginal teach- we apply his argument to its logical con- that the fund-raising itself consumes a er, the second-rater, the very person we clusion in fields where men predomi- Lirge portion of what it brings in. If want to get rid of." These bad teachers nate, we should achieve the very highest the idea of taxation were forgotten, will pollute the whole climate of the performance in medicine, law, and in- tired fund-raisers would dream it up all schools: "Introducing into such an envi- vestment banking not merely by reduc- over again, ronment people who are in it for the ing compensation, but by insisting that money is like introducing a virus into a those who wish to practice these arts pay system with no immunity," HE RETURN to community has for the right to do so. This is an inspiring Tbeen the perpetual romance of all the Murray is entirely right that if salaries vision. Perhaps In his next book Murray prophets of anti-modernism. In its con- are low, some peopie who teach will be will extend his theory of reverse incen- servative form, the communitarian myth doing it more for love than for money. tives from teaching to the many other is particuLirly dangerous because it calls for reducing the capacities of government without any corresponding reduction in the sc.ile or the power of private econom- How many undeserved radar tickets ic organization. Small government in a nation of small-scale production and lo- were issued last year? cal markets is one thing. Small govern- ment in a world of great corporations and a) 1,012,317 b) 649,119 C) 0 d) No one knows international markets is another, Murray casts his vision as a return to Jeffersoni- an democracy, but there will be no re- Unfortunately, the ansv^fer is d) Nf) one FOR FREE REPORT turn to a world of small producers and s. Over ten million tickets were issued ON TRAFFIC RADAR little island communities dispersed in a lasl year. Some experts say up to thirty per- CALL TOLL FREE cent of them were incorrect. 1-800-543-1608 largely rural society. The founders of Here's why THE NEW REPUBLIC saw early in this cen- You may find this hard to believe, but tury that Jeffersonian ends now had to traffic radar doesn't tell the ()perat{)r which t Or mail coupon to: be pursued with Hamiltonian means. In vebkle he is clockin^j. The radar unit dis- Cincinnati Microwave plays one number. That's all. It might be Department 9099D8 a world where corporations had become One Microwave Plaza national, the venue of public delibera- the closest car. it might be the fastest car, it Cincinnati. Ohio 45249-9502 might be (he biggfsl car. Or it mighl nol. tion had to change, too, Murray and oth- The operator has lo decide. Please send me your free report er conservatives have the opposite for- And since radar operators are buman, TRAFFIC RADAR; How it works, and mula: they want to use Jeffersonian Ibey don't always guess right. Even if (jnly why it gets wrong readings. means both to pursue and to disguise one percent of the tickets issued last year Hamiltonian ends, but it is a formula were wrong, that's one tiundred thousand that cannot work. In the world we live undeserved tickets. in, strong capitalist economics with Free report small Jeffersonian states make up an Our engineers had to know every detail about traffic radar before they could design Dty empty set. Escort and Passport, tbe most respected

names in radar detection. SlaTe, iip It is an odd feature of Murray's book Now we've released a repxjrt that explains that he attempts to develop a theory of radar and radar errors, in plain language. CIIMCIIMNATI good government without any reference And it's yours free. Just call us toll-free or to economic life. In Murray's world, cor- maii the coupon.

DECEMBER 5. 1988 35 fields where its application is even more thought that Murray wants us to of December 19, rabid sectionaries burst desperately needed, adopt. The economic challenges that into Malesherbes to arrest its household Murray uses the case of teachers' sala- confront us demand public investment and transport its members to sentencing, ries to illustrate his more general argu- in our common future—investments in and then to prison, in Paris, Several of ment that all social programs fail. His education, skills, and research that the family were executed in April 1784, view is categorical: "No social program, "men acting in their private capacities" including the doughty old magistrate no matter how ingenious, can anticipate will not make. The injustices that con- himself, who expressed no regret at sac- and forestall the myriad ways in which tinue to mar our world demand a vi- rificing his life for his king and his liber- people will seek to get their way and sion of public obligations that men al principles. The young Tocqueville thereby frustrate, with or without intent, wholly absorbed in their private lives couple miraculously survived, though its aims." This is conservatism taken to will not take the trouble to see or to Herve's hair turned white in prison, A its absurd extreme. The iast successful understand. No democracy of any kind decade later, in still cramped but less political reform that Murray seems able could survive if its citizens showed ominous Napoleonic times, their third to recall was the Constitution. But the Murray's loathing for public life and son, Alexis, was born. Constitution was a framework for a public action. If Murray's book holds He would display, in his way, the changing nation; it would have been a any interest, it is only as an index of greatness of his forebears. Through his colossal failure if it was the last politi- how far some conservative thought has maternal connection, Alexis de Tocque- cal reform to succeed. Murray's faith moved in the direction of pure privat- ville had a prominent cousin who would is quite different from that of the ism. There is a line between reasonable help him in his literary debuts: Francois- Founders. Madison expresses a confi- prudence and policy nihilism. Murray Rene de Chateaubriand. On his father's dence in the balancing of opposite and and those conservatives who follow side, he was descended from Norman rival interests. Murray simply believes him have crossed it, vassals of William the Conqueror. He rational policy is beyond the capacity of had kinsmen in some of the wealthiest democratic government. PAUL STARR parts of French nobility. Equally en- As a nation we would not have come dowed by descent and intellect, he was this far, and we could go no further, Paul Starr is professor of sociology at destined to become the Montesquieu of with the total privatization of life and Princeton University. the 19th century. Liberalism—which Alexis de Tocqueville understood pri- marily as independence against every- thing despotic or debasing, self-involved or mean-spirited, be it monarchical or republican—coursed in his blood. It was counterbalanced by a love of order, lt THE DEMOCRAT MALGRE LUI did not have to be inculcated by social envy, or learned from abstract manifes- Tocqueville; A Biography tos of the Enlightenment. It was a liber- alism that had nothing to do with "hu- by Andre Jardin man rights," or an investment portfolio, (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 550 pp., $35) or "making it," or the self. Tocqueville's singular merit was his The Two Tocquevilles, Father and Son: Herve and Alexis de aristocratic or qualitative understanding Tocqueville on the Coming of the French Revolution of the predicament of "democratic ages," combined with his conviction that they by R.R. Palmer were inevitable. The experience of his (Princeton University Press, 252 pp., S28.50) ancestors supplied the anxiety and the security, the rigor and the suppleness, needed to conceive a "new science of The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville politics" for modem times. He had the by Roger Boesche capacity to absorb himself in tradition (Cornell University Press, 288 pp., $29.95) (his closest friends were mostly men of his own breeding) and yet to abandon it On January 31,1793, the young Herve de fore this, Malesherbes, as defense counsel in his thinking: to travel, to observe, to Clerel, comte de Tocqueville, arrived at for Louis XVI, had been unable to save take notes, alt the while framing his cu- the tree-iined estate of Malesherbes, near his monarch from the guillotine. Despite riosity with propositions about different Orleans, to visit his betrothed, Louise. the pall of bitter grief that hung over the societies that were substantial and edify- She was the daughter of Louis Le Peletier chateau, its rhythm of life seemed "gen- ing. His style was his own, though his de Rosanbo, president of the Chambre tie" to Herve, as spring gave way to sum- maitres de pensee were Pascal, Montes- des vacations of the lately abolished Par- mer, and summer turned to autumn. quieu, Rousseau. lement of Paris; and also the granddaugh- Yet, as he adds, "the horizon was He wrote in a new way. His was sure- ter of the chateau's proprietor, the re- growing darker and darker." The Sep- ty not any ordinary kind of history nowned Lamoignon de Malesherbes, tember terror was "on the agenda," In (which is what Guizot or Thiers, or even twice royal minister and former president October, France was submitted to revo- Michelet or Quinet, were writing); nor of the Paris Cour des Aides. Ten days be- lutionary government. On the morning was it sociotogy (as conceived by its

36 THE NKW REPUBLIC