Why Congress Doesn't Work

Home , John Papola, Taki Theodoracopulos, Tom Coburn

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JULY 2012

IDEAS OVER IDEOLOGY • PRINCIPLES OVER PARTY Why Congress Doesn’t Work And What to Do About It LEO LINBECK III

When News Becomes

$4.95 US/Canada ADVERTISEMENT There is one aspect of life that unites, controls, and affects all people. That one aspect is life’s natural laws. They unite, Do people intentionally refuse to meet the require- control and affect people no matter what their race, ments of laws of physics: gravity for instance? No, they gender, creed, or where on this planet they live. try their best to keep their balance or safely recover it If you are a new reader of this subject matter, be pre- whenever necessary. pared for a pleasant shock. Scriptures record the fi rst wrong action of the cre- Whoever or whatever is the creator revealed nature’s ated beings was their disobedience. It ended the perfect law of right action to the mind of Richard W. Wetherill situation that had existed and resulted in the predicted decades ago. The law calls for people to be rational penalties. More shockingly the admonition to obey end- and honest not only regarding laws of physics but also ed with the creator’s words, “or you will surely die.” in their thinking and behavior toward one another. Whether that account is actual or symbolic, it describes Wetherill also cautioned that the law, itself, is the fi nal ancient people’s misbehavior still continuing today. arbiter of right action. It states: Right action gets right Obeying nature’s law of right action unites people, results whether it relates to laws of physics or to the law giving them the benefi ts that then control and favor- of behavior. ably affect their lives, nullifying that fi nal admoni- Ordinarily people unknowingly have been conducting tion, “or you will surely die.” their relationships to satisfy their purposes; not the purposes of the creator of natural laws. Such behavior ex- For more information visit www.alphapub.com or for a plains why the earth’s population has never been peace- free mailing write to The Alpha Publishing House, PO fully united and controlled nor favorably affected. Box 255, Royersford, PA 19468

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9 24 44

ARTICLES COVER STORY ARTS & LETTERS

20 Kentucky Massiecre 12 Why Congress Doesn’t Work 44 The Tyranny of Clichés: How The Ron Paul revolution’s And what to do about it Liberals Cheat in the War of next generation leo linbeck iii Ideas by Jonah Goldberg W. James Antle III Scott Galupo FRONT LINES 24 Neighborhood Watch 47 If Not Us, Who? William Who will police the Islamic 6 The secret of Mitt’s one win Rusher, National Review, and world? ron unz the Conservative Movement William W. Chip by David B. Frisk 7 Taliban operational art Wick Allison 28 No War for Manila William S. Lind A weak ally draws the U.S. into 49 The Righteous Mind: Why 9 Stoner comedy (and tragedy) conflict with China Good People Are Divided by A.G. Gancarski Doug Bandow Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt Commentary 31 Austerity’s Prophets Daniel J. Flynn Why this is the Age of Hayek 5 Happy Democracy Mark Skousen 52 11/22/63: A Novel by 11 Syria’s fight isn’t ours Stephen King 34 Died on the 4th of July Marian Kester Coombs Fisher Ames, forgotten PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Federalist 23 Militarism drives inflation 55 Red State Religion: Faith and Stephen B. Tippins Jr. Howard Buffett Politics in America’s Heartland by Robert Wuthnow 38 Saint Sydney 27 Internet tapping gets harder D.G. Hart An Anglican with cojones Philip Giraldi R.J. Stove 57 Small, Gritty, and Green: The 42 GOP liberals’ drug war Promise of America’s Smaller Bill Kauffman Industrial Cities in a Low- Carbon World by Catherine 58 Boats & broken hearts Tumber TAKI A.G. Gancarski

Cover ILLUSTRATION: Michael Hogue

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 3 Letters The American Conservative Publisher Ron Unz Editor Daniel McCarthy Senior Editors Rod Dreher Daniel Larison FOR JUDAISM, AGAINST ZIONISM of Torah, ‘Its measure is greater than Mark Nugent I read with interest Paul Gottfried’s the earth’.” Associate Editor review of Rabbi Outcast: Elmer Berger For more than 60 years, the Ameri- Jordan Bloom and American Jewish Anti-Zionism by can Council for Judaism has pro- Contributing Editors W. James Antle III, Andrew J. Bacevich, Jack Ross (“Jews Against Israel,” May claimed that Judaism is centered on Doug Bandow, Jeremy Beer, James Bovard, 2012). The headline is misleading: the worship of God, not the idolatry Patrick Deneen, Michael Desch, Michael Dougherty, Richard Gamble, Rabbi Berger, a long-time leader of the of any political entity. Prime Minister Philip Giraldi, David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, American Council for Judaism and Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly Freddy Gray, Leon Hadar, Peter Hitchens, for many years America’s most promi- called upon American Jews to make Philip Jenkins, Christopher Layne, Chase Madar, Eric Margolis, James Pinkerton, nent Jewish critic of Zionism, was not a “mass aliya” (immigration) to Israel. Justin Raimondo, Fred Reed, Stuart Reid, “against Israel.” Instead, he rejected While we wish Israel well and hope Sheldon Richman, Steve Sailer, the Zionist philosophy, which holds for lasting peace in the Middle East, John Schwenkler, R.J. Stove, Kelley Vlahos, Thomas E. Woods Jr. that Jews are an ethnic group whose we believe that Israel should content Associate Publisher “homeland” is Israel and those living itself with being the government of its Jon Basil Utley outside of that state are “in exile.” own citizens. Publishing Consultant Gottfried expresses the view that The reality of Jewish tradition and Ronald E. Burr Zionism has won in this debate and the views of the majority of Americans Editorial Assistants that it now represents American Jew- of Jewish faith is far more complex Andrew Downing ish opinion. He also says that the than Gottfried indicates. Elmer Berger Nicole Gibson Zionist view of the nature of Judaism did not “lose” a battle over the nature Founding Editors Patrick J. Buchanan, Scott McConnell, and Jewish identity is, somehow, more of Jewish identity. The widespread de- Taki Theodoracopulos “authentic” than that expressed by its bate within the American Jewish com- critics. There is, in fact, a silent major- munity over what author Peter Beinart The American Ideas Institute ity of American Jews who reject the has described as “the crisis of Zionism” President idea that they are “in exile” in Ameri- indicates that this debate is still very Wick Allison ca. This was the predominant view of much with us. It may be eternal. In the The American Conservative, Vol. 11, No. 7, July 2012 (ISSN 1540-966X). Reg. U.S. Pat. American Reform Judaism from its end, the question is not who “won” or & Tm. Offic. Published 12 times a year by inception. “lost,” but either who is right or wrong The American Ideas Institute, 4040 Fairfax Drive, Ste. 140, Arlington, VA 22203. Prior to the mid-20th century, the or which view of the Jewish tradition Periodicals postage paid Arlington, VA and overwhelming majority of all Jews one wishes to embrace. Elmer Berger additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. rejected Zionism. In 1929, Orthodox represented the prophetic Jewish tra- POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The American Conservative, P.O. Box 9030, Maple Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamarat wrote dition and rejected those who would Shade, NJ 08052-9030. that the very notion of a sovereign transform Judaism into a form of trib- Subscription rates: $49.97 per year (12 issues) in the U.S., $69.97 in Canada (U.S. funds), and Jewish state as a spiritual center was alism. It is our view that his values still $89.97 other foreign via airmail. Back issues: a “contradiction to Judaism’s ultimate represent the views of a silent majority $6.00 (prepaid) per copy in USA, $7.00 in purpose.” of American Jews. Canada (U.S. funds). “Judaism at root is not some re- ALLAN C. BROWNFELD For subscription orders, payments, and other subscription inquiries— ligious concentration which can be Publications Editor, American Council By phone: 800-579-6148 localized or situated in a single terri- for Judaism (outside the U.S./Canada 856-380-4131) tory,” he wrote. “Neither is Judaism a Alexandria, Va. Via Web: www.theamericanconservative.com By mail: The American Conservative, P.O. Box ‘nationality’ in the sense of modern 9030, Maple Shade, NJ 08052-9030 nationalism, fit to be woven into the VIVA TAKI Please allow 6–8 weeks for delivery of your three-foldedness of ‘homeland, army Please be informed how much I look first issue. and heroic songs.’ No, Judaism is To- forward to reading the columns by Mr. Inquiries and letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. For advertising rah, ethics and exaltation of spirit. If Taki Theodoracopulos. They always put sales call Ronald Burr at 703-893-3632. For Judaism is truly Torah, then it cannot a smile on my face. editorial, call 703-875-7600. be reduced to the confines of any par- ERIK THORP This issue went to press on June 13, 2012. Copyright 2012 The American Conservative. ticular territory. For as Scripture said Warwick, RI

4 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 { Vol. 11, No. 7, JULY 2012 }

Rule of Happiness

hat is “the pursuit of happiness?” to everyone, men and women, young and old, of all When Thomas Jefferson added the classes. phrase to the Declaration of Inde- The most interesting finding to come from Frey’s pendence, he posed a mystery to research was why local democracy adds to the sum Wlater generations. Egalitarians have seized upon his of happiness. It was not a case, Bartholomew noted, words to justify wealth redistribution—by omitting of getting “a better government, or one more in ac- the more conventional right to property from the cordance with your views,” but rather “that you gain Declaration’s triad, they reason, Jefferson must have a sense of well-being from the fact that you have the been underscoring an alternative. capacity to influence events”—even if you don’t vote There are likelier explanations. For one, the Decla- or otherwise use that capacity. For that reason, the ration’s author fought hard for the abolition of entail “democracy” in question had to be local and direct; in Virginia, and entailed estates are precisely prop- “Professor Frey found that local autonomy made erty that cannot be alienated. An unalienable right to people a bit happier, too.” property is not the same thing as unalienable prop- Democracy is a word apt to cause confusion. erty itself, but why risk a misunderstanding? Switzerland is a confederation of small, highly self- That doesn’t clear up what the pursuit of happi- governing cantons. It resembles, loosely, the United ness is, however. Whether he intended to do so or States under the Articles of Confederation or early on not, Jefferson in fact hit on a characteristic quality of under the Constitution, when most decision-making self-government: it makes people happier, at least ac- was still small-scale and local. This localism was in cording to recent studies from Switzerland. large part what the American Revolution was fought Writing in The Spectator last November, British to preserve—against policy dictated from London. journalist James Bartholomew called attention to the If effective local self-government makes people work of Bruno Frey at the University of Zurich. Frey happy, perhaps it isn’t surprising that today the loss found that the degree of local democracy in Swiss of self-government has translated into a politics of cantons correlated with the happiness of each canton’s rage and frustration. The illusion of self-government citizens. “The canton of Basel Land, which is near but maintained by an unrepresentative Congress and an does not include the city of Basel, had the highest de- executive branch that poses as avatar of the nation mocracy rating of 5.69 out of six,” Bartholomew wrote. only salts the wound, causing Americans to won- “It was notably happier than the Canton of Geneva, der what “vast right-wing conspiracy” or insidious, which has the lowest democracy rating of only 1.75.” unpatriotic influences in media and the academy (Geneva, of course, home to the United Nations, is could have robbed us of our republic. The loss of in some respects as much a part of the “international self-government drives identity politics, too, as trib- community” as it is of Switzerland.) al membership rushes to fill the vacuum of citizen Frey’s work controlled for age, income, and other self-responsibility. variables, and while unemployment was the factor In the presidential season, when these emotions with the biggest impact on happiness, democracy are heightened and hitched to competing dema- had as measurable a positive effect as moving up gogues, it’s worth remembering the Swiss example— one income bracket—and the effect seemed to apply and the example of our own revolution.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 5 Front Lines

How I Made Mitt Romney owes his only win to English for the Children. by ron unz

ith Mitt Romney now the de facto Republi- can presidential nomi- nee, I sometimes recall how I inadvertently launched his

W Hogue Michael political career a decade ago, which is less implausible than it might sound. Unlike the vast majority of previous major-party presidential candidates, Romney has a remarkably slender record of election victories, having This prestigious success led Rom- Under Massachusetts law, candi- previously won just a single race, his ney to make another stab at winning dates for governor and lieutenant 2002 election as governor of Massa- political office, and he entered the 2002 governor run as a single ticket but are chusetts. Republican primary for Massachusetts each chosen separately in their party In 1994, he had taken a break from governor. Since I was then running an primaries. Therefore, since Romney his long and highly successful career “English for the Children of Massa- had pushed a female Republican in- in private equity to challenge Sen. Ed- chusetts” ballot-initiative campaign to cumbent governor out of his race, and ward Kennedy’s reelection. Although dismantle bilingual education, I closely his general-election opponent seemed he then positioned himself as a very followed the political developments of likely to be another woman, popular liberal Republican and even attempt- that year. State Treasurer Shannon O’Brien, he ed to outflank Kennedy to the left Romney’s initial opponent was sought to gender-balance his ticket by on some issues, Massachusetts was a Acting Governor Jane Swift, a very selecting a female running mate. Only heavily Democratic state and Kennedy moderate Republican who had been 15 percent of registered Massachu- was its leading political icon. Rom- elected lieutenant governor in 1998 setts voters were Republican, so the ney suffered a landslide defeat, losing and succeeded to her office upon party’s talent pool was minuscule, and by 17 points to his famous opponent the resignation of Governor Paul he selected Kerry Healey—a some- despite a huge national Republican Cellucci, whom President Bill Clin- what obscure local GOP activist who tide. ton had appointed U.S. ambassador had never held political office—per- After this drubbing, Romney to Canada. Governor Swift was wide- suading her to enter the primary for eventually recouped his political for- ly viewed as weak and ineffectual, the second slot. tunes by serving as appointed president and Romney, buoyed by his Olympic She was quickly challenged by Jim of the organizing committee for the success and his vast personal fortune, Rappaport, a wealthy Republican 2000 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. soon attracted such overwhelming leader who hoped to win the primary He was widely credited with having pro- support among local Republican by running sharply to her right. Thus, vided the organizational skills that res- leaders that Swift dropped out of the although Romney was unopposed for cued the event from looming calamity. race. the Republican nomination, there en-

6 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 sued a bitter battle for the second slot setts. Romney bludgeoned O’Brien eryone was talking about “English” between the Rappaport forces and the as a lifelong career politician who and most were overwhelmingly en- Romney forces, backing Healey. was part of a corrupt party machine, thusiastic. Finally, Romney’s people At this point, my own campaign while O’Brien denounced Romney as noticed this and decided to hitch a entered the equation. I had success- a greedy, carpet-bagging Wall Street ride on the issue, so for the last few fully qualified our measure as Ques- takeover artist—both charges being weeks of the campaign his advertis- tion Two for the November ballot, backed by millions of dollars of televi- ing focused on the fact that he sup- and its requirement that all immigrant sion attack ads. ported “English” while his Demo- children be taught English as soon as As the election grew near, however, cratic rival opposed it. they started school had begun attract- the hot-button question of whether Then, on Election Day, our mea- ing heavy coverage in the local media, or not all public schools should teach sure won by over 32 points, perhaps proving to be wildly popular among their students English exploded into the largest landslide of any contested more conservative voters. Nonetheless, public awareness, becoming far and initiative in modern Massachusetts the vast majority of the state’s Demo- away the biggest issue of the election, history, while Romney scraped across cratic political establishment declared without a single dollar of advertis- the finish line with 49.8 percent of the their opposition to the measure. Since ing having been spent on its behalf. vote. And that’s how Romney won his Romney was positioning himself for When reporters from the Globe and first and only election victory. the general election, he soon did the other newspapers went out and in- same. terviewed ordinary voters, many of Ron Unz, publisher of The American Romney’s opposition concerned them didn’t much know or care about Conservative, served as chairman of English me, since unified Democratic and the candidates running for any office, for the Children, the nationwide campaign to Republican attacks on our initiative including governor, but almost ev- dismantle bilingual education. might endanger its passage in No- vember. Therefore, I quickly reached out to Rappaport, and with “English” having perhaps 90 percent support Unfriendly Fire among Republicans, he immediately endorsed our Question Two, hoping How the Taliban mastered the operational art of modern war to use the issue as a weapon against by william s. lind Healey in the primary. Just as I had hoped, Romney soon he greatest intellectual chal- as a way to keep Bismarck out of his decided that Healey needed to protect lenge in Fourth Generation business. (“Yes, my dear Bismarck, herself by also endorsing the measure, war—war against oppo- you are in charge of strategy, but you which forced him to avoid an embar- nents that are not states— simply must not interfere in opera- rassing split in the ranks by reversing Tis how to fight it at the operational tional matters.”) his previous position and doing the level. NATO in Afghanistan, like the The U.S. Army did not officially same. Partly as a result, Healey soon Soviets three decades won an overwhelming victory in her ago, has been unable primary race, and the political lines to solve that riddle. But were set for November. the Taliban appears to The operational level of war lies As it turned out, Romney’s decision have done so. between strategy and tactics. was a fateful one. The Boston Globe and The operational level other media outlets soon noted that of war lies between on almost every other major issue, his strategy and tactics. positions were identical to those of his While great commanders have always recognize the operational level of Democratic opponent, O’Brien. Only thought and fought at the operational war until 1982, but the tsarist Russian support for English in the schools sepa- level, the concept was not formally army and later the Soviets picked up rated the two candidates. recognized until the 19th century. As on it. By 1944-45, the Red Army was When rival candidates have identi- usual, it was the Prussian army that as competent at what they called “op- cal positions, campaigns often become led the way. Some historians think the erational art” as the Wehrmacht. That unappealing slugfests, and that was operational level may have been for- was never true of the Western allies. the case throughout most of the 2002 malized by Field Marshal von Moltke The Russian term, operational art, is gubernatorial race in Massachu- himself in the Franco-Prussian war a good one, because unlike tactics or

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 7 Front Lines strategy it is not a thing but a link. It Were war to remain in its Third What is operationally meaningful is the art, not science, of using tacti- Generation incarnation, a matter of was less the incident than its after- cal events, battles and refusals to give fast-moving campaigns led by tank math. The trust that existed between battle, victories and sometimes also armies, the U.S. military might even- American soldiers and the Afghans defeats (from the North Vietnamese tually get operational art. But war has they were supposed to train was shat- perspective, the Tet offensive was a moved on: tank armies are now as ir- tered. Immediately after the episode, tactical defeat but a decisive opera- relevant as armies of mounted bow- the Times reported, the Americans in- tional victory) to strike as directly as men. So the question must be asked stituted new security procedures that possible at the enemy’s strategic cen- anew—how do you link tactical events alienated their native allies, and while ter. Because it resorts to battle only to winning strategically? some of these measure were later when and where necessary, operation- The Soviet army focused its best withdrawn, al art is a great economizer of fighting talent on operational art. But in Af- strength—even a battle won eats up ghanistan, it failed, just as we have Afghan soldiers still complain of soldiers, fuel, equipment, and, most failed. Like the Soviets, we can take being kept at a distance by the importantly, time. and hold any piece of Afghan ground. Americans, figuratively and liter- A brilliant example of its appli- And doing so brings us, like the So- ally. The Americans, for instance, cation comes from General Heinz viets, not one step closer to strate- have put up towering concrete Guderian’s XIXth Panzer Corps in gic victory. The Taliban, by contrast, barriers to separate their small, the 1940 campaign against France. have found an elegant way to connect plywood command center from Guderian led the famous advance strategy and tactics in decentralized the outpost’s Afghan encamp- through the Ardennes mountains’ modern warfare. ment. weakest point, the junction between What passes for NATO’s strategy Also still in place is a rule im- is to train sufficient posed by the Afghan Army after Afghan forces to the attack requiring most of its hold off the Tali- soldiers to lock up their weap- ban once we pull ons when on base. The Afghan out. The Taliban’s commanding officer keeps the The Taliban have found an elegant way response has been keys. to connect strategy and tactics in to have men in One American soldier none- decentralized modern warfare. Afghan uniform— theless advised a visitor to take many of whom ac- an armed escort to the Afghan tually are Afghan side of the base, which was about government sol- 100 feet away, ‘just in case.’ diers or police— turn their guns on Multiply the aftermath of this inci- the strong forces the Germans had their NATO advisers. That is a fatal dent 22 times since the beginning of pushed forward into Belgium and blow against our strategy because it the year and it becomes operationally those manning the Maginot fortifi- makes the training mission impossi- important. Each incident quickly be- cations. After Guderian crossed the ble. Behold operational art in Fourth comes known to all NATO troops in Meuse river at Sedan, he faced French Generation war. Afghanistan, which spreads the im- forces coming up from the south. He According to a May 16 article by pact. Just a few hundred more such could have stayed there and fought Matthew Rosenberg in the New York “green on blue” attacks will effectively them. Instead, thinking operation- Times, 22 NATO soldiers have been end our training mission. ally, he held the crossing with mini- killed so far this year by men in Afghan The Taliban know this technique mum force and threw everything he uniforms, compared to 35 in all of last is operational, not just tactical. They had north toward the English Chan- year. The report went on to describe can be expected to put all their effort nel. That collapsed the “hinge” be- one incident in detail—detail NATO is into it. What counter do we have? Just tween the French and British forces anxious to suppress. There were three order our troops to pretend it is not in Belgium and those in France, win- Afghan attackers, two of whom were happening—to keep trusting their ning the campaign in one stroke. Afghan army soldiers. Two Americans Afghan counterparts. That order, if France, which by everyone’s account were killed. The battle—and it was a enforced, will put our soldiers in such had the best army in the world, went battle, not just a drive-by shooting— an untenable position that morale will down to defeat in six weeks. lasted almost an hour. collapse.

8 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 So powerful is this taste of Tali- Were I an American soldier who had masterminds of the marijuana trade; ban operational art that Washington been told to hand over or unload his and in middle-class homes, where the may fear the example it sets. Dur- weapon before approaching Secretary sharing of one joint led a young Don ing a recent visit by Secretary of De- Panetta, I would certainly have read it and Betty Draper-esque couple to fense Leon Panetta to Afghanistan, no that way. neglect its newborn in a bathtub with American soldiers were allowed to get a running faucet, where the tot ineluc- near him with loaded weapons. Might William S. Lind is director of the tably drowned. the Pentagon be worried that our own American Conservative Center for Jack Webb, a noted jazz aficionado troops could learn from the Taliban? Public Transportation. who went so far as to release a couple of albums in that most drug-infused of musical genres, included elements of subtle comedy in his po-faced The Tragedy of Stoner Comedy anti-substance commentaries. But For Hollywood, marijuana prohibition is a joke. this was nothing compared to what was to come in just a few short years, by A.G. Gancarski when Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong released a series of comedies edia outlets didn’t need released by a church group in reaction that did for marijuana’s acceptance a toxicology report be- to the menace posed by Mary Jane. into the mainstream what Amos and fore deciding that Rudy In the film, marijuana transforms Andy did for race relations. Cheech Eugene—the maniac seemingly normal, upstanding Ameri- and Chong, in such films as “Nice Mwho over Memorial Day weekend can youth into maniacs similar to the Dreams and “Still Smokin,’” estab- chewed off a homeless man’s face in opium fiends of earlier stereotypes. lished a template that has predomi- Miami before being shot dead by po- We see homicide and suicide, sexual nated ever since. Their straggly long lice—had been high on “bath salts.” assault and generalized insanity. The hair, stoner talk, and constant fiend- The synthetic drug is America’s latest cannabis of 1936 apparently was so po- ing for the demon weed established craze, or panic, and now there were tent that it could destroy society—this the stereotype that prevails, in vari- grisly images to go with it—what at a time when so-called ditch weed ous permutations, to this day. And as might as well have been scenes from prevailed, which decidedly lacked happens when actors embrace carica- a zombie film. potency compared to Drugs are good box office and today’s boutique brands. great ratings on the nightly news and This trope, so camp in television’s endless police procedur- retrospect, nonetheless als. But the nation’s attitude towards became central to anti- Cheech and Chong did for marijuana’s some narcotics appears to be mellow- drug propaganda in the acceptance into the mainstream what ing. Fourteen states have effectively decades ahead. Amos and Andy did for race relations. decriminalized possession of small The 1940s and 1950s amounts of marijuana, and on June 4 saw relatively little in Mayor Bloomberg and the New York the way of commen- Police Department announced plans tary on marijuana, but to follow suit in NYC. As marijuana a shift took place in the late 1960s as ture roles, both were typecast to such goes mainstream, its media portrayal the libertine ways of the hippie gen- a degree that the stoner aesthetic has likewise softened. But the soft fo- eration proved problematic. Jack took over their careers. cus hides a hard reality—not about the Webb’s “Dragnet” television series fo- Cheech and Chong influenced ev- drug but about the war to prohibit it. cused quite often on the myriad evils erything that came in their wake (and The first drug-war film of note ac- of narcotics usage—which was never bake). Characters like Sean Penn’s tually predated the federal prohibition without dire consequence—during its Spicoli in “Fast Times at Ridgemont of cannabis by one year. 1936’s “Reefer four-season run from 1967 to 1970. High,” along with entire films such Madness”—which has been, for many Drugs were everywhere: on the strip, as “Dazed and Confused” and “Dude, years now, obligatory “camp classic” where people dropped microtabs of Where’s My Car?,” offer examples of viewing for high-school and college acid and then painted themselves blue; high-school students who smoke students first discovering the illicit in middle schools, where young push- weed and come to be defined by it— charms of marijuana—was originally ers did the work of the Fagin-esque ironically, bringing us back full circle

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 9 Front Lines

gan vehicle revolving around a process server leaving a joint containing some top-flight herb at the house of a drug dealer—weed the dealer immediately traces back to the smoker and the street-level pusher who sup- plied him. The movie blended stoner stereotypes and broad humor with blood, gore, and violence. In this, we can see the influence of television drama “The Wire” on the genre. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come. Greater realism in the portrayal of cannabis users will serve to culturally normalize the illicit activ- ity. But more than likely, the stoner comedies of the future will continue to play up the humor while conve- niently overlooking the tragedy at the heart of American marijuana prohibition. Jails, especially in the South, have many occupants who are there simply for possession of marijuana. With the surge in privatized prisons—some of which have contractual stipulations requiring that occupancy rates not fall below 90 percent—we may well see a political counterforce to the medical-marijuana and decriminal- ization movements. Then again, perhaps their business plans will refocus on some novel problem: bath salts, maybe. Whatever the case, there will be no stoner comedy that deals with the harm inflicted on a family when an adult male breadwinner is sent to to “Reefer Madness.” and African-American movies like state prison for what is essentially a These movies had much in com- “How High” and “Friday” reinforce victimless crime. Marijuana prohibi- mon: they took place in majority- the fuzzy stereotype of the cannabis tion has been the gateway to an ex- white communities and the forbidden smoker as an amiable dunce bereft of ponential expansion of the prison- herb was consumed with relatively ambition or agency. (In Quentin Tar- industrial complex, but that’s a reality minor consequences beyond the usu- antino’s drama “Jackie Brown,” Sam- silver-screen fantasies will not touch. al cognitive hiccups. This approach to uel L. Jackson’s character warns the As with romantic comedies, which cannabis came to television in “That moll played by Bridget Fonda, “That give us a skewed view of love, the ’70s Show,” in which Tommy Chong s--t’s gonna rob you of your ambi- stoner genre is riddled with distor- played a middle-aged hippie treated tion.” She giggles: “Not if your ambitions and misrepresentations—a bad as harmless, if high, in a manner re- tion is to get high and watch TV.”) trip worthy of the worst directors in flective of the federal detente in the Of late, the stoner comedy has Hollywood. anti-drug offensive during the Carter become more realistic. This shift is years. Similarly, “The Big Lebowski,” exemplified by 2008’s “Pineapple Ex- A.G. Gancarski writes from Jacksonville, films by the director Kevin Smith, press,” a James Franco and Seth Ro- Florida.

10 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Made in America Patrick j. Buchanan

Stay Out of Syria

n pushing for U.S. military in- King Hussein used artillery on a Pal- going to repeat it because Bashar has tervention in Syria—arming the estinian camp, killing thousands and failed to live up to our expectations? insurgents and using U.S. air sending thousands fleeing into Leba- Consider the forces lining up on each power to “create safe zones” for non. During Lebanon’s civil war from side in what looks like a Syrian civil war Ianti-regime forces “inside Syria’s bor- 1975 to 1990, more than 100,000 per- and dress rehearsal for a regional sec- ders”—the Washington Post invokes ished. In the 1980s, Iraq launched a war tarian war. Against Assad’s regime are “vital U.S. interests” that are somehow on Iran that cost close to a million dead. the United States, the Muslim Brother- imperiled there. We observed, content that our en- hood, al-Qaeda, the Turks and Saudis, For 40 years, we have lived with a emies were killing one another. and Sunni states of the Persian Gulf. Damascus regime led by either Bashar In 1992, Islamists in Algeria won the On Assad’s side are his 300,000-strong Assad or his father, Hafez Assad. Were first round of voting and were poised army, the Alawite Shia in Syria, Druze, our “vital interests” in peril all four to win the second. Democracy was Christians, and Kurds, all of whom fear decades? about to produce a result undesired by a victory of the Brotherhood, and Rus- In 1991, George H.W. Bush recruited the Western democracies. So Washing- sia, Iran, and Hezbollah. the elder Assad into his Desert Storm ton and Paris gave Algiers a green light The question for our bellicose inter- coalition that liberated Kuwait. Da- to prevent the Islamists from coming ventionists is this: how much treasure mascus sent 4,000 troops. In gratitude, to power. That Algerian civil war cost should be expended, how much Amer- we hosted a Madrid Conference to ad- scores of thousands dead. ican blood shed so the Muslim Broth- vance a land-for-peace deal between If Arab and Muslim peoples believe erhood can depose the Assad dynasty, Assad and Israel. Americans are hypocrites who cyni- take power and establish an Islamist It failed, but it could have meant a re- cally consult their strategic interests state in Syria? turn of the Golan Heights to Assad and before bemoaning Arab and Muslim “Tell me how this thing ends,” said Syria’s return to the eastern bank of the victims of terror and war, do they not Gen. David Petraeus at the onset of our Sea of Galilee. have a point? misbegotten Iraq War. If we begin pro- We could live with that, but cannot As for the Post’s idea of using U.S. viding weapons to those seeking the live with Bashar? air power to set up “safe zones” on Syr- overthrow of Assad, as the Post urges, Comes the reply: the reason is the ian soil, those are acts of war. What do it will be a fateful step for this republic. Houla massacre, where more than we do if the Syrian army answers with We will be morally responsible for 100 Syrians were slaughtered, mostly artillery strikes on those safe zones or the inevitable rise in dead and wounded women and children, the most horrid overruns one, inflicting a stinging de- from the war we will have fueled. We will atrocity in a 15-month war that has feat on the United States? have committed our prestige to Assad’s taken 10,000 lives. We Americans can- Would we accept the humiliation—or downfall. And once the U.S. casualties not stand idly by and let this happen. escalate? What if Syrian air defenses start come, the cry of the war party will come. That massacre was indeed appall- bringing down U.S. planes? What would We will be on our way into another ing, and apparently the work of rogue we do if Syria’s Hezbollah allies start tak- bloody debacle in a region where there militia aligned with the regime. But in ing Americans hostage in Lebanon? is no vital U.S. interest but perhaps oil, 1982, Bashar’s father rolled his artillery Ronald Reagan sent the Marines which these folks have to sell to survive. up to the gates of Hama and, to crush into Lebanon in 1983. His intervention Before the religious and ethnic con- an insurrection by the Muslim Broth- in that civil war resulted in our em- flicts of Europe were sorted out, it took erhood, fired at will into the city until bassy being blown up and 241 Marines centuries of bloodletting, and our fa- 20,000 were dead. massacred in the bombing of the Bei- thers instructed us to stay out of these What did America do? Nothing. rut barracks. Reagan regarded it as the quarrels that were none of our business. In Black September 1970, Jordan’s worst mistake of his presidency. Are we Syria in 2012 is even less our business.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 11 Cover

Why Congress Doesn’t Work Lawmakers’ avoidance of accountability undermines self-government

by Leo Linbeck III

aced with a complex, hard-to-solve problem, that has destroyed electoral accountability, dispers- there is a natural human tendency to solve ing power that has become too centralized, and re- a much simpler, easier one instead. Nobel engaging citizens in the political realm. The biggest Laureate Daniel Kahneman, in his book, impediment to these changes is not the president— FThinking, Fast and Slow, dubs this cognitive process it’s Congress. “substitution.” This is not to say that the presidency is irrelevant. We know our political system is broken. The signs But Congress is the most powerful branch—it writes are everywhere: knee-jerk partisanship, massive the laws and holds the purse strings—and it is utterly debts and unfunded liabilities, widespread citizen unaccountable for reasons that are widely misunder- dissatisfaction, trillion-dollar deficits, rampant pub- stood. Perhaps the greatest mystery of American lic and private corruption, and a federal government politics in the 21st century is how Congress can have that has less support than King George III at the time an approval rating that dips into the single digits of the American Revolution. while, on average, more than 90 percent of incum- But fixing the system is a staggeringly complex bents win re-election. undertaking. The causes of its dysfunction are deep If Congress is unresponsive, restoring self-gover- and obscure. nance is impossible. But lawmakers will not reform So what do we do? We use substitution: we focus themselves. Thus the critical first step in returning on electing a president who promises to solve all our to self-governance is making congressional elections problems. Conservatives did this in 2000, progres- work—reconnecting the ballot box and the people’s sives did it in 2008, and both sides are doing it again will. This is a difficult task, but not impossible. Pri- in 2012. mary elections are the key. But it won’t work. There is no silver bullet, no This year, I have worked with a small group of shortcut, no Superman who will save us. In fact, by committed men and women on a simple mission: focusing almost exclusively on the presidency, we are to use a SuperPAC to defeat, in primary elections, making the problem worse, not better. unpopular congressional incumbents in “safe” dis- Our nation’s core political problem is a loss of self- tricts. governance, and the restoration of self-governance cannot come from the election of a single leader Leo Linbeck III is CEO of Aquinas Companies, LLC, and who will fundamentally transform America. It will serves on the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business only come from changing the way we think about and Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. He is political conflict, breaking the cycle of incumbency co-founder of the Campaign for Primary Accountability.

12 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Representatives compared to population 1789 to 2012

600 300 In 1920, the House refused for the rst time to enlarge itself to Total U.S. population 500 accommodate a larger 250 population. The population has tripled since. 400 200 Population (in millions)

Number of representatives 300 150

200 100 Number of representatives

100 50

0 0 1789 1840 1890 1940 1990

Share of government spending

1910 30.8% 7.7% 61.5%

Federal (+94% change) State (+91% ) Local (-59%)

2010 59.8% 14.7% 25.5%

Debates between the Left and the Right are over policy, and whichever choice is made it usually results in power accruing to the Federal government. The real debate – which has been lost in the 24-hour news cycle – should not be about what is decided, but who decides. Only then, will the pull toward Centrocracy be weakened and a measure of self-government returned to states, cities, and communities.

Centrocracy

Left Right

Self-governance

Our organization, the Campaign for Primary Ac- campaign: fear and confusion. This essay will hope- countability, has targeted Democrats and Repub- fully alleviate the latter—and thereby enhance the licans, liberals and conservatives. In its first three former. months, we engaged in nine primary contests and won four. To put this in perspective, only four in- et me be clear from the outset. On the familiar cumbents out of 396 lost their primaries in all of Lright-left spectrum, I’m a conservative. Asked 2010. to characterize my position, I typically respond We have beaten an establishment Republican that I’m a “conservative communitarian,” but that in Ohio, a Tea Party-supported Republican in Illi- still makes me a conservative. nois, a Blue Dog Democrat in Pennsylvania, and a For example, I am for lower taxes, a smaller pub- mainstream Democrat in Texas. In the process, we lic sector, a strong military, more reliance on prices have been called conservatives, liberals, Tea Par- and markets, and less regulation. I am pro-life, tiers, anarchists, right-wingers, and both pro-Obama highly skeptical of government-provided welfare and anti-Obama. We are the political equivalent of programs, and a supporter of choice and compe- Schrödinger’s Cat. tition in public education. There are policy areas There have been two principal responses to our where I am closer to my progressive friends—crim-

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 13 Cover

inal justice, anti-trust, campaign-finance reform, Congress Is the Problem and a few others—but any fair-minded observer My personal political journey began about five would view me as a conservative. years ago when I was sitting at a business luncheon Yet I firmly believe that a more conservative Con- in Houston, listening to a presentation by the presi- gress will not save America. In fact, a conservative dent of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Congress will probably make things worse. Fisher. He showed a series of slides with typical Fed If this strikes you as cognitive dissonance or some fare: deficits, interest rates, home prices, mortgage bizarre form of philosophical self-hatred, you’re not markets. alone. Most people think that if you hold certain This was before the financial crisis, and the econ- policy views, you should support a Congress that omy still seemed strong. But Fisher was not so op- would put those policies into effect. timistic, and his talk was a little unnerving. At the I disagree. end, he said words to the effect, “All of this probably sounds scary, but the next slide that I’m going to show you is the one that keeps me up at night. If you are concerned about your country, it should keep you Our system is broken because we have up at night too.” imposed policies from the center that should On the screen appeared one number: $84 trillion. “That is the unfunded liabil- be decided locally. ity of Medicare,” Fisher said. I quickly ran the math and realized this was almost $300,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States, including my wife, my five kids, and me. The major challenges facing the United States I was stunned. today are not problems of policy, but problems of After the luncheon, I made my way through the governance. Our system is broken because we have crowd to find Fisher. I expressed my bewilderment imposed policies from the center that should be and said the number couldn’t possibly be true. “It’s decided locally. Making those centralized policies true, “ he replied. “It’s one of the first questions I more “conservative” will not improve our system; in asked my research staff when I joined the Fed, and fact, that will likely make things worse by increasing it has been checked and double-checked.” support for a bad governance structure. And a good “How did this happen?” I asked. policy under a bad governance structure ultimately He looked at me and said one word: “Congress.” morphs into a bad policy. With that word, Fisher awoke me from my dog- The “horizontal” fight over what is decided is a matic slumber. diversion from the more important “vertical” fight It is ironic to recall that the Founders gave the pow- over who decides. The vertical fight will determine er of the purse to the House of Representatives be- whether we restore the American system of self- cause, being more responsive to the people, it would governance or continue our progression toward the protect their pocketbooks from the extravagances of Bismarckian procedural state. the executive branch. For the first 100 years, it pretty But shifting the focus from horizontal to verti- much worked that way, with federal spending about 4 cal confuses those who are embedded in traditional percent of GDP. politics. Their goal is to elect a national government Today the House is a spending machine—it that will impose their policy preferences on all 300 spends $10 billion each day and more than 25 per- million Americans. For them, politics is about power cent of GDP. Money can’t buy love, but it can buy and policy. power: in November 2010, Congress had an ap- For the self-governance movement, however, who proval rating of just 17 percent, while the re-elec- decides is more important than what is decided. This tion rate in the House was 86 percent. framework allows us to create alliances across the This disconnect between approval and re-elec- ideological spectrum. We might disagree on policy, tion rates is the clearest sign that the congressional but we can unify on governance. accountability system is broken. But there are sev- And that unity creates fear in Congress. As well eral underlying causes: it should. The problem of scale. When the Framers met to

14 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 write the Constitution, there were about 3 mil- candidates selected via primary, a member of the lion inhabitants in the 13 states. Virginia, the larg- House could not win re-election without the sub- est, had a population of some 700,000 (of which stantial financial resources needed to communicate 280,000 were slaves). The largest city, Philadelphia, directly with voters. A big differential in funding had a population of 40,000. virtually determines the outcome of a primary. At the Constitutional Convention, there was con- But money also creates huge advantages for “safe siderable debate about the size of House districts. seat” incumbents who face little or no general-election When a proposal was made for districts of 40,000, competition. Freed from having to worry about their George Washington rose to speak for the first and own campaigns, and assured of the longevity that only time. He opposed the large size and recom- leads to seniority and power, House members in safe mended 30,000. His amendment was adopted. districts amass huge war chests and use that money to Today, House districts average over 700,000— help their party win in swing districts, thereby garner- more than the entire population of Virginia in 1780. ing loyalty from the candidates they support. This growth alone represents a 96 percent dilution These war chests deter competition in their own of citizen influence since our Founding. primaries as well: in 2010, 62 percent of incumbents The problem of primaries. The average margin of had no primary challenger, and those who did won victory for incumbents in general elections is 26 by an average margin of 66 percent. The vast ma- percent, and only 15 percent or so of House dis- jority went on to face no serious opposition in the tricts are competitive in the general. For the other general. 85 percent, the outcome is decided in the primary. The most powerful members are therefore the But the primary system does not hold incumbents least accountable. Their money advantage is a big accountable. reason for that. During the 19th century, all politics truly was local. The problem of “campaign reform.” The last hun- Congressional candidates were nominated through dred years have seen a steady stream of campaign- a caucus and convention system controlled by local reform legislation. Incumbents have consistently parties and their bosses. The caucuses were non-bind- used these “reforms” to erect barriers to keep lo- ing, but they allowed bosses to gauge support for each cal party leaders—who are now supplicants, not candidate. Local control also allowed for forced rota- bosses—the local business community, and every- tion, so that representatives did not serve more than a couple of terms, thus assuring fealty to local parties. Unfortunately, many local bosses were corrupt, using their power in “smoked- In 2010, 62 percent of incumbents had no filled rooms” to line their own pockets. primary challenger, and those who did Primaries were seen as a way to end that won by an average margin of 66 percent. corruption, and they did. But they also gutted the local parties and led to the centralization of party power, first at the state level, then nationally. Reform was needed, but primaries had unintend- one else from impeding their re-election. They have ed consequences—one of which is that incumbents transferred control of elections to the government rarely lose. This fact was not lost on incumbents bureaucracy they fund and control, created com- themselves: after progressive Republicans instituted plex ballot-access laws, switched to the Australian the first primary in Wisconsin in 1904, primaries ballot to weaken local parties, outlawed corporate spread quickly across the country. By 1920, almost contributions, and imposed contribution limits to all congressional candidates were chosen in this make it hard for opponents to fund a credible chal- way. lenge. Incumbents still rarely lose. In the four elections That these reforms protect incumbents by less- between 2002 and 2008, only 12 House members ening competition is perfectly predicable: in what were defeated in primaries. Over the same span, 13 universe would you expect incumbents to pass laws died in office. God creates higher turnover in the that make it easier for them to lose? House than primaries do. The power of incumbency. As a result of these The problem of money. With districts so large and changes, incumbency is now golden. Throughout

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 15 Cover

the 19th century, the average tenure in the House the disease and restored accountability. at the start of a session was about two years. By the Curtail gerrymandering. The most common pre- early 21st century, the average starting tenure had scription is to change the process by which congres- risen to 10.2 years. sional districts are drawn. We are promised that if With larger districts, primary elections, the we just eliminate the gerrymander, we abolish the greater influence of money, and a series of reforms safe seats that protect incumbents. that discouraged challengers, House members were Clearly, gerrymandering is offensive, but it is al- freed from the accountability system that had held most as old as the republic—the term was first used them in check. Incumbents used to be agents of the in the Boston Gazette in 1812. If it were the root local party; today they are free agents. problem, its effects on the behavior of the House Incumbents used to be controlled by party boss- would have appeared long before the late 20th es; today they are the party bosses. century. Moreover, detailed academic studies have shown that the number of competitive House elections is virtually unaffected by redistricting. “Reforms” That Will Not Work Surprisingly, partisan redistricting results in more competitive elections than bipartisan or non-partisan None of this will surprise the careful observer of redistricting. To understand why, consider two adjoin- American politics. But diagnosis is only the first ing House districts, one a suburban district that is 70 step. What is the remedy? percent Republican, the other an urban district that is Several therapies have been prescribed and, in a 60 percent Democratic. If Republican legislators were few states, even tried. But none of them have cured in control of redistricting, what would they do?

Increased Incumbent Centralization Power of Power

Decreased More Remote Electoral and Complex Competition Governance The Cycle of the Procedural State

Increased Ine ective or Strength of Destructive Special Interests Policies

Greater Decreased Discontent and Citizen Sense of Engagement Powerlessness

16 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 They would try to shift 10 percent of GOP voters ducing the average size of a district to around 200,000. from the suburban to the urban district. This would There is just one problem: only Congress can make leave the suburban district with a safe 20-point this change, and it has no incentive to do so. If the advantage and put the urban district in play. As a House would not consent to its enlargement in 1920, result, both districts would become more competi- why should it in 2012? The perks, the power, and the tive. This outcome is due to the natural incentive money have only increased since then. Why risk dilut- partisans have to increase the potential number of ing those benefits? House seats for their party at the cost of the margin The only recourse is a constitutional amendment. of safety. But constitutional amendments do not cause po- So why since the 1960s have incumbents en- litical change; they are a consequence of political joyed re-election rates of about 90 percent? Alan change. Arguing today for an amendment to reduce Abramowitz and his colleagues at Emory Universi- congressional power would be akin to arguing in ty, who have written on the shift toward uncompeti- 1840 for an amendment to free the slaves. Slavery tive elections in the House, came to the following ended because of the abolitionist movement and conclusion: the Civil War, not the Reconstruction Amendments. The war is first won, and then the victors codify the This shift has not been caused by redistricting result. but by demographic change and ideological Institute term limits. From 1990 to 1995, the term- realignment within the electorate. Moreover, limit movement won many battles, with 23 states im- even in the remaining marginal districts most posing limited terms of office on their elected repre- challengers lack the financial resources needed sentatives, including members of Congress. But by a to wage competitive campaigns. The increas- 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that only Congress ing correlation among district partisanship, in- could limit its own terms. cumbency, and campaign spending means that That was not the only reason for the movement’s the effects of these variables tend to reinforce collapse. Skeptics can now offer a one-word rebut- each other to a greater extent than in the past. tal to term-limits enthusiasts: California. Although The result is a pattern of reinforcing advantag- there are many reasons for the Mess in the West, 20 es that leads to extraordinarily uncompetitive years of term limits for state legislators have not kept elections. California from hurtling toward fiscal disaster. Reform campaign finance. Given the role that mon- The problem is not gerrymandering but a system ey plays in elections, why not directly try to “get mon- that has created “reinforcing advantages” driven by money, incumbency, and low voter turnout (which tends to accentuate partisanship). Arguing today for an amendment to reduce Enlarge the House. Among functioning congressional power would be akin to arguing democracies, our legislature is the least representative body. In Japan, each mem- in 1840 for an amendment to free the slaves. ber of the Diet’s lower house represents about 245,000 people. For members of the German Bundestag, the ratio is 1 to 123,000. For the French Assembly, 1 to 100,000. For ey out of politics”? This is a very popular idea among Canada’s House of Commons, 1 to 96,000; and for the progressives, who see the corruption within the sys- UK’s, 1 to 89,000. tem and view shutting off the cash flow as the obvious After the 1920 census, the House of Representatives solution. for the first time refused to enlarge itself to accommo- There are several reasons why this will not work. date a larger population. In 1929, it formally fixed its First, as with all “campaign reforms,” no law will pass membership at the current number. The population Congress that adversely affects incumbents. And since has tripled since. the current finance system favors them, there is no If we had held to the Framers’ original limit, the reason to believe they will make the kinds of changes House would now have over 10,000 members. Clearly to funding rules that would increase electoral compe- that would be impractical. Various proposals have tition. been made to enlarge the House to 1,200 members, re- Second, the Supreme Court has been very clear that

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 17 Representatives compared to population 1789 to 2012

Number of representatives 300 150

200 100 Number of representatives

100 50

0 0 1789 1840 1890 1940 1990

Cover

Share of government spending

1910 30.8% 7.7% 61.5%

Federal (+94% change) State (+91% ) Local (-59%)

2010 59.8% 14.7% 25.5%

political spending is a form of political speech and is There is a broad bipartisan consensus in Washington, therefore protected by the Constitution. You might D.C. on the most important political question today: disagree with their jurisprudence, but unless and until Who decides? Both parties agree that Congress should the justices change their minds, money will continue decide, and they cooperate to protect and expand this to flow into super PACs and other independent-ex- power. By arrogating these decisions to themselves, penditure entities. lawmakers are tackling problems they cannot solve DebatesFinally, given between how much the money Left Congress and the appro Right- andare pre-emptingover policy, the and search whichever for diverse choice local is solutions made priates,it usually it isresults practically in power impossible accruing to eliminateto the Federal the government.by others. There The is realgridlock debate because – which Congress has beentries to money others spend to influence lawmakers. Outlaw- force a single solution on the entire country, when no inglost money in the in24-hour politics newswouldn’t cycle stop – theshould flow; not it wouldbe about politically what is acceptable decided, solution but who exists. decides. Only simplythen, will push the it underground. pull toward Centrocracy be weakened andEach a narrative measure is ofrooted self-government in one dimension returned of poli - to So,states, if eliminating cities, and the communities. gerrymander, increasing the tics: the conventional wisdom is “horizontal,” the al- size of the House, term limits, and campaign reform ternative narrative is “vertical.” And that defines the won’t break the cycle of incumbency, what can we do? real conflict in American politics today, which is not Two things, neither of which requires the consent between the parties or between the right and the left, of Congress: but between centrocracy and self-governance. First, change the political narrative. Consider the increased share of federal and state Second, use primary elections to restore Congress’s spending and decreased share of local government accountability to the citizenry. spending over the past 100 years as shown in the above figure. Is there any doubt that government decision-making has become more centralized over this Defining the Alternatives period? This is what happens under a centrocracy. CentrocracyBut that is not the American system, which was de- E.E. Schattschneider once wrote, “The definition of signed as a self-governing republic, not a procedural the alternatives is the supreme instrument of power.” republic like the one established by Otto von Bis- Political alternatives are defined through narratives. marck for the Second German Reich. It is fashionable to bemoan the “lack of bipartisan- The transformation of our system from a self-gov- ship” that has resulted in “gridlock.” The convention- erning to a procedural republic is the result of a series al narrative goes something like this: The Tea Par- of Progressive Era reforms that began around the turn ties and Occupy Wall Street are responsible for the of the 20th century. These created a self-reinforcing increasedLeft polarization of political discourse, which loop of incentives that moved power fromRight individu- makes it impossible for bipartisan consensus to als, families, communities, local governments, and emerge. These extremists pressure legislators to ac- states to the federal government. cept no compromise, but without any compromise, Changing the narrative from left vs. right to cen- we are left with gridlock. trocrats vs. citizens is a necessary step. But it is not This story has a certain internal logic. But it is not sufficient: Congress will not happily give up its power. the best explanation for the failures that have left Con- That power must be taken away. One way to do this gress with a lower approval rating than polygamy. is to turn one of their own advantages against them: An alternative narrative goes something Self-governancelike this: primary elections.

18 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 How to Break the Cycle of Incumbency to close the funding gap between incumbents and challengers. Only then will we create a truly level The primary is the weakest link in the chain that playing field that will force incumbents to pay more keeps the centrocrats in control. If the objective is to heed to Main Street than to K Street. break the feedback loop that leads to centrocracy, the Ultimately the key to this long war will be attract- primary is the place to do it. ing candidates from both parties to the self-gover- Here a distinction may be useful. As the readers nance movement. They will not have to abandon of this magazine know, there is a difference between their party or policy preferences, but we will show conservatives and conservative Republicans. There them that they can win elections by siding with the is also a difference between progressives and pro- citizenry against the centrocracy. gressive Democrats. Many progressives are repelled The centrocracy is the enemy. Bring it down, move by the growth of the national-security state, and decision-making closer to the people, and the real they believe Congress has abetted Wall Street in the policy debates between left and right can begin. But looting of the financial system. These progressives, this time, those debates will take place where they many of them young, have been at the forefront should: in the hearing rooms of the state legislatures, of the movement toward localism in areas such as in town-hall meetings, in city council chambers, in food, urban design, and community engagement, neighborhoods and living rooms. while being globally connected through the Inter- If enough conservatives and progressives realize net—the independence and freedom of which they that they have been conditioned to view the world cherish. They are deeply suspicious of centralized through partisan lenses, and that they have been power. used by the parties to increase the power of a rul- Anti-centrocracy conservatives and progres- ing elite, we can start to turn the tide. And if these sives are natural allies in a long war to dismantle people also engage in primaries—whether as candi- centralized power. They may not agree on policies, but they can agree on who decides these policies. Both understand that the two political parties have a financial stake in keeping decision-mak- Anti-centrocracy conservatives and ing in Washington, D.C. Conservatives progressives are natural allies in a long war may speak of “federalism” while progressives speak of “local control,” but to dismantle centralized power. they are anchored in the same underlying sentiment: a desire for self-governance. Alliances can be made, and are being made. Intrepid and sophisticated warriors on both dates, funders, or local activists—we can restore self- sides are beginning to realize that policy battles are governance. stage fights, used to divide us and weaken our efforts This may sound naïve, but consider that the lead- against the centrocracy. ers of the American Revolution did not agree on A practical place for anti-centrocrats to start is by policy. Samuel Adams, Washington, Hamilton, Jef- increasing turnout in primaries, which is abysmal. In ferson, Madison, Franklin, John Adams—they had 2010, about 12 percent of the voting-age population many different visions for our new nation, and their cast ballots in Republican primaries and about 8 per- disagreements were serious and fundamental. cent did so in Democratic primaries. This is the tiny But there was consensus on one point: decisions base on which the centrocracy rests. By encourag- about America should be made in America, not in ing people to participate in primaries—voting when London. The rallying cry “No Taxation Without the decision as to who represents them is actually Representation” was not about tax policy; it was made—citizens can restore accountability and bring about governance. And on governance, on who de- the centrocracy to heel. cides, there was complete agreement—we should We are testing this thesis in the 2012 primary govern ourselves. cycle. So far our efforts have been able to materially We’ve moved away from that agreement over the increase turnout in targeted primaries. past 100 years, but the experiment in self-governance But increasing turnout is not enough: we also have is not over. It has only been interrupted.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 19 Politics

Kentucky Massiecre The Bluegrass State extends Ron Paul’s revolution—again.

by w. james antle iii

hen Thomas Massie won the Re- me one bit,” she said. For good measure, the camera publican nomination for Congress repeatedly panned to the candidate’s legs. in Kentucky’s fourth district, wags Fourth district voters were unmoved. Massie won dubbed it a second “Randslide.” Al- 45 percent of the vote to Webb-Edgington’s 30 per- Wmost alone among elected officials in the state, Sen. cent, with Gary Moore, who was favored by some so- Rand Paul supported Massie. “I don’t like anyone cial conservatives, taking another 15 percent. Dem- telling me how to vote,” Paul said in his video en- ocrats have seldom won this House seat, with the dorsement. “I make up my own mind and vote for recent exception of conservative former Rep. Ken the candidate who best supports term limits, bal- Lucas, and aren’t seriously contesting it this fall. “To anced budgets, and the Constitution.” call the Democratic candidate a gadfly is an insult to It didn’t hurt that Massie had been an early sup- gadflies,” says David Adams, a local Tea Party activ- porter of Rand Paul during the 2010 primary, or ist who managed Rand Paul’s campaign during the that he had endorsed the senator’s plan to balance GOP primary two years ago. Massie is a near-lock to the budget in five years. But Massie also enjoyed the win in November. backing of the senator’s father, Rep. Ron Paul, Utah But libertarian money certainly did play a role in Sen. Mike Lee, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, the Club the race. Liberty for All, a super PAC started by a for Growth, and Young Americans for Liberty. Mass- 21-year-old Texas college student, dropped nearly ie repeatedly invoked “the liberty movement” in his $600,000 to fund operations and television ads on victory speech. Massie’s behalf. This soon crowded out the other Some of Massie’s opponents liked to use another l- candidates’ negative ads. Even the New York Times word. Alecia Webb-Edgington, the candidate backed took notice: “With their favorite having lost the by most of Kentucky’s GOP elected officials, proudly nomination for president, [Ron] Paul’s dedicated proclaimed that she was a real Republican rather than band of youthful supporters is looking down-ballot a libertarian. (For this, columnist Jack Hunter dubbed and swarming lightly guarded Republican redoubts Webb-Edgington a “female Lindsey Graham.”) A like state party conventions in an attempt to infiltrate Facebook page in support of her campaign claimed the top echelons of the party.” The Gray Lady quoted that libertarians were trying to buy the primary at the Massie as saying of the super PAC, “They owned expense of conservatives. “We don’t need any more the airwaves, everything from the Food Channel to socialists, communists, or libertarians in the Republi- C o u r t T V.” can Party,” she told a local Lincoln Day Dinner. John Ramsey, the group’s founder, points out that he Webb-Edgington touted her law-and-order cre- is just following his supporters’ lead. “Thomas Massie dentials. Although a member of the Kentucky legisla- matches our values,” he says. “Our supporters saw an ture, her ads were just as likely to mention her service engineer and job creator in Northern Kentucky as a in the state police—even when she was talking about good candidate.” Ramsey says of his PAC, “We’re just spending cuts. In one commercial, Webb-Edgington trying to make the world a little freer.” Adams puts noted that she had pulled over child predators and other undesirables, something much tougher than W. James Antle III is associate editor of The American trimming fat from the federal budget. “After fighting Spectator and a contributing editor of The American real criminals, these guys in Washington don’t scare Conservative.

20 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Michael Hogue Michael

it a bit differently: “When opponents in a Republican judge executive in 2010 and used his position to at- primary are essentially reduced to complaining about tack government waste. the First Amendment, with 20-20 hindsight that was In 2008, many of the first Ron Paul Republicans the point when the race was over.” to win their primaries did so in Democratic districts Massie is representative of a new breed of liberty- where they had little shot of prevailing in November. minded candidate. He is a strong fiscal conservative That year four of six GOP challengers to Maryland’s who emphasizes cutting government spending and incumbent congressional Democrats were Paul sup- reducing the national debt, but he doesn’t toe the porters, but none of the incumbents were vulnerable. neoconservative line on civil liberties or foreign pol- Even B.J. Lawson, a talented candidate who ran two icy. Massie told Young Americans for Liberty that he competitive races for Congress, sought election in a opposed the Iraq War and wants to end the conflict district where the odds were stacked against him. in Afghanistan. He is against the National Defense David Weigel offered the following description of Authorization Act’s indefinite-detention provisions, such candidates: “They live either in districts where the PATRIOT Act, and the TSA. He is for auditing Democrats could hold fundraisers for the Rev. Jer- the Federal Reserve. emiah Wright and still win by landslides or those But Massie didn’t beat Republican primary vot- held comfortably by old-line Republican incum- ers over the heads by focusing inordinately on issues bents” who couldn’t be dislodged in primaries. But where he might disagree with the base. He mostly now, candidates like Massie are beginning to target let his opponents do the talking about libertarian- open seats and vulnerable incumbents in districts ism. And he isn’t just an ideologue. A Massachusetts where the Republican nomination actually means Institute of Technology graduate, Massie is accom- something. plished in the private sector. He founded a technol- “We want candidates to be in the party, in the ogy company that employed 70 people and secured district, and running in the year they can win,” says two dozen patents. Massie was elected Lewis County Preston Bates, executive director of Liberty for All.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 21 Politics

These contenders are also helped by a certain hard- are dying out in the party.” But obituaries for the ening in the mood of the Republican electorate. As Republican establishment may be premature, given recently as 2004, Arlen Specter could be competitive Mitt Romney’s relatively easy path to the GOP presi- in a GOP primary while being to the left of his party dential nomination. And the libertarian wing of the platform on a host of issues ranging from abortion party has experienced some setbacks this year. to taxes. Indeed, Lincoln Chafee was to Specter’s left In Utah, legislator Carl Wimmer—who endorsed and won a bruising Republican primary in 2006. Ron Paul for president over Romney in the heav- Over the last two years, incumbents who could ily Mormon state—lost a congressional nomination check most boxes on conservative litmus-test issues to Mia Love at the state convention. Wimmer had have started losing primaries over isolated votes in the backing of Mike Lee but unexpectedly failed to favor of bailouts. Even the perception that one is too make it to the primary. (This is partly attributable to close to the party establishment can be damaging. Trey an overzealous Wimmer supporter referring to Love, Grayson, the Kentucky Republican who lost a senate who is black, as a “novelty” candidate on the conven- nomination in the original Randslide, didn’t run as tion floor.) But he was thought to have had a decent a moderate. But he did seem comfortable with GOP chance of winning. power brokers and beneficiaries of the bank bailout. The candidacy of Evan Feinberg, a former Rand Not all of the conservative primary challengers Paul aide who challenged Pennsylvania GOP Rep. who have benefited from this trend are in the mold Tim Murphy in a primary, was a much longer shot. of Thomas Massie or Rand Paul. Many of these up- Feinberg billed himself as a “principled, conservative starts express their willingness to mix it up with the voice for western Pennsylvania” and had impeccable establishment by being equally eager for the country movement credentials: he chaired the Grove City to fight more wars. But it is certainly an opening that College Republicans, worked at the Heritage Foun- Paul-influenced Republicans are well situated to ex- dation, and was a staffer for Sen. Tom Coburn. He ploit. After all, what kind of candidates are most likely was mostly noninterventionist on foreign policy, but to have opposed TARP or to have a record criticizing his wife was an Iraq War veteran and he tended to government growth even under Republicans? “Any stress the fiscal cost of military adventurism. Mur- enemy of freedom, be they Republican or Democrat, phy nevertheless trounced Feinberg by 28 points. should be shaking in their boots,” says Ramsey. Yet the inroads being made by such candidates More important than scooping up Ron Paul dele- are undeniable. So is the strategy that tends to pro- gates to the Republican National Convention, Paulites duce success, as evidenced by Massie’s victory. Re- are descending on state and local GOP gatherings to publicans like Massie rely on libertarian activists for advance like-minded candidates. Local party leaders, fundraising and organizational muscle, putting them of whom the liberty movement can claim an increas- in a position to be competitive in the first place. But ing number, may become local elected officials; they they don’t simply bank on a money bomb or a Ron also can help swing competitive primaries. People yell- Paul endorsement being the game-changer. They ing and screaming outside the convention hall seldom campaign on local issues, they build connections have as much power to effect change as those attend- with their constituents, and they reach out to a much ing the boring meetings inside. It’s a tactic previously larger base in the party than the Paul vote, which in used in Republican politics by groups as disparate as some places is merely in the single digits. the Goldwater movement and the Christian right. The people giving Thomas Massie money care Massie’s win may have particularly important deeply about his views on the Patriot Act and formal long-term implications. With Ron Paul retiring from congressional declarations of war. But many of the Congress after November, he needs successors, and Kentuckians voting for Massie were more interested the small band of constitutional conservatives in the in how he saved money for Lewis County taxpayers House needs reinforcements. Barring a successful by canceling a bogus contract: the county had been primary challenge against him, Massie could poten- paying to rent land from a company that had actually tially hold his northern Kentucky House seat for as sold it 20 years ago. Massie put an end to it. “Voters long as he wants it. And with Rand Paul possibly har- were looking for someone they could really trust to boring national ambitions, it gives both men room to be for small government,” says Adams. “Not just the move up without setting back the movement. rhetoric, but to actually mean it.” “The liberty movement is succeeding in over- It’s a delicate balance. If Massie didn’t hold strict throwing the Republican establishment,” Bates says constitutionalist positions on foreign policy and confidently. “The Karl Rove fear-and-smear types civil liberties, he might not have raised the funds he

22 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 needed to win. But neither would he have won if he benefactors. His office practices good constituent ser- simply ranted and raved about the Fed in his inter- vices, and he does the things a politician needs to do actions with local voters. He found an intersection to win local elections. The result has been a successful of politics and principle that often escapes Ron Paul congressional career pushing an anti-statist message, Republicans and establishment types alike. capped by two national campaigns that have given his There’s a precedent for what Massie is doing: Ron ideas a wider audience than ever before. Paul himself. Paul has held a House seat for 12 terms, None of this would be a bad thing for a new leg- winning election to Congress three times as a non- islator like Thomas Massie to aspire to. “It’s like the incumbent, by hewing to a similar strategy. He raises first shot in a war,” Adams argues. “It may not be very money from a national libertarian donor base that is loud, but look at what it starts.” Massie’s supporters attracted to him mainly because of his differences with hope that what started as a Randslide can continue the rest of the party. But Congressman Paul reflects lo- with a “Massie-cre.” And it may show that the Paul cal social mores rather than those of his libertarian movement is no longer just a family affair.

OLD and RIGHT

nflation destroys no property—no real wealth. In- United States senators and representatives are stead it causes a process whereby real values, land, elected by citizens who, in the aggregate, are paying and productive assets of all kinds gravitate into the highest taxes in the world. Is it fair or reasonable to Ithe hands of those who understand what is happen- expect these taxpayers to tighten their belts so that gi- ing and can get bank credit. A few grow rich while gantic spending overseas is offset by penny-pinching many grow poor. economy at home? Those who invest in forms of cash have a uniform Evidently congressmen do not think so. Again and fate. They all get poor. Inflation is redistribution of again they will explain their loose-spending votes by wealth with a vengeance—because the humble and saying in effect, “If we can send billions overseas to innocent folks who trust their government and hold help the Hottentots, we can afford to spend adequate its promises to pay take the worst beating. funds for our own people’s wants.” The ballot-box log- Certainly the day will come when the consequenc- ic of this conclusion is certainly inescapable. es of inflation will have hurt enough people to make There is no reward in military life for the advocate massive resistance possible. But as of now, as a nation, of economy or retrenchment. Pressures for larger we are like a bunch of inexperienced innocents who spending are automatic. With Sputnik and other mis- have made some easy money speculating. sile developments, the climate of fear that breeds un- The gambling experience has been exhilarating and restrained spending has become almost irresistible. superficially invigorating. High wages, increased divi- Those who would cut back military expenditures, dends, big cars, lush homes—“Why,” says the average even those in departments largely outmoded by citizen, “we never had it so good!” and he adds with a atomic and missile developments, face the open or co- threat in his voice, “Don’t try to take it away from us, vert charge of playing into Moscow’s hands. if you know what’s good for you.” Moreover, so long as we try to police the world, That threat is involved in the first of the major forc- there seems no feasible way to bring this spending es driving us toward inflation. under civilian control where it belongs. Likewise, the Bipartisan foreign policy has made military, eco- giant size of military orders, repeated year after year nomic, and political commitments all over the world, since 1940, has made their continuance vital for many commitments that are immeasurable in terms of American firms. money, men, and resources. The result is that the Today overall military expenditures are running at United States Treasury is financing part of the budgets a rate not too far from a billion dollars a week. All mil- of most of the non-Communist governments of the itary spending is waste, a necessary waste to the extent world, and even contributing hundreds of millions to required to defend our land, but an inflationary force Communist governments. leading toward communism in the exact amount that How does this policy affect inflation in America? this is spent beyond that required to defend America. The answer is found in another question. Can an elective government play Santa Claus to a multitude —Howard Buffett, of foreign nations and be Old Scrooge at home? “Inflation and Economic Survival,” 1958

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 23 Strategy

Neighborhood Watch If we don’t police the Islamic world, who can?

by william w. chip

efore my son’s first trip to Buenos Aires, “Middle East” is actually a misnomer for the belt of several Argentine acquaintances emailed countries across North Africa and Southern Asia that him advice about the best places to visit in are the homelands of Islamic terrorism and present the that lovely city. Every message ended with geopolitical threat that instigated our nation-building Ba warning to stick to the neighborhoods frequented enterprises in Iraq and Afghanistan. This “Islamic by tourists. Although most folks in other neighbor- Belt” includes Iran in the center, the Arab countries to hoods would be harmless, and only a few dangerous, the west, and the “stans” (Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.) as a foreigner he would not be able to tell the differ- to the east. For the past three decades, the Islamic Belt ence. has been the world’s most dangerous neighborhood, A growing majority of Americans, Republicans in- home to political upheaval, internecine violence, and cluded, are beginning to feel that way about the neigh- suicide bombers. borhood we call the Middle East. An April Pew poll Notwithstanding widespread disillusionment with found that 59 percent of Americans, including 48 per- the Bush administration’s game plan for the region, no cent of Mitt Romney supporters, favored withdrawing one at either end of the political spectrum has articu- U.S. troops from Afghanistan “as soon as possible.” lated a comprehensible alternative. President Obama The month before, a majority of both Democrats and has underscored his distaste for the mess he inherited Republicans surveyed told Pew that the United States by announcing a “pivot to the East.” But to imply a had no responsibility to stop the slaughter of civilian more modest role for the United States in Islamic Belt protesters in Syria. affairs without redefining that role is an empty ges- The public’s frustration is understandable. Over ture. eight years of operations in Iraq, the United States suf- There is no more coherence on the president’s right. fered nearly 5,000 military fatalities and spent nearly During the GOP presidential primaries, Rep. Ron $800 billion to take down the country’s Sunni dictator Paul as usual offered the most acute understanding of and suppress the ensuing Sunni insurgency, only to the predicament, along with the most simplistic so- have the successor Shi’ite government eject our troops lution, jumping from candid insights—how our zest from the bases we had planned to keep, turning into a for democracy withers when the likes of Hamas or white elephant our $750 million “mother of all embas- Ahmadinejad win an election—to naïve proposals “to sies” in Baghdad. bring our troops home” not just from the Middle East After 11 years (and counting) in Afghanistan, with but from everywhere. nearly 2,000 military fatalities and almost half a tril- Senator Santorum and Speaker Gingrich, mean- lion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money spent, we must while, competed with Benjamin Netanyahu in their bear reports of our officers being gunned down by zeal to confront the Iranians, Santorum threatening Afghan soldiers and police and of pallet-loads of hun- airstrikes and Gingrich proposing to “take out their dred-dollar bills being whisked away through the Ka- scientists.” Governor Romney promised to double bul airport. Having spent so much money and lost so down on our Islamic Belt commitments, writing in many troops in both countries, we are left to wonder the Washington Post that he would deal with Iran whether these sacrifices, far from winning friends and by “restoring the regular presence of aircraft carrier allies, have simply nurtured a new generation of foes in the Middle East. William W. Chip is an international lawyer in Washington, D.C.

24 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 groups in the Eastern Mediterra- nean and the Persian Gulf region simultaneously” and “increasing military assistance to Israel.” Is there a principled yet realistic—which is to say, conservative— middle ground between Paul’s strict noninterventionism and Iraq redux? I think so, but before taking a new direction, we must ask why we became entangled in the Islamic Belt in the first place. We did not stumble there unawares: our entry was deliberate, in three discrete steps, based on explicit rationales that may or may not remain relevant today. Step 1: The Cold War. During the 1950s, the Northern Hemi- sphere divided itself into two heavily armed camps, the democratic, free-market West, led by the United States, and the Communist bloc, led by the Soviet Union. For the next half-century every “non- Michael Hogue Michael aligned” nation outside the two camps was potentially a target for Soviet expansion or a brick in the wall of containment. Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution Eastern Province appeared to be next on Saddam’s hit was a “loss,” Anwar Sadat’s reversal of Egypt’s Nasser- list—cemented our relationship with the Gulf States, ite Soviet alignment was a “win,” and we had to play which proceeded to buy more of our weapons and the game everywhere, including in the Islamic Belt. to provide basing rights for our overseas forces. Un- Step 2: The Oil Crisis. In the 1970s, the belligerent fortunately, one upper-class Saudi, Osama bin Laden, mindset of the Cold War, shaken by our defeat in was so incensed by our infidel army’s presence in the Vietnam, gained a new lease on life when the Arab Islamic heartland that a decade later he mobilized members of OPEC imposed an escalating oil embargo his al-Qaeda organization to launch the 9/11 attacks. aimed at punishing America for supporting Israel in Jockeying for influence among nation states may have the Yom Kippur War. While we had been obsessing been the right response to the threats posed by the So- about the string of Communist advances after the fall viet Union and OPEC, but al-Qaeda was not a state, of Saigon, our dependence on Arab oil had risen to a and 9/11 called for a different strategy. The one em- level that empowered a handful of otherwise impo- braced by the neoconservatives who held the upper tent Middle Eastern states to bring our economy to hand in the Bush administration’s foreign policy was its knees. The opportunity to redirect our geopoliti- to take down and rebuild the political and social insti- cal energies came in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, tutions that nurtured terrorism in the first place. The giving Saddam Hussein control of more Middle East- War on Terror became a crusade. ern oil than anyone other than Saudi Arabia. Accord- ing to then-Secretary of State Jim Baker, the reason ur ascent to captaincy of the Islamic Belt’s “Neigh- for America rescuing Kuwait was “jobs, jobs, jobs,” Oborhood Watch” evolved over these three distinct by which he meant “oil, oil, oil.” The Arab states were periods with three distinct motives. Given widespread now more than pawns in the Cold War; they posed disillusionment with the role we now play, it is fair to a direct economic threat that needed to be managed. ask whether those motives, assuming they were valid Step 3: The War on Terror. Our successful defense in the first place, are sufficient in 2012 to warrant -con of Kuwait—and incidentally of Saudi Arabia, whose tinuing our present policies. I think they are not.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 25 Strategy

The Cold War is long over, and there is no longer any Europe, in contrast, has a much larger and less way in which our security hinges on whether one or assimilated Muslim population, including many even many Islamic Belt states align with Russia or any poorly-educated illegal immigrants. European Is- other country. To the contrary, the only great power lamists, unlike their American counterparts, seem to that holds itself out as our rival is China, and replay- have enough encouragement and support within their ing the Cold War with the Chinese—surrounding them own communities to organize cells and plan violence with our bases, fleets, and client states—does not en- against buses, trains, and subways. hance our security. It exacerbates the risk of a war that Russia, China, and India face even graver risks. we could not possibly win. (Call it paranoia, but accord- Their Muslim populations are not recent immigrants; ing to Wang Jisi, dean of Peking University’s School of they are native separatists who aim to tear apart the International Studies, China’s leaders view the United states in which they reside. In 2004, Islamic separatists States as a declining power that lands “on the wrong from Chechnya massacred 334 Russian hostages, inside of history” by fighting to disrupt the rise of Chi- cluding 186 school children, in Russia’s North Ossetia nese economic and military might.) province. In 2005, the so-called Islamic Revolution- If enormous expenditures on Islamic Belt nation- ary Front claimed responsibility for bomb blasts that building and base-construction are no longer needed killed 62 people in Delhi, India’s second largest city. In to maintain the balance of power against Russia or 2009, rioting by Muslims in China’s Xinjian Uyghur any other geopolitical rival, can these costs neverthe- Autonomous Region left at least 192 people dead. less be justified by our dependence on foreign oil and The Islamic Belt’s closest neighbors possess the our exposure to Islamic terrorism? Again, I think not. means as well as the motives for keeping the region The Islamic Belt is surrounded by some pretty tough under control. Although India, China, and Russia all neighbors—Russia to the north, China to the east, suffer widespread poverty, they are economic super- India to the south, and Europe (including Turkey) to powers in comparison to any combination of Islamic Belt economies. According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product of the entire Middle East is less than $1.1 trillion, Islamism has been far more of a danger to the compared to $1.5 trillion for Russia, $1.7 Islamic Belt’s next-door neighbors than to us. trillion for India, nearly $6.0 trillion for China, and more than $16 trillion for the European Union. Each of these neighbors, moreover, is armed with nuclear weapons. the west—and these neighbors have far more at stake The Federation of American Scientists estimates that than the United States. India has almost 100, China has over 200, Europe has Except for Russia, which exports oil and gas, each of over 500, and Russia has at least 10,000. these neighbors is more dependent on Arab and Irani- an oil than the United States is. Europe relies on Arab/ iven the economic strength and military might Iranian oil for 12 percent of its domestic needs, China Gof Europe, India, Russia, and China, their much for 25 percent, and India for a whopping 40 percent. greater dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and their The United States, in contrast, relies on imports from much greater exposure to Islamic terrorism, we the Middle East for only 7 percent of its oil consump- should ask ourselves why imposing order on their tion. In fact, thanks to hydraulic fracturing and other dangerous neighborhood is a task for us rather than new extraction technologies, the United States will for them. Europe, perhaps, may be too disunited and soon be able to dispense with Arab oil altogether. delicate to play the tough cop, but we can be sure that Terrorism sponsored or nurtured within the Islam- Russia, India, and China will be ruthless in respond- ic Belt may remain a threat for decades. But Islamism ing to economic and military threats. And we should has been far more of a danger to the Islamic Belt’s not overlook Turkey. While not a nuclear power, it next-door neighbors than to us. The United States has is mightier than any other Islamic Belt state. It has a relatively small population of Muslim immigrants, shown some willingness to help put a lid on the vio- most of whom came legally and are middle class. The lence in Syria, and the role it plays in that unfolding perpetrators of 9/11 were all nonimmigrant aliens, drama may position the country for a broader re- most of whom would have been kept out or kicked gional peacekeeping role. out if the government had troubled itself to enforce Notwithstanding their grumblings about U.S. inter- the immigration laws. ventionism, these regional powers find it convenient

26 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 to leave the dirty work of policing the Islamic Belt to While I view as wishful thinking his proposals on Uncle Sam, as opposed to collaborating with each oth- many topics, in framing the issue of U.S. policy towards er to maintain regional stability, which would not be the Islamic Belt, no one says it better than Ron Paul: easy given their arbitrary internal politics and quar- “The smartest thing we could do is admit we don’t rels with each other. The United States is still so im- know all the answers to all the world’s problems ... . mensely powerful that our machinations in the Islam- Other nations around the world find our interference ic Belt are of greater interest to the neighbors than the in their affairs condescending, and it is very dangerous local events we are trying to manipulate. Russia, for for us. We may think we have much to gain by inserting example, appears to be more concerned about the im- ourselves in these complex situations, but on the con- plications of U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war trary we suffer from many consequences... ” than about the outcome of that war. Were the United Nobody asked us to become captain of the Islamic States to step back, these powers might focus more on Belt’s neighborhood watch; we are free to resign when- the need for regional stability than on the need to re- ever it suits us. The time has come to let the neighbors sist U.S. hegemony. watch the neighborhood.

DEEPBACKGROUND by PHILIP GIRALDI

he intelligence community is giving the ment through so-called “backdoors,” but the bureau Obama White House some serious pushback is also threatening to push new legislation through Tover Syria. A not-yet-completed National Congress if the industry continues to resist. Intelligence Estimate on the Syrian situation is Currently the bureau can exploit provisions stalled in a familiar limbo between Langley and the of the Patriot Act to obtain records of Internet White House because the report does not support transmissions, but it must support the demand administration representations of what is taking with a National Security Letter or a subpoena. place. It paints a bleak picture of post-Assad Syria Every computer has an individual and distinctive IP and reveals that the Free Syria Army is much smaller address, which is how the information is requested, than it claims to be, that its leadership has been infil- targeting the machine rather than the owner. trated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and that many But a protocol change in the computer address insurgents have a demonstrated radical agenda. system that went into effect June 6 increases the Most damaging of all, the report cites extensive number of possible IP addresses a thousandfold information derived from technical intelligence to while bundling them in a fashion that has made make the case that many of the deliberate massa- identification of individual addresses more difficult. cres of Syrian civilians can be attributed to militants Thousands of computers will now work from the rather than to the government of Bashar al-Assad. same basic address, like old party-line telephones, It seems that the rebels have not been careful when and law-enforcement requests for information will speaking over cell phones about what they have require many more details of date, time, and place been up to. to identify an individual account, information that is difficult to retain because of storage capacity number of Internet service providers, tech limitations and privacy concerns. Ready access to Acompanies, and social networks are refusing numerous bundled new addresses also means that to permit the FBI unlimited access to email ac- suspects can more easily exploit multiple addresses. counts and other electronic traffic records due to The FBI is warning that its ability to access commu- concerns about subscriber lawsuits over invasions nications is being technically eroded and its capabil- of privacy resulting from illegal searches. Under ity might eventually “go dark,” but the real issue is current legislation, telephone service providers how to regulate law-enforcement access to personal must allow law-enforcement to access communica- information to avoid searches that have no terrorism tions, but the legislation does not cover Internet or criminal connection. The overwhelming majority and Internet-based systems, which are becoming of FBI teltaps are in fact exploratory, not related to more numerous than conventional phone networks. any actual or impending illegal act. The FBI is seeking voluntary compliance from the companies, asking them to modify their codes and Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is executive director security systems to provide access for law enforce- of the Council for the National Interest.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 27 Asia

No War for Manila America risks conflict with China for a feeble ally.

by doug bandow

he Philippines is counting on America to rio told the New York Times that his nation wanted defend its territorial claims against China. a peaceful solution, but warned, “If the Philippines is This brings to mind the German army of- challenged, we are prepared to secure our sovereign- ficer who, upon witnessing military maneu- ty.” Manila eventually withdrew a couple of its ships, Tvers by his country’s principal ally, Austria-Hungary, reducing tensions. remarked: “My god, we are allied with a corpse.” But the controversy runs deeper than a single con- The U.S.-Philippines relationship goes back more frontation over a fishing trip. Based on dubious his- than a century. Washington acquired the islands as torical grounds, Beijing has made extensive territorial war booty after defeating Spain in 1898. But Filipi- claims in the South China Sea involving the Spratly no independence fighters were not about to accept and Paracel Islands, parts or all of which also are a switch in colonial overlords easily, so three years claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and of brutal guerrilla warfare ensued, in which at least the Philippines. In May, the PRC proclaimed a ban on 200,000 noncombatants died. Washington did not fishing in the South China Sea, including the waters grant the territory formal independence until 1946, around Scarborough Shoal, and detained Vietnamese after reclaiming the islands from Imperial Japan. fishermen whom it accused of illegally fishing near The Philippines long has been the sick man of East the Paracel Islands. Asia. Its democracy is almost feudal, with bouts of Manila’s arguments for control of the region’s tiny military interference. The Filipino economy, while islets are not much better than China’s: the Philippines growing, remains bureaucratic, inefficient, and cor- did not formally claim Scarborough Shoal until 1978. rupt. Manila’s military strength is marginal. Despite Three years ago, Vietnam as well as China protested years of U.S. assistance to the government, Islamic when the Philippines passed new legislation defining insurgencies in the nation’s south continue to smolder. its maritime boundary to include the Spratlys. Yet this spring the Philippines played a danger- The specks of land matter less than the fishing ous game with China over control of islands in the grounds and, more importantly, gas and oil deposits South China Sea. When eight Chinese fishing vessels conferred by ownership of the islands. Leszek Buszyn- entered disputed waters near Scarborough Shoal in ski, a visiting fellow at the Australian National Univer- April, Filipino warships attempted to arrest the crews. sity’s Strategic and Defense Studies Centre, notes in Beijing sent surveillance vessels in response, sparking The Washington Quarterly, “Had the issue remained a lengthy standoff. strictly a territorial one, it could have been resolved Beijing suspended tours to the Philippines and through Chinese efforts to reach out to ASEAN and slowed agriculture imports from the country. China forge stronger ties with the region.” But recently every Daily, an official mouthpiece, declared, “No matter claimant has been more inclined to assert sovereignty how willing we are to discuss the issue, the current forcefully, with an eye to taking the underlying and Philippine leadership is intent on pressing us into a surrounding resources. corner where there is no option left but the use of It is in Washington’s interest to have friends rather arms.” A brief war scare erupted when rumors circu- lated of Chinese military mobilization. Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosa- former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

28 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 than China—a growing geopolitical competitor— the hawkish Heritage Foundation admits, in a recent managing these new energy sources. Yet markets brief, “It would be folly for the U.S. to cast its support would prevail irrespective of ownership: even if the for the disputed territorial claims of any party, even Philippines ended up in charge of the oil and gas de- that of an ally.” posits, Manila would sell to Americans only if they When previously pressed by Manila, the U.S. in- paid full price. At the margin, it is better that an dicated that its defense promise only extended to the American ally controls the resources, but the benefit original territory acquired from Spain. Nevertheless, isn’t substantial. Washington acts as enabler for the Philippines’ chal- Yet Washington’s alliance with the Philippines could lenges to China. An April “Ministerial Dialogue” in lead to a war with China. The U.S. risks being sucked Washington between Hillary Clinton, Secretary of into what Benjamin Carlson of the Global Post calls Defense Leon Panetta and their Philippines coun- a “toxic brew of jingoism, nationalism, and disputed terparts—Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario and territory.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has even Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin—affirmed the referred to the South China Sea as the West Philippine two nations’ “shared obligations under the Mutual Sea, a name used only by Manila. Defense Treaty and our mutual commitment to the The Cold War relationship between America and peace and security of the region,” without spelling out the Philippines was close, but Subic Bay and Clark those duties. Airfield closed in 1992. A decade later President George W. Bush sent Special Forces, later backed by drones, to aid Manila’s long- raging battle against Muslim in- U.S. credibility would be on the line in any military surgents. Over the last decade, confrontation between Manila and Beijing. the U.S. has given Manila more than $500 million in aid, and this spring Washington promised to up military assistance for the year to $30 million, double what was initially planned. The Obama administration gave the Manila has taken an aggressive tack, asserting that Philippines a cutter last fall, plans to provide a second America has an obligation to defend the Philippines ship this fall, and has assisted Manila in developing its regardless of how or why conflict breaks out. Agence “Coast Watch” radar system. American and Filipino France-Presse reports Gazmin as saying that the military forces regularly conduct joint war games, treaty covers “armed attack … [on] island territories most recently in April. in the Pacific.” And Gazmin interprets comments by Under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between Secretary Clinton on the Scarborough Shoal contro- Washington and Manila, “Each Party recognizes an versy—“We oppose the threat or use of force by any armed attack in the Pacific Area on either of the Par- party to advance its claims”—to mean that America’s ties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety guarantee would “cover our problem in the West and declares that it would act to meet the common Philippine Sea.” The Philippine Star reports that after dangers in accordance with its constitutional process- visiting Washington in late May, Guzmin asserted, es.” At the time, the U.S. was mostly concerned about “Without a deterrent force, we can be easily pushed the Soviet Union, while Manila worried more over a around.” But “now that we have a good neighbor on revived Japan. the block, we can no longer be bullied.” China is ambitious but has demonstrated no inter- The pact between the two countries explicitly cov- est in global military competition with America. Even ers any attack on Manila’s “armed forces, public ves- in East Asia, Beijing seeks influence, not conquest. sels or aircraft in the Pacific.” In 1979, the Carter ad- The PRC’s extensive claims at sea appear to be animat- ministration reaffirmed this commitment. While the ed by a combination of nationalism and mercantilism, defense treaty is not self-enforcing—each party mere- not colonialism. If Beijing’s pretensions seem exces- ly promises to see such an attack as “dangerous to its sive, so do those of its neighbors. And China appears own peace and safety” and pledges to “act to meet the no more desirous of war than anyone else. common dangers”—U.S. credibility would be on the So far Washington has avoided expressly backing line in any military confrontation between Manila Manila’s territorial claims. Even Walter Lohman of and Beijing.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 29 Asia

Although Manila emphasizes that it isn’t consider- owns particular islands and shards of land is of little ing reestablishing U.S. bases, del Rosario was quot- consequence to America. The dueling claims in the ed by Reuters as saying, “As part of building up our South China Sea risk inadvertent conflict: everyone is minimum credible defense posture, we would like the throwing sharp elbows hoping everyone else will back Americans to come more often.” Indeed, “Let’s have away. Chinese and Japanese vessels already have had these joint training exercises more frequently and on physical contact. Worse may follow from bad or inad- a bigger scale. As many times as we can, in different equate instructions to individual ship captains. places if we can, that’s the objective of the exercise.” Washington might hope to deter Chinese adven- The Ministerial Dialogue reaffirmed last year’s turism by sprinkling security guarantees throughout Manila Declaration, which pledges both sides to “en- the region. But Manila’s confidence that the U.S. will hance the defense, interdiction, and apprehension ca- ride to its rescue only makes the Philippines’ gov- pabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” But ernment more likely to take risks. Similar behavior relying on Washington, the Philippines has shirked has been seen from Chen Shui-bian’s Taiwan and investing in its own forces. Manila’s military is small, Mikhail Saakashvili’s Georgia, two states that in re- its capabilities derisory. The Philippines’ defense pri- cent years provoked China and Russia, respectively, orities have always emphasized the army, given the in expectation of American support. In the South country’s internal security problems. The navy and air China Sea, the result threatens to be a cycle toward force have languished for decades. The navy’s flagship war: the Philippines acts aggressively, Beijing re- is a 46-year-old American cast-off. sponds with greater force to dissuade U.S. involve- Defense spending is anemic, less than 1 percent ment, Washington then feels pressure to intervene of GDP. The International Institute for Strategic lest its credibility suffer. Studies reports that since America’s withdrawal And territorial disputes in the region will only be from the country in 1992, “perennially low defense harder to resolve if they are tied to other U.S.-China budgets have thwarted efforts to develop any signif- disagreements. If the South China Sea becomes an in- icant capability for conventional warfighting or de- tegral part of the strategic rivalry between Washing- terrence.” President Aquino’s promise to strengthen ton and Beijing, the PRC will fear that a reasonable the military has so far yielded no results. Naturally, settlement with individual nations or ASEAN could the Philippines wants America to provide more be perceived as a U.S. victory. China may instead de- equipment, including aircraft. Manila also has been cide that it must accompany its expanding naval ca- panhandling for aid among Australia, Japan, and pabilities and deployments with more assertive terri- South Korea. torial claims and foreign-policy objectives as a test of Unfortunately, U.S. charity only reduces the pres- American power and resolve. sure on the Philippines to adopt serious reforms and The most effective means to increase China’s will- contribute substantial resources to its own defense. ingness to negotiate is for the Philippines and other After another Filipino-Chinese naval confrontation interested states to strengthen their own military last year, President Aquino promised the military an capabilities and political cooperation with one an- extra $255 million. But even that amount won’t go other. Filipino economic growth appears to be ac- very far in creating an effective navy and air force. celerating, which will provide greater resources for Washington should not readopt the Philippines the military, but Manila needs an incentive to in- as a client state. America’s principal interest in the vest more significantly in defense. Most of the other South China Sea is maintaining freedom of naviga- countries interested in the South China Sea—India, tion. Washington can firmly assert free-transit rights Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, in bilateral discussions and international forums, and and South Korea—are buying submarines and other through U.S. naval movements. Washington should weapons. Although none of these nations wants to indeed work with the Philippines and its neighbors to take on China alone, collectively they could con- keep the sea lanes free: India, too, has reason to co- strain Beijing’s claims. operate with America in this regard. New Delhi has But that won’t happen if the U.S. continues to re- rejected expansive Chinese territorial claims, plans to lieve friends like the Philippines of responsibility for help train Vietnamese submariners, and is involved their own defense. The worst policy for Washington in Vietnamese energy exploration near the Paracel Is- would be, like Wilhelmine Germany, to ally with a lands. Manila ought to be working more closely with geopolitical corpse. Washington should not give Ma- these neighbors as well. nila the power to drag America to the brink of war As long as free transit is protected, which country with China.

30 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Economics

Austerity’s Prophets How Friedrich Hayek eclipsed J.M. Keynes and Milton Friedman

by MARK SKOUSEN

usterity” has become the watchword QE2), a duplicitous name for printing money, and of the year. Governors, prime minis- adopted a zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). He was “ ters, and presidents around the world convinced that Friedman would be smiling down are talking about cutting welfare ben- from the Pearly Gates. efits,A curtailing public union power, and reducing Maybe he’s right about that—or half-right. Last deficits. We’ve over-promised at the public trough, month on the London Underground I ran into Paul and now we must pay the price. Whoever is elected Krugman, last of the old “crude” Keynesian breed. president in November is going to face the need to He was in the city to promote his book, End This De- retrench. pression Now! For the next half hour, we debated the Yet only one school of economic thought, that of causes and cures of the Great Recession. Krugman Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, predicted insisted that we need to double or triple the deficit— and prescribed austerity before the Great Recession. but only in the short run. “We must eventually adopt More prominent branches of free-market econom- austerity.” He paraphrased St. Augustine: “Give me ics, no less than the spendthrift left, have been slow to austerity, but not yet.” realize that neither fiscal nor monetary stimulus can I asked him if there was anyone equal to him in cure what ails the West. As the psalmist says, “The debate. He couldn’t think of anyone, so I suggested rejected stone has become the chief cornerstone.” Milton Friedman—a safe bet because Friedman died Nobody in power was talking austerity in 2008, in late 2006. Krugman nodded reverently, but insist- when the financial crisis hit. Big government and ed, “If Milton Friedman were alive today, he would its patron saint, John Maynard Keynes, were in the be anathema to the Tea Party Republicans because saddle, with Republicans and Democrats falling over he would have favored easy money to end this crisis.” each other to run up deficits and pass the Troubled “But not TARP and the deficits,” I replied. Krug- Asset Relief Program. Keynes’s biographer, Robert man sheepishly nodded. Friedman was convinced Skidelsky, came out with a bestseller, The Return of by the empirical data that fiscal activism—deficit the Master. spending—was unnecessary and even counterpro- The monetarists, meanwhile, students of Milton ductive. Monetary policy could do all the heavy lift- Friedman and the Chicago school of economics, ing. British monetarist Tim Congdon confirms this. were extravagant in their own way. The Federal Re- In his excellent and underappreciated work Money serve’s Ben Bernanke had told Friedman on his 90th in the Free Economy, Congdon cites Friedman’s deni- birthday, in 2002, “You’re right, we did it”—causing gration of fiscal policy: “A deficit is not stimulating the Great Depression by allowing the money supply because it has to be financed, and the negative effects to collapse—“We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we of financing it counterbalance the positive effects, if won’t do it again.” Yet what was the monetarist re- there are any, of spending.” sponse to the crisis? Massive government expenditures and deficits Central bankers and professors of money and during World War II appeared to get us out of the banking answered as one: Inject liquidity! Cut interest rates! Over the next two years, Bernanke insti- Mark Skousen is editor of Forecasts & Strategies and the tuted two rounds of “quantitative easing” (QE1 and producer of www.freedomfest.com.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 31 Economics

Great Depression. But wait—Friedman was quick to regulation (including Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd- point out that monetary policy was also activist: M2 Frank); an anti-saving, debt-ridden consumer soci- grew at a 20 percent annualized clip from 1940-45. ety; deteriorating public infrastructure; economic In another famous example, the Kennedy-Johnson stagnation; and a stop-start market on Wall Street. tax cut of 1964 engineered by the Keynesians ap- Political leaders around the world are looking for a peared to be stimulative. But wait—monetary policy new model with which to restore prosperity and eco- was also expansionary during this time. nomic stability. Congdon, following Friedman’s lead, looks at nat- What about the supply-siders? Tax cuts play a role ural experiments where fiscal and monetary policy in encouraging economic growth, but in an age of moved in opposite directions to see which one dom- rising deficits legislators are reluctant to slash rates inated. Monetary policy won out in almost every aggressively. Supply-siders blundered in the past case. He observes that in 1981 the Thatcher govern- decade by repeatedly contending that “deficits don’t ment in Great Britain raised taxes by £4 billion in matter” and assuming that we could grow our way a recession, while adopting expansionary monetary out. Unfortunately, without constitutional restric- policy. Three-hundred and sixty-four Keynesian tions on government spending, increased revenues economists signed a statement in The Timesdecry - from more efficient tax policies simply lead to more ing the move and predicting economic collapse. Yet spending without solving the deficit problem. the economy roared. Why? Because monetary policy was liberal at the time, offsetting fiscal austerity. here is only one school that consistently defends Congdon concludes: “Contrary to a large number of Tthe classical model of fiscal and monetary re- textbooks, the size of the government’s budget deficit sponsibility as established by Adam Smith in The is by itself not necessarily of any importance to ag- Wealth of Nations. And that is the school of austerity, gregate demand.” led by the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises If he were alive, Friedman would not be surprised and Friedrich Hayek—whom Krugman laughingly that trillion-dollar deficits have had little impact in calls the “Austerians.” But nobody is laughing any- stimulating the U.S. economy. What government more. gives, private business takes away. Despite record Who is the anointed economist of austerity? The profits and historically low interest rates, corpora- leading theoretician appears to be Friedrich Hayek. tions are holding back on spending and hiring be- Who would have thought that the austere Hayek cause of the uncertainty caused by wasteful govern- would make a comeback after the financial crisis of ment spending. 2008? He is the only Austrian to have won the Nobel Prize in economics, but until now his reputation has languished in the shade of Milton Who would have thought that the austere Friedman’s sun. Perhaps the best example of Hayek’s Hayek would make a comeback after resurrection is a bestselling book by Brit- the financial crisis of 2008? ish economist Nicholas Wapshott, Keynes- Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Eco- nomics. Even a popular rap song, “Fear the Boom and Bust,” has come out of the debate The deficits have run their course without suc- between Keynes and Hayek. (Google “Keynes Hayek” cess, leaving us with mounds of debt and interest and it’s the first result to pop up.) The rap song is the payments. Monetary easing, Friedman would agree, brainchild of musician John Papola and George Ma- is the only game in town. But even easy money is son University economics professor Russ Roberts. It’s not having the effect it once did. Mises said it best: a favorite way on campuses to explain the ideological “We have outlived the short run, and are now suffer- divide in macroeconomics. ing from the long-run consequences of [Keynesian- Why isn’t Milton Friedman the nemesis of Keynes- monetarist] economics.” ian economics? Because during a crisis, he is not a The Great Recession is in its fourth year, and the classical economist. While he opposed fiscal stimulus, legacy of big-government macroeconomics is long he advocated easy money to keep the economy from indeed—unsustainable and chronic deficit spending; collapsing. Hayek and his mentor Mises are the real permanent easy money; excessive dependence on the enemies of big government. Hard-core Austrians are welfare state (with 46 million on food stamps); over- true believers in the classical model of fiscal and mon-

32 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 etary restraint, even during a Great Recession. cidentally, the Austrians are the only school of eco- The first debate between Keynes and Hayek took nomics today that defends the classical model of the place in the 1930s and is recounted in Wapshott’s gold standard.) book and in chapter 12 of my own Making of Mod- Until the 2008 crisis, the Keynesians and monetar- ern Economics. Hayek, then teaching at the London ists were unconcerned about asset bubbles. A bear School of Economics, opposed Keynes’s prescrip- market in housing prices or high-tech stocks would, tion of deficit spending and easy money to get out of they thought, only have a marginal impact on the the Great Depression. Hayek defended the classical global economy and could easily be countered by deft “Treasury” view that governments, like the private monetary stimulus. The market recovered from the sector, should cut costs and prudently live within 1988-90 real estate bust and from the 2001-2002 dot- their means even during downturns. He excoriated com stock-market collapse without a global melt- easy money as well, which he said would only make down, for example. matters worse. If the central bank had any legitimate The real-estate/mortgage bust of 2008 changed all role, it was as a lender of last resort—but along the that, and suddenly the focus shifted to the only school lines described by Walter Bagehot, who advocated that argued all along that “asset bubbles” had macro- in Lombard Street (1873) that the central bank lend economic effects: the Austrians. Since then, the Aus- money to troubled banks at higher, not lower, inter- trians and their primary advocate, Friedrich Hayek, est rates. have been in the limelight, popularized by financial The Great Depression was so deep and long that gurus like Peter Schiff and political figures like Ron eventually Keynes won the debate, at least in the Paul. Management theorist Peter Drucker once pre- minds of policy-makers. Hayek fell into obscurity dicted that the “next economics” would have to come and turned to political writing, producing his best- from the “supply side, productive sector,” by which he selling Road to Serfdom (1944) and The Constitu- meant the Austrians. He had in mind Joseph Schum- tion of Liberty (1960). After Hayek shared the 1974 peter of “creative destruction” fame, but Hayek will do. Nobel Prize in economics with socialist Gunnar Myrdal amid the inflationary stagnation of that n May, I visited Poland for the first time to give a decade, interest in his economic thinking rose, but Iseries of lectures on Austrian economics. Most of he still played a smaller role on stage than Milton my books have been translated into Polish, thanks Friedman—who won the Nobel in 1976—and the to energetic publisher Jan Fijor. My lectures were supply-siders. packed with business leaders, academics, and stu- Hayek, building on the original work of Ludwig dents who had an insatiable interest in Austrian eco- von Mises, developed a macro model of the econ- nomics and finance. omy and the Austrian theory of the business cycle. Eastern Europe, in particular, is taking a Viennese Austrian macroeconomics is a sophisticated im- waltz down the economy. Leaders there are focused provement in the classical model, while Keynesian on adopting sound monetary and fiscal policies along macroeconomics seeks to demolish the House that the classical/Austrian lines. The supply-side flat tax Adam Smith built. movement is also popular. Hayek and the Austrians contend that easy-money Right now Estonia is in the limelight because it’s policies—expanding the fiat money supply and artifi- the fastest-growing economy in the region, expand- cially lowering interest rates below the natural rate— ing at a 7.6 percent rate. It is the only eurozone coun- lead to structural imbalances in the economy that are try with a budget surplus. National debt is just 6 per- not sustainable. Austrians predict that the Fed’s poli- cent of GDP. How did they bounce back from the cies of QE and ZIRP will inevitably lead to further devastating 2008-09 crisis? asset bubbles in the stock market, manufacturing, “I can answer in [three] words,” states Peeter Kop- exports, and real estate, depending on who gets the pel, investment strategist at the SEB Bank: “Auster- money first. As Mises taught, “Money is never neu- ity, austerity, austerity.” Estonia went through three t r a l .” years of belt-tightening. Public sector wages were The Austrians conclude that the boom-bust cycle cut, the pension age was raised, benefits were re- is not a natural phenomenon under free-enterprise duced. “It was very difficult, but we managed it,” capitalism but is caused by government interven- explains Juhan Parts, Estonia’s minister of economy tion in the monetary sphere. A legitimate interna- and communication. This “little country that could” tional gold standard and “freely competitive banking” is now leading the way to recovery and prosperity. would minimize the risks of a boom-bust cycle. (In- The Austrian way.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 33 America

Died on the 4th of July Fisher Ames, Founding Father and arch-foe of democracy

by Stephen B. Tippins Jr.

told a friend of mine I was going to write a pro- pose the wrong incentive for erecting government in file on Fisher Ames. the first place. Fisher Ames would know that. And “Who?” he asked. that’s why he’s relevant. “Fisher Ames. One of our Founding Fathers Iand a preeminent Federalist.” isher Ames (1758-1808) of Dedham, Massachu- “And you’re writing a profile on him?” Fsetts is not exactly a forgotten Founding Father. “Ye p.” The general public may not remember him, but “Why?” historians and scholars haven’t forgotten Ames so “Well… he’s largely forgotten. And his brand of much as they’ve dismissed him. John W. Malsberg- conservatism was actually conservative. You know, er, in his 1982 essay “The Political Thought of Fisher interestingly enough, he died on July—” Ames,” wrote that for much of American history “No, no. I mean why?” scholars considered Ames nothing more than an ex- “I don’t follow.” tremist “who resisted the idealism of the American “Well, it’s an election year, in case you haven’t no- Revolution,” an unstable man whose writing was so ticed. And I don’t think a dead Federalist is going to “infected with hysterical and paranoid symptoms resonate much. How’s Fisher Ames going to help Re- that it is difficult to believe that he represented a publicans win the White House?” sane body of thought.” “I don’t know, really. But I do think that Repub- Henry Adams was more poetic. Ames’s “best po- licans could stand to learn a thing or two from the litical writing,” he wrote, “was saturated with the Federalists. Hell, I think we all could.” despair of the tomb to which his wasting body was “Why is that? I mean, what, exactly, did the Feder- condemned.” alists believe in?” Yet much can be learned from the life of Ames, I wasn’t prepared to be tested. I thought for a mo- and not just from his rhetoric (which gave us the ment. “They lobbied for a strong national govern- wittiest of all retorts when, in response to the dec- ment, Hamiltonian finance, a stronger allegiance laration that all men are created equal, he quipped: with Britain, and they believed, I guess, in rule by a “But differ greatly in the sequel”) or from his writ- natural aristocracy.” ing (“Constitutions are but paper; society is the sub- “Natural aristocracy? Strong national govern- stratum of government”). He was, in Russell Kirk’s ment? What relevance does any of that have? I mean, words, a man many years dying. This was because a strong national government? Really? Government in his youth, well before his tubercular demise, he isn’t the answer, you know. It’s the problem.” displayed more promise than perhaps any of our Well, now. other great statesmen. Fisher Ames personified two I carefully considered my friend’s point. Govern- of conservatism’s most indelible tenets: life is fragile ment isn’t the answer… It’s the problem. It then oc- and all is vanity. curred to me: Like most modern conservatives, my friend had missed the point. To say that government Stephen B. Tippins Jr. is an attorney in Georgia clerking for the isn’t the answer to our nation’s problems is to presup- Piedmont Judicial Circuit.

34 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Ames began his political journey at Harvard, fused in the people.” where he enrolled during the summer of his twelfth Ames’s faith in “sage politicians” reflects the fading year—an early start for this oldest of souls. Provi- optimism that he still held for the American enter- dence could not have placed him in a better place at prise. About this time he wrote, with decidedly less a better time, for he was afforded the opportunity to predestination than in subsequent musings, “If we couch his education in the context of the single great fall we fall by our folly not our fate.” And in defend- political question of his time. As war with Britain ing the idea of biennial elections, he gave credence to loomed, one of the school’s benefactors remarked the “sober second thought of the people.” Such cre- that Ames and his classmates were brought “to such dence he would never entertain later in life. a pitch of enthusiasm” that it was “difficult for their Whatever optimism Ames may have felt in the tutors to keep them within due bounds.” aftermath of Shays’ misadventure, the French Revo- At the time, Ames was enamored with notions of lution would exorcise it. The Terror was one of two liberty and independence. As a member of Harvard’s influences that finally molded Fisher’s conservative Speaking Club, he gave such patriotic orations as a philosophy. The other was witnessing firsthand his recital of Benjamin Church’s speech on the Boston fellow congressmen in action. He had first come to Massacre (“When will the locust leave the land?”) the nation’s capital—then situated in New York— and a rendition of Cicero’s defense of Titus Annius with a great deal of enthusiasm and all the fire that Milo (“by my single efforts has it been brought to political upstarts display. But by the time he left pass that right, and equity, and laws, and liberty, and office in 1797, he had realized that the great ora- modesty, and chastity remain in this city”). But he tors and statesmen of our land were anything but was also unknowingly receiving his first lesson in “demigods” or “Roman senators.” According to conservative thought. Soon he would see how the biographer Winfred E.A. Bernhard, even some of people embraced their “liberty.” He would not like the men Ames held in esteem—James Madison for what he saw. His eyes opened in 1786, when boom and bust hastily descend- ed on the new republic. The bust proved difficult to weather, es- The French Revolution’s bloodletting pecially for rural inhabitants of New England. A precipitous fall foreshadowed for Ames the future of the West and in agricultural prices, a shortage reflected for him the true nature of democracies. of paper money, high taxes, and a rise in foreclosures led many rural New Englanders—believers in an inalienable right to protest the state—to take up arms against their newly formed one—he found too “pedantic” and “impractical” for governments. Led by Daniel Shays, an ex-captain in governing. the Continental Army, the rebellion shut down nu- Factions, sectionalism, and a growing democratic merous county courts and brought the impotence of sensibility among the people left him with a jaded the Articles of Confederation to light. opinion of governing—“I despise politics when I Though the uprising was quickly quelled, conser- think of this office”—and the uprising in France left vative interests in New England recognized the ease him with an even bleaker view of those who were with which civilized men could regress “to barba- charged with electing him in the first place. The rism … weary of liberty, and unworthy of it; arm- French Revolution’s bloodletting foreshadowed for ing their sacrilegious hands against it, though it was Ames the future of the West and reflected for him the bought with their blood, and was once the darling true nature of democracies. “Theories fit for angels,” pride of their hearts.” Ames believed that because he said of the Jacobins’ creed, “have been adopted for the Massachusetts constitution was the product of the use of a multitude, who have been found, when “the free act of the people … treason against such a left to what is called their self-government, unfit to constitution implies a high degree of moral deprav- be called men.” ity.” He also believed that such moral depravity was Despite his growing melancholy, Ames managed unavoidable unless “sage politicians” could eradicate to parlay early success as a country lawyer into a “the destructive notions that the seditious” had “in- seat at Massachusetts’s constitutional ratifying con-

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 35 America

vention. From there he upset Samuel Adams in the Funding of the treaty helped stay a war with Brit- nation’s first congressional elections in 1788. Once ain and ushered in a decade of prosperous trade with in Congress, he helped author the First Amend- the country from which we won independence. ment, played a vital role in lobbying for Alexander Successes notwithstanding, Ames was forced to Hamilton’s financial policies, and wrote the lower forego reelection in 1796 due to declining health. house’s address to Washington when he retired To his chagrin, nothing he achieved while in office from the presidency. Most famously, he arose in seemed to carry any lasting influence. The United opposition to Jefferson’s Republicans on the ques- States were shifting culturally and electorally. The Federalists were declining as a party. The Republicans—the “Jeffs” as he called them—were growing. Soon, war with Britain would come; France under Na- Ames believed that there was little he and poleon would loom as a threat; rights- like-minded Federalists could do but speak would become the vernacular of the governed as well as the governors; “to mitigate a tyranny.” and Jefferson’s shadow would forever cast itself upon the nation. Ames believed that there was little he and like-minded Federalists could do but “mitigate a tyranny.” His outlook not tion of funding Jay’s Treaty. His words movingly only struck many of his contemporaries as alarm- evoked the faith that composes a nation and binds ist, but later thinkers—even conservatives—tended its pledges to others: to agree. Russell Kirk, in The Conservative Mind, wrote, “Ames was wrong, so far as the immediate What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection future was concerned; for already a counterbalance for the spot where a man was born? Are the to American radicalism was making its weight felt. very clods where we tread entitled to this ar- That saving influence was in part the product of an dent preference because they are greener? No, innate moderation in the planter society Jefferson sir; that is not the character of the virtue, and represented.” it soars higher for its object. It is an extended But Jefferson’s planter society happened to have self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of hung its hat on an immoderate—and infamously pe- life, and twisting itself with the minutest fila- culiar—institution. And whatever Federalist ideals ments of the heart. It is thus we obey the laws were in place before Reconstruction, we lost them in of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In its wake. their authority we see, not the array of force and Ames’s philosophy can be summed up as follows: terror, but the venerable image of our country’s the “power of the people, if uncontroverted, is licen- honor. Every good citizen makes that honor his tious and mobbish.” But if checked by a powerful own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but and well-led state, a more virtuous citizenry could be as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its de- procured, one that feels a “love of country diffused fense, and is conscious that he gains protection through the Society and ardent in each individual, while he gives it. that would dispose, or rather impel every one to do For what rights of a citizen will be deemed or suffer much for his country, and permit no one to inviolable when a state renounces the prin- do anything against it.” ciples that constitute their security? Or if his He realized, however, that a republican state can- life should not be invaded, what would its en- not coincide with a democratic state—into which he joyments be in a country odious in the eyes of perceived us slipping—and a democratic state can- strangers and dishonored in his own? Could not nurture a more virtuous citizenry. “A democrat- he look with affection and veneration to such a ick society will soon find its morals the incumbrance country as his parent? The sense of having one of its race, the surly companion of its licentious joys. would die within him; he would blush for his … In a word there will not be morals without jus- patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it tice; and though justice might possibly support a de- would be a vice. He would be a banished man in mocracy, yet a democracy cannot possibly support his native land. ju s t i c e .”

36 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 He warned of “schemes of an abolition of debts and at least a little to Adams. But no mention is ever and an equal distribution of property” that would be made of that other Founding Father who died on “pursued with unremitting industry.” For Ames, the truth was that “our country is too big for union, too sordid for patriotism, too democrat- ick for liberty. What is to become of it? He who made it best knows. Its vice will govern it, by practising upon its folly. This is ordained for democracies.” This bleak prophecy sounds irre- deemably pessimistic. Yet the skull grinned. “Our disease,” Ames wrote,

is democracy. It is not the skin that festers—our very bones are carious and their marrow blackens with gangrene. Which rogues shall be first, is of no moment—our republicanism must die, and I am sorry for it… . Nevertheless, though I indulge no hopes, I derive much entertainment from the squabbles in Madam Liberty’s family. After so many liberties have been taken with her, I presume she is no longer a miss and a virgin, though she may still be a goddess.

Even on the verge of death, he embraced a wry sense of humor and found solace, away from politics, in friends. “My health,” he wrote to one,“is exceedingly tender. While I sit by the fire and keep my feet warm, I am not sick. I have heard of a college lad’s question, which tolerably describes my case: ‘Whether bare being, without life or existence, is better than not to be the Fourth of July, primarily because he wasn’t a or not?’ I cannot solve so deep a problem; but as long president. The arch-elitist Ames is forgotten beside as you are pleased to allow me a place in your esteem, two men whose 44-man fraternity resembles the I shall continue to hold better than ‘not to be’ to be.” closest thing we have to a monarchy. A sheer pessimist would not have conveyed such You can’t make a democratic society remem- warmth in his waning hours, nor would he have ber something it doesn’t want to remember, which found Madam Liberty still a goddess. brings us back to where we came in. Anti-statist conservatives forget that we left the state of nature isher Ames died on the Fourth of July, 1808. Ev- in the first place because the souls of men, which Feryone knows the story of how Thomas Jefferson are inherently depraved, need nurturing, and only and John Adams both died on the Fourth of July, institutions can provide that. But democracy will 1826, a half-century after the signing of the Decla- not tolerate institutions of restraint, political or ration of Independence. Every Independence Day, otherwise. Fisher Ames warned us well, if only we great respect is given to the memory of Jefferson— could recall his words.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 37 Culture

Saint Sydney The Anglican Whig who fought for England’s Catholics

by R.J. STOVE

n 1983, British biographer and novelist A.N. Wil- cording to the same source—had also “shaken Lord son wrote, in his Life of John Milton, “It needs an John Russell, silenced Macaulay, caused Lady Hol- act of supreme historical imagination to be able land to forget her ailments, made [dry-as-dust po- to recapture an atmosphere in which Anglican etaster] Samuel Rogers sentimental, stopped the pen Ibishops might be taken seriously; still more, one in of Dickens … [and] reddened the eyes of Thomas which they might be thought threatening.” Moore.” Once Moore had good-humoredly com- This observation gained a particular force in plained: “Sydney at breakfast made me actually cry March, when Rowan Williams announced his forth- with laughing. I was obliged to start up from the coming departure from the See of Canterbury. Not table.” Sir James Mackintosh, an uninspired but at only has Williams been the first holder of his office one time celebrated historian, so forgot his natural to abandon all Christian dogma in favor of dru- tedium in Smith’s company that (according to the idic whimsies and Islamic appeasement, but even aforementioned Russell) he “rolled on the floor in against such daunting competitors as Tony Blair, Bill fits of laughter.” Clinton, and Sarah Palin he has become the most Among Smith’s admirers across the Atlantic was comprehensively derided politician in the English- the obscure spokesman for Sangamon County in the speaking world since Teddy Kennedy acquired his Illinois House of Representatives, who delighted in one-way ticket to Gehenna. spouting Smith’s maxims but whom few on that ac- This circumstance lends a pleasing fascination to count credited with a political future. The represen- the spectacle of any English Anglican with cojones. tative bore the name Abraham Lincoln. Such a being acquires in 2012 the same novel charm What manner of hero was this Smith? Who would that typifies any exotic mindset, and that ensures the have thought the old man to have had so much fame continuing appeal of T.S. Eliot and C.S. Lewis even in him? among those who have never darkened an Anglican He was... odd, definitely. Odd more in a French church’s door. Which is where the Reverend Sydney than an English manner: he himself imputed his Smith comes in. ebullient logic to his mother’s Huguenot blood, Smith—an overweight, homely-looking cleric who which made a combustible mix with the antic dispo- neither obtained nor sought legislative office—never sition of his merchant father, Robert. Adumbrating left Europe, seldom left London, could disappear Edward Lear’s limerick about “the old man of Ther- into any crowd without attracting notice, and had mophylae / Who never did anything properly,” Rob- about as much obvious magnetism as the proverbial ert Smith bought and sold 19 estates in England, for “Mayor of Birmingham in a bad year.” “A mouth like reasons known exclusively to himself. Hesketh Pear- an oyster, and three double-chins,” one catty female son, in The Smith of Smiths, describes Smith senior’s observer remarked. architectural M.O.: “No sooner had he purchased a Yet when Smith died in 1845, some of Britain’s house and spent both money and energy in ruining toughest political bruisers wept like children. The its appearance, than he got rid of it at a loss and de- news of Smith’s passing plunged Francis Jeffrey, parted for another district.” ruthless Scottish editor and judge, into (one Smith specialist tells us) “an agony of grief.” This news—ac- R.J. Stove lives in Melbourne, Australia.

38 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Sydney, born in 1771, was the second of five sermons good enough to be collected in a book, but children. He went to Winchester, one of the lead- a volume of homilies no more presupposed literary ing “public schools”—private schools, in Ameri- talent in 1800 than a master’s thesis does to us. An- can terms—and loathed it. Over 200 years before glican divines then, however innately uncompetitive, David Cameron gave upper-crust puerile sordor a resembled today’s racehorses or pop singers in the bad name, Smith had flayed the ethical pretensions passionate claques they acquired. (As late as 1922 afflicting Cameron’s alma mater, Eton, no less than P.G. Wodehouse, with no hint of anachronism, de- Winchester itself: voted to these sacerdotal conflicts a marvelous short story, “The Great Sermon Handicap.”) Smith never- At a public school, every boy is alternatively ty- theless had what his rivals usually lacked: first-hand rant and slave. The power which the elder part understanding of Scottish Lowlands didacticism at of these communities exercises over the young- its fiercest, and intellectual friendships for which Dr. er, is exceedingly great—very difficult to be con- Johnson’s milieu alone provides a counterpart. The trolled—and accompanied, not unfrequently, didacticism led gradually into the friendships. with cruelty and caprice. ... The morality of boys What do intellectual friends in any epoch do? is generally very imperfect; their notions of They start a magazine. Smith was erudite and honor extremely mistaken; and their objects of broke. Francis Jeffrey was erudite and broke. Nei- ambition frequently very absurd. ... This system ther Smith nor Jeffrey had shown exceptional also gives the elder boys an absurd and perni- prose gifts, or cultivated any rich patrons, or even cious opinion of their own importance, which developed a skill at placating those censors who— is often with difficulty effaced by a considerable in the Britain of Pitt the Younger as afterward in commerce with the world. the Austria of Metternich—spied pestiferously on suspected radicals, even while incapable of serious One negative merit such schools preserved: as doctrinal combat against them. No matter. In 1802 Lord Melbourne mused, they could not actually pre- the Edinburgh Review made its début, with Smith vent you reading books if you wanted to. And read being editor, a more experienced candidate having books Smith did. He won so many academic prizes as to inspire de- mands that he be prohibited from contesting any more. But these prizes, though securing him entry A cause had only to be both sensible and to Oxford, did not lastingly en- apparently unwinnable for Smith to champion it. rich him. Following his father into “trade” would have caused scandal. Becoming a lawyer—as he himself wanted to do—required paternal money long gone. He would not have survived a week’s training in the armed forces. proven invisible. Smith lost his first tiff with his col- Nor would the armed forces. leagues when they rejected his proffered motto for So holy orders it had to be; so, from 1796, it was. the magazine: Tenui musam meditamur avena, “We While his aristocratic contemporaries gambled and cultivate literature on a little oatmeal.” The staff did wenched their way through the Grand Tour of the live on oatmeal and saw no reason to publicize the Low Countries, France, and Italy—with perhaps a regrettable fact. penitential week among the clean-living Swiss—we Smith took over ever more of the Review’s writ- find Smith in a Wiltshire village, catechizing parish- ing assignments—some under his own name, some ioners among whom the ability to read and write pseudonymous—consigning to Jeffrey the editor- ranked well below the knack for milking cattle or ship. For all the Review’s theoretical allegiance to the harvesting corn. This is what nine-tenths of rural Whig party, Smith did what very few British journal- England was like before Gladstone’s 1870 Education ists have done since: he got his periodical read by Act. multitudes who abhorred his politics. Just as innu- Even after young Smith had studied philosophy in merable Loyal Orange major-generals once bought Edinburgh, nothing much distinguished him from the left-leaning New Statesman for its book reviews other scholarly, indigent curates. Certainly he wrote and poetry competitions, just as Trotskyite educrats

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 39 Culture

once bought The Spectator for the shamefaced satis- after Smith’s onslaughts against his anti-Catholic faction of perusing Sir Peregrine Worsthorne’s latest policy. To drive the message home, Smith—his pen- assault on good collectivist taste, so Smith achieved name “Peter Plymley” deceived no one—combined a readership among those antediluvian backwoods emancipism with (gulp) the Irish Question: “There peers who equated the Duke of Wellington with the is not a parent from the Giant’s Causeway to Bantry Jacobin Club. Bay who does not conceive that his child is the un- A cause had only to be both sensible and appar- fortunate victim of the exclusion, and that nothing ently unwinnable for Smith to champion it. Like short of positive law could prevent his own dear pre- numerous really fine stylists, he never lost a need- eminent Paddy from rising to the highest honors of the State. So with the army, and parliament; in fact, few are excluded; but in imagination, all; you keep 20 or 30 Catholics out, and you lose the affection of four millions.” Finally in 1829 his agitation gained statutory results. Smith acted—let this be emphasized—not through any love of Catholicism. Instead, he obeyed that same spirit that made French War Minister Georges Picquart, whilst person- ally antipathetic toward Captain Dreyfus, seek the overturning of Dreyfus’s conviction for treason: an objective evil had prevailed, it must not continue to prevail, and those who extenuated it degraded the very nation they purported to love. Picquart had much the easier task, given the articulacy of Dreyfus’s admirers. Catholic Erin was less fortunate. “The moment the very name of Ireland is mentioned,” Smith la- mented, “the English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common prudence, and common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants, and the fatuity of idiots.” Consult the recent Hibernophobic ravings Sydney Smith of historian Andrew Roberts to behold this syndrome in our own age. ful power to shock. And no utterance more shocked If contemplating Smith the pro-Catholic would England—Smith had become a Londoner in 1803— still suffice to make Roberts reach for the Valium, than any call for Catholic Emancipation. contemplating Smith the foe of imperial overreach To ordinary Englishmen back then, an advocate would probably induce in him a fatal aneurysm. of extending civil rights to hold office and practice Too seldom remembered among Whiggery’s suc- their religion to Catholics was at once a maniac, a cesses, between Lord Grey’s election in 1830 and conspirator, and a hoodlum. The best somebody like Lord Melbourne’s retirement in 1841, is its refusal Smith could expect was to be dismissed as JFK dis- to “go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” But missed Nixon: “No class.” just as our own laptop bombardiers have their Hit- This challenge Smith relished. Tory Prime Minis- lers of the month, the armchair warriors of Smith’s ter Spencer Perceval, shot dead in 1812, might well day had their Bonapartes of the month, King Louis- have found his killer’s ammunition anticlimactic Philippe included. Smith, who numbered both the

40 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 prime minister and his wife among his closest al- years, and you never said anything which I wished lies, set to work. Lady Grey drew from him a letter unsaid.” that stands, even now, among the most stirring of Pages of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations will supply all English epistolary utterances: as many Smith epigrams as one could desire. May a latter-day admirer cite, instead, an Edinburgh lec- For God’s sake do not drag me into another war! ture that Smith gave to raise money on behalf of the I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading blind? and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself. I am sorry for the The sense of sight is indeed the highest bodily Spaniards. I am sorry for the Greeks. I deplore privilege, the purest physical pleasure, which the fate of the Jews. The people of the Sandwich man has derived from his Creator. To see that Islands are groaning under the most detestable wandering fire, after he has finished his journey tyranny. Baghdad is oppressed. I do not like the through the nations, coming back to his eastern present state of the [Ganges] Delta. Tibet is not heavens ... is it possible to joy in this animated comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people? scene, and feel no pity for the sons of dark- The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am ness? For the eyes that will never see light? For I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be the poor clouded in everlasting gloom? If you eternally raising fleets and armies to make all ask me why they are miserable and dejected, men good and happy? We have just done saving I turn you to the plentiful valleys; to the fields Europe, and I am afraid that the consequence now bringing forth their increase; to the fresh- will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. ness and the flowers of the earth; to the endless No war, dear Lady Grey! No eloquence; but variety of its colors; to the grace, the symme- apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic! try, the shape of all it cherishes and all it bears: I beseech you, secure Lord Grey’s swords and these you have forgotten, because you have al- pistols, as the housekeeper did Don Quixote’s ways enjoyed them ... This is the reason why a r m or.” the blind are miserable and dejected—because their soul is mutilated, and dismembered of its Intermittent stabs of guilt could make a Whig boss best sense—because they are a laughter and a fleetingly entertain the idea of giving Smith con- ruin, and the boys of the streets mock at their dign rewards. “Smith has done more for the Whigs stumbling feet. Therefore, I implore you, by the than all the clergy put together,” reflected Lord Mel- Son of David, have mercy on the blind. If there bourne, “and our not making him a bishop is sheer is not pity for all sorrows, turn the full and per- cowardice.” Alas, cowardice triumphed, and George fect man to meet the inclemency of fate; let not III’s prophecy—“He is a very clever fellow, but he will those who have never tasted the pleasures of never be a bishop”—proved accurate. It was probably existence be assailed by any of its sorrows; the bound to do so, given that Smith had enfiladed an eyes which are never gladdened by light should ecclesiastical opponent with the words, “I must be- never stream with tears. lieve in Apostolic Succession, there being no other way of accounting for the descent of the Bishop of Rare is the writer whose deathbed tenets one Exeter from Judas Iscariot.” would want, on one’s own deathbed, to read. Smith But for every individual who feared Smith’s tongue, is such a writer. In his final weeks he found himself hundreds cherished it. Perhaps recalling Smith’s aid quoting a sermon he had composed long before: “We to Louis-Philippe’s governance, French statesman talk of human life as a journey, but how variously is François Guizot discerned: “It is his condition to be that journey performed! There are some who come witty, as it is that of Lady Seymour”—a renowned forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet Whig diva—“to be beautiful.” Macaulay praised lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is ar- Smith for talking “from the impulse of the moment, rested, and every beam is tempered. There are others and his fun is quite inexhaustible,” a fairly generous who walk on the Alpine paths of life, against driving response to Smith’s famous put-down that Macau- misery, and through stormy sorrows, over sharp af- lay “has occasional flashes of silence that make his flictions; walk with bare feet, and naked breast, jaded, conversation perfectly delightful.” Lord Dudley, then mangled, and chilled.” considered a political genius, sportingly told Smith: Sydney Smith, R.I.P. You were saying, Professor “You have been laughing at me for the last seven Dawkins?

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 41 Home Plate BILL KAUFFMAN

Rocky’s Drug War

had drinks one night with an old with Thought Criminals.) ments in modernist urban renewal in friend who had spent the previous Who are the national political figures Albany, or by the ghetto and shotgun- year in jail. Despite my entreaties, willing to say that marijuana ought to shack kids rotting away in his prisons and my guarantee that it would be legalized? The noble ascetic Ralph for vending substances which the lan- Iprovide rare cachet, he refused to Nader, the heroic physician Ron Paul, guid heirs of the ruling class consume loudly begin a sentence, “When I was and former New Mexico governor with oligarchic immunity. in the joint…” In fact, he denied that Gary Johnson, the triathlete running But God has a sense of humor. Rocky prisoners ever called their domicile for president on the Libertarian ticket. perished while—let’s see; we must the joint, the rock, or the big house, Governor Andrew Cuomo, no one’s be discreet, as the sole witness to his and he confessed to not having met a idea of a libertarian Democrat, has tumbling off this mortal coil is with us single grizzled veteran of the pen who proposed decriminalizing the open still—let us just say that he died while dispensed such gnomes as “Do time; possession of less than 25 grams of in the company of a 20-something- don’t let time do you.” marijuana. This is the latest meliorative year-old female. The reliably fatuous You mean the movies lie about all attempt by New York Democrats to New York Times courtier-journalist this? soften the state’s drug laws, which took James “Scotty” Reston provided an un- My levity shamed me. There’s really an infamous turn toward the draco- intentionally hilarious eulogy for the nothing funny about having to live in a nian four decades ago under Governor Butcher of Attica. Noting that Rocky cage. My friend’s fellow penmen ranged Nelson Rockefeller. expired “late on a Friday night” whilst from the violent to the pathetic, from I am chagrined, if not surprised, laboring under “the consoling influ- apparently unredeemable scumbags that rural upstate legislators are the ences of art, beauty, and love,” Reston to the luckless and the dumb. Innocent primary obstacles to reform. Keep- gushed, “He was a worker, a yearner, was seldom an apt description of these ing watch over the largely downstate and a builder to the end.” men, but look hard enough and you prison population has become a staple I’ll say! can see the face of Christ in each one. of the regional economy, a degradation The great Mary Harris “Mother” The prison-industrial complex de- to which we have become accustomed. Jones, matriarch of “the fighting army pends upon the drug war for its seem- Prison jobs sure beat Wal-Mart. of the working class” and opponent of ingly limitless supply of bodies. (I Fifteen miles down the road sits At- war, capitalism, and women’s suffrage, write, by the way, as one so drug-averse tica State Prison, damned site of the once met with President William How- that I don’t even like taking Tylenol for 1971 riot in which 29 inmates and ard Taft to plead for a pardon for labor a hangover—I much preferred Minor ten hostages were killed. Governor radicals. (Imagine a modern president Threat to Johnny Thunders.) Rockefeller refused to come to Attica meeting congenially with a home- Although we have reached a stage to negotiate for the release of those grown revolutionary.) where the jock potheads of my boyhood hostages. Sure, a bloodbath flooded “Now, Mother,” President Taft said have their avaricious little hands on the D Yard, but hey, the dead were mostly pleasantly, “the trouble lies here: if I put levers of power, the bong throng— rural working-class white guards and the pardoning power in your hands including three consecutive deracinated urban black prisoners. Probably not there would be no one left in the jails.” ex-coke-sniffers in the White House— a one knew anything about abstract “I’m not so sure of that,” Mother lack the guts even to take the gateway expressionism. Jones replied. “A lot of those who are in step of saying that to imprison men and I don’t suppose Rocky’s sleep was would be out, but a lot of those who are women for buying and selling marijua- ever troubled by nightmares of the out would be in.” na is an affront to personal liberty. (Not families whose homes and small busi- That’s Mother Mary: speaking words to worry: the empty cells can be filled nesses he stole for his grotesque experi- of wisdom. Let it be.

42 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 The Foreign WTO Now Outrageously Controls Our Economy, Fate and Future Six Disastrous Points that Negate Our Constitutional Rights It is inconceivable that we should even tolerate this! The WTO is a biased undemocratic organization of 153 nations that limits America’s ability to act in its own best interest. In it, the United States has no larger vote than a smaller country, such as Grenada (Article IX, p. 5). By signing the agreement with the World Trade Organization, the U.S. Congress agreed to concede a major portion of our sovereignty and usurp our democratic legislative process, including: • Conforming U.S. laws, regulations and administrative procedures to the will of the WTO (Article XVI, p. 10) • Subjecting all federal, state and local laws and practices that effect trade to international review by the WTO (Article XVI, p. 10) • Allowing any WTO member country to challenge federal, state and local laws and practices as trade impeding (Section 2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding) • Taking all trade disputes to the WTO judiciary– giving the WTO final jurisdiction over all trade altercations. No appeal exists outside of the WTO (Section 2 of the Dispute Settlement Sorry Sam, We’re the boss now. You signed away your Understanding) constitutional rights in 1995. Now do as you’re told! • Empowering the WTO to enforce its rulings by imposing fines on the United States until we © Copyright 2012 by Economy In Crisis, INC. comply • Disallowing Congress to “change” the agreement The Rights of America are Subservient to the Will of the World Trade Organization. Those who Signed this Lengthy Agreement did not Read the Fine Print or did not have the Interests of America in Mind. America’s WTO Agreement Puts Control in Destructive Foreign Hands! Here is just one example of many infractions that may be making us sick, or even killing us. The WTO outrageously delivered a ruling against a U.S. ban on chicken products imported from China. The ruling forces the United States’ market to open up for processed, often toxic, chicken breast exports from China. The WTO’s ruling stated that the U.S. ban was not in accordance with WTO rules and regulations, and officials concerned with the matter would not disclose further details, citing reasons of “confidentiality.” This WTO-forced importation of dangerous goods provides yet another example of the United States’ inability to protect national trade interests. We do not even have the right in the international community to block the importation of foods that are well below the standards of our country. Clearly, the U.S. needs to dissolve our own membership, or our interests will continue to be “represented” by international entities that clearly do not have our nation’s best interest in mind. Though consumers may never know, many will soon be subjected to purchasing chicken raised via dangerous methods that were once banned in the United States for health and safety reasons Current regulations do not require stores to label the country of origin on processed meat. Do we really need foreigners telling us what to? Shouldn’t we be allowed to what is in our best interest? The truth is, we can’t afford to let other nations make decisions to our detriment. The WTO must be eliminated! Learn More at EconomyInCrisis.org, Your Economic Report - Daily Economy In Crisis, INC.(614) 210-7255 Arts&Letters

Clichés of Tyranny campuses and cable-TV shout shows statism? Yes, I suppose it is. But is it a as an occupational hazard of success- cliché? by Scott Galupo ful punditry. He skewers these in a Now, about this business of ideology: style that’s informative and light on an adherent of an ideology, Goldberg The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals its feet. Of particular value are Gold- writes, isn’t someone who is “dogmati- Cheat in the War of Ideas, Jonah berg’s sturdy defense of the Roman cally immune to facts.” For Goldberg, Goldberg, Sentinel, 320 pages Catholic Church’s record on science ideologies are like that unprintable and its prosecution of the Crusades, cliché about opinions. Everyone has ne of the overlooked aims of as well as a brilliant little elucidation one. He writes: “An ideology, at the Jonah Goldberg’s bestselling of the saying, “let them eat cake.” most fundamental level, is simply a Liberal Fascism: The Secret The big argument of The Tyranny of checklist of ideas you have about the OHistory of the Left From Mussolini to Clichés is that liberals’ misuse of terms world. Having an ideology doesn’t the Politics of Meaning was to defang, like “ideology” and “pragmatism,” and mean you’ve been brainwashed, it to a degree, the word “fascism.” Not to their lazy reliance on empty phrases means you’ve come to conclusions defend it, but to identify it as a body of like “social justice,” “diversity,” and about how the world works at some ideas that, however noxious, did not “community” are part of a deceptive basic level.” necessarily entail mass murder. agenda to “expand and enhance the To be sure, some ideologies—fas- The book overstated the continu- State’s mastery over our lives.” An ide- cism, to name one—can be very bad. ities of intellectual fascism with mod- ology, if you will, that refuses to speak But ideology is not bad in and of ern American liberalism and Euro- its name. itself. Indeed, ideology is an essen- pean social democracy, but Goldberg’s There’s a problem of coherence here: tial feature in the life of the mind as premise—that fascism was not a vari- several of Goldberg’s examples of lib- well as a practical necessity, he argues: ant of conservatism but rather a revo- eral clichés—“Power corrupts,” “Better “whatever word you choose, humans lutionary movement of the left—was a that ten guilty persons escape than that need limiting principles, bright lines, worthwhile corrective to mainstream one innocent suffer,” “One man’s ter- ideals, dogma. Bundle them together political discourse. rorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” and you’ve got a field guide to life that With The Tyranny of Clichés, Gold- “Violence never solves anything”— helps you sift your way through new berg—syndicated columnist and may easily be interpreted as expres- facts and data.” editor-at-large of National Review sions of anti-statism. There’s also the Goldberg’s point here is well-taken. Online—is on another mission of se- fact that in a policy environment where Still, I’m rather fond of the negative mantic rectification. He is exercised a purportedly liberal U.S. president connotation of ideology, not least this time with the way the words keeps his own personal terrorist “kill because, as the author readily ac- “ideology” and “pragmatism” are em- list,” and at a time when a scandalously knowledges, conservative luminaries ployed by liberal academics and poli- high number of Americans are in jail, like Edmund Burke and Russell Kirk ticians, as well as in the vernacular of Goldberg’s worry over such influences plainly held ideology in low regard. Washington media. Goldberg argues is unwarranted and more than a little “But,” he writes, “it’s vital to under- that “ideology” should sound less sin- puzzling. stand that what the original conser- ister than it commonly does. And he’d Goldberg, too, briefly calls out James vatives denounced as ideology was in like “pragmatism” to sound worse. Fallows and other advocates of “indus- fact only a certain kind of ideology.” There’s also a second book here: a trial policy,” the practice of govern- Goldberg insists that Burke’s founda- deconstruction of liberal shibboleths ment actively encouraging the growth tional critique of the French Revolu- that Goldberg encounters on college of certain sectors of the economy. Is it tion wasn’t a blanket denunciation

44 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Michael Hogue Michael of ideology; it was a warning against If only because I’m determined in advance from pure reason instead utopianism and the glib discarding of to rescue him from obscurity, I sug- of letting it grow ‘organically’—mean- ancient wisdom. gest as an alternative to “ideology” ing: grow like a living plant, naturally I can live with that distinction. Yet a catchword used by the late poet- and unconsciously, flowering up from our lexicon still requires a word to de- historian Peter Viereck: “apriorism.” the deep roots of tradition.” scribe someone whose mind is made up In Conservative Thinkers: From John We might also, in some cases, fall before the argument even starts. Take Adams to Winston Churchill, Viereck back on the more familiar “absolutism.” the belief that income-tax cuts are self- described early conservatives’ use of Most of us favor a broad right to free financing. Against all evidence, many the term a priori “for ideas deduced speech and expression, for example. supply-siders maintain this belief. If entirely from ‘prior’ ideas, as opposed But only an absolutist would defend they aren’t ideologues, what should we to ideas rooted in historical experi- child pornography or speech that in- call them? Stubborn? Stupid? Or, to ence. ... Conservatives condemn, with cites violence. borrow one of Goldberg’s favorite put- the term ‘rationalist blueprints,’ the at- Or perhaps another old stand-by, downs, incandescently asinine? tempts of progressives to plan society “tribalism,” should be pressed into ser-

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 45 Arts&Letters vice. Tribalists of the Drudge-Breitbart- Pragmatism seems a reflection the center on issues such as welfare RedState right, for example, were not of the late-nineteenth-century and capital punishment is regularly merely “dogmatically immune to the faith in scientific inquiry—yet characterized that way. facts” in the wake of the Great Crash James introduced it in order to And this entire discussion is worth- of 2008, they mounted a furious ef- attack the pretensions of late- less if we don’t pause to define what fort to bend the facts to absolve their nineteenth-century science. liberals mean whey they say they’re in worldview of any blame for the crisis, Pragmatism seems Darwinian— favor of “what works.” Works to what concocting a bizarre narrative in which yet it was openly hostile to the end? The modern liberal’s project was all trails led to the Community Rein- two most prominent Darwinists defined centuries ago by Francis Ba- vestment Act of 1977. of the time, Herbert Spencer and con as the “relief of man’s estate.” On Now what of Goldberg’s beef with Thomas Huxley; it was designed, the fundamental appropriateness of the term “pragmatism”? in James’s version, to get God this project, there is little disagree- The Tyranny of Clichés extends the back into a picture many people ment between liberals and main- effort Goldberg made in Liberal Fas- felt Darwin had written him out stream conservatives. cism to revive the textbook associa- of. Patrick Deneen, the conservative tion of the term pragmatism with the Catholic political theorist who recent- school of American philosophy de- They were not relativists, either. ly joined the faculty of Notre Dame veloped in the late 19th century by Menand writes that Charles Sanders University, wrote an illuminating 2008 the likes of William James, as against Peirce, who coined the term “pragma- blog post that I beg you to indulge my today’s popular meaning—a practical tism,” believed with his astronomer quoting at length: emphasis on “what works,” a reliance father that the “universe makes sense”; on empirical data rather than abstract that the world and the human mind Good policy for the Found- theory. And not just any theory, Gold- are “wonderfully matched.” ers and Progressives alike were berg asserts: the original pragmatists How to square Goldberg’s asser- policies that promoted the eco- sought to steer us away from our tion that pragmatism was a “happy nomic and political strength of classical-liberal roots. For Goldberg’s and upbeat” American alternative to the American republic and the pragmatists, the facts always seem to “gloomy” Europeans like Nietzsche? attendant expansion of power in point toward a more active—progres- Such a dichotomy makes little sense in its private and public forms. For sive—role for government. the context of the searing intellectual all their differences, what is strik- There’s a fair amount of truth to this, formation of the jurist Oliver Wendell ingly similar about the thinkers but in the course of linking philosoph- Holmes Sr., the thrice-wounded Civil of the Founding era and leading ical pragmatists to today’s vernacular War veteran whose youthful aboli- thinkers of the Progressive era pragmatists, Goldberg is forced to be- tionist zeal soon gave way to deep- were similar efforts to increase come, in effect, the Corey Robin of the seated—in its way, conservative—pes- the “orbit” or scope of the na- right. He obliterates important distinc- simism over the descent of American tional government concomitant tions. In The Reactionary Mind, Robin, democracy into mass violence. This with increases in the scale of the a Brooklyn College poli-sci professor pessimism, noted Menand, was the American economic order. Only audaciously seated Sarah Palin and animating purpose behind Holmes’s in the backdrop of such assump- Ayn Rand and Edmund Burke at the “marketplace of ideas” dictum: the tions about the basic aims of same banquet table. The Goldberg way to prevent another such descent politics could there be any base schema is awfully similar. At his table, was to create a big tent of competing presupposition in advance of the you can find the pacifist Jane Addams ideologies. existence of ‘good policy’—and seated next to violence-approving But I fear we’re dancing on the head that policy tended to be what- Georges Sorel, who’s passing the gravy of a pin. The simple fact is that prag- ever increased national wealth to earnest Methodist Hillary Clinton. matism is no longer a Trojan horse for and power. In this sense—again, Goldberg paints progressives influ- statism. As often as it means acceding for all their differences—the enced by philosophical pragmatism as to “what works,” it means a willing- Progressives were as much heirs godless Nietzschean supermen. In fact, ness to compromise on one’s prin- as the Founders to the modern pragmatists tried to re-inject God into ciples, whether those are conservative project of seeing politics as the philosophy in the wake of Darwinism. or liberal. To my knowledge, Sen. Ber- means of mastering nature and As the critic Louis Menand wrote in nie Sanders and Rep. Dennis Kucinich ‘the relief of man’s estate.’ The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas are not regularly called pragmatic. Yet The Founders and the Pro- in America: President Bill Clinton’s tack toward gressives alike sought to increase

46 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 the influence of the central gov- Gentleman Bruiser ries and personal concerns, and finally ernment over disparate parts forcing his hand with the Draft Gold- of the nation, while increasing by Wick Allison water Committee, is as dramatic a tale economic efficiency and activ- of psychological diplomacy as I have ity by means of investment in If Not Us, Who? William Rusher, ever read. Once Goldwater commit- infrastructure and communica- National Review, and the Conservative ted, it was Rusher who recruited Peter tion. Just as the Founders could Movement, David B. Frisk, ISI Books, O’Donnell—a brilliant and wealthy promote the “useful arts and 528 pages young tactician who had managed John sciences” with one of the main Tower’s 1961 special-election upset to positive injunctions of the Con- ill Rusher is thought of, when become the first Republican senator stitution, so a Progressive like he is thought of at all, as Tonto from Texas since Reconstruction—to John Dewey would praise Fran- to William F. Buckley’s Lone lead the fight for the nomination. cis Bacon as “the real founder BRanger. As David Frisk makes clear in As Bill Buckley once remarked to of modern thought” for, among his well-researched and enlightening me, there can only be one sun—and at other things, his insistence that new biography, that is a sad underesti- National Review, there was no doubt “knowledge is power”—or, im- mation of the man. whatsoever who that sun was. Con- plicitly, for maintaining that Buckley’s conciliatory style, personal signed to the role of sidekick, Rusher only discoveries or information charm, and family money were essen- sometimes chaffed but never rebelled. that increase human power over tial to bringing together—and hold- As Buckley’s fame increased the maga- nature are worthy of the name ing together—the various disparate zine’s importance grew, and Rusher “knowledge.” strains of an inchoate intellectual con- skillfully employed both in achieving For all of Dewey’s valorization servatism in the founding of National his life’s sole ambition: to dismantle the of “democracy,” it should not be Review. Without his wit, élan, and ce- liberal political consensus that domi- forgotten that his definition of de- lebrity, the word “conservative” would nated the postwar period. mocracy is bound up in whatever never have achieved respectability, Nobody who knew him even slightly outcome would ultimately favor much less become the dominant politi- could doubt his intelligence, his deep “growth.” For the Founders and cal force in the country. erudition, his zest for life, and his fo- the Progressives alike, the expan- But style does not build a house. The cused determination. But the mild sion of what Madison described lumber has to be cut and shaved, nails manner, the precise language, the law- as “the empire of reason” should have to be hammered, workers recruit- yerly demeanor, and the orderly hab- be paramount, and on that basis ed, plans made and revised. Bill Rusher its—his desk was always clean—hid a trust in popular government was was instrumental—and after reading ferocious heart. to be tempered by structural lim- this book, I might even say indispens- Rusher was a fighter. He took no its upon popular influence over able—to building what we now call the prisoners, gave no quarter, and cared good public policy. conservative movement. not a whit for anyone’s feelings. Bill From his perch as publisher of Na- Buckley would attract, engage, and Goldberg concedes, vaguely, that tional Review, Rusher found himself convert. Bill Rusher was out to destroy. the relief of man’s estate does require in the ideal position to cajole, encour- The advent of late-night talk radio in “some policies.” But too much relieving age, promote, and temper the fledgling the ’60s gave him his arena. The Fairness is to “eat the seed corn of social capital.” organizations that were later to form Doctrine was still in force, so hosts had In the words of Rep. Paul Ryan, it is to the ground troops for the conserva- to provide two sides to discuss the con- create a “hammock that lulls able-bod- tive revolution. But most important of troversies of the day. One side may have ied citizens into lives of complacency all, his well-formed political instincts, come to discuss; Rusher came to debate. and dependency.” honed in years of Young Republican The other side may have brought notes A double-barreled cliché is in order infighting, came to bear on the single on yellow legal pads; Rusher brought a here: on this fundamental question most important event in coalescing carving knife. Time and again, to the of what politics is for, The Tyranny of these troops into a unified movement: delight of the listening audience, he fil- Clichés lets conservatives eat cake and getting Barry Goldwater to seek the leted his liberal counterparts and, for have it, too. Republican nomination in 1964 and, good measure, sliced to pieces any host against all odds, to win it. who came to their defense. Scott Galupo is a writer and musician living How Rusher played an obstinate Frisk provides the transcript from in Virginia and a contributor to TAC’s State Goldwater, ignoring his refusals to the Barry Farber Show in 1970 in of the Union blog. run, smoothing over his political wor- which Ted Sorenson, who was pre-

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 47 or his political progeny, but I wonder what he would say of it now, this huge, well-salaried, self-preserving establishment of the right. In his 30 years at National Review (“31-and-a-half,” he often reminded me), he never earned more than $30,000 a year. Conserva- tism was not his career. It was his vo- cation, his mission, and his passion. “I was honestly surprised that they paid me anything,” he said one day, remi- niscing about joining the magazine. “Considering the state of the finances, I thought I would have to pay them.” Then he added with a wink, “And what they didn’t know was that I would h av e .” I knew Bill Rusher as a young admirer watching him eviscerate com- placent liberals on air, then as a reader of his books, and finally as a fellow board member of National Review and his successor as publisher. David Frisk captures the man with a keen eye and

Michael Hogue Michael with an obvious affection born of long study of his subject’s quirks and ac- complishments. Integrity comes to us from the Latin integer, or whole, and Bill Rusher’s integrity was the result of his being a whole man, confident in his critique of American society and of the paring to run for Senate in New York, room, where the deals are cut and the prescription for curing it. found himself surgically dissected at assignments made. After three success- At the last, Buckley and Rusher were Rusher’s hand. It makes for fun read- ful years, he did not renew for a fourth, like a couple in a 30-year marriage. ing, but it also reveals much about and the show lasted only one more sea- Their idiosyncrasies, prejudices, and Rusher’s style. In the ring, he did not son without him. mutual disappointments were too well dance and weave. He provoked an Meanwhile, he kept up an unrelenting known to each other to be worth dis- opening, went in close, and pounded schedule of meetings, conferences, and cussing. Each had played his role, each with his right and his left until the op- talks, all centered on building the infra- knew it, and that was enough. For all ponent lay flat on the floor. Sorenson structure of a conservative movement the fun times I enjoyed with Bill Buck- never recovered. Needless to say, he did capable of countering the overwhelm- ley, I never saw him in such a delirium not become a senator from New York. ing liberal dominance of the media, of delight as he was in planning the de- Success in radio led to television, government, and policy institutions. He tails of the magnificent Hudson dinner and for three years Rusher was the star encouraged new organizations, lent his cruise that marked Rusher’s formal re- attraction on “The Advocates,” a de- efforts to their fundraising, and served tirement from the magazine. The din- bate program in the format of a trial, on their boards. In a sense, he became ner was a complete success, and every on PBS. The show was an immediate godfather to the web of think tanks, little facet of it—from the guest list to hit, and suddenly Rusher was almost advocacy groups, and lobbying offices the imprinting of cocktail napkins— as famous in his own right as Buck- that now occupy Washington. Hillary was an act of love. ley. He did not relish the notoriety. He Clinton was right. There is a “vast right- As for Rusher, he was glad to leave. loved politics and debate, but reveling wing conspiracy.” Bill Rusher is the man For those like me who questioned why in the public limelight was not in his responsible for it. he was moving to such a bastion of lib- character. He was meant for the back He was not one to criticize his allies eral orthodoxy as San Francisco, he had

48 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 prepared an index card that he carried The Psychology of naked self-interest masked as reason. in his breast pocket. It recorded the aver- But Haidt finds other smart people to age temperatures of every major Ameri- Partisanship be no more reasonable in their use of can city. San Francisco’s was a perfect 73 reason. Intellectuals seek rule by the degrees, and that was his answer. by Daniel J. Flynn intelligent. The Righteous Mind ex- Even in retirement, Rusher was called plains that the rationalist delusion is back to duty at NR. Frisk relates how The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Buckley at lunch with Rupert Murdoch Are Divided by Politics and Religion, the idea that reasoning is our most in 1990 agreed to sell National Review to Jonathan Haidt, Pantheon, 448 pages noble attribute, one that makes us the media mogul for Murdoch’s promise like the gods (for Plato) or that of a $5 million investment. The agree- onathan Haidt’s new book makes a brings us beyond the ‘delusion’ of ment was presented as a fait accompli well-reasoned case against reason. believing in gods (for the New to me, then-editor John O’Sullivan, and JIt persuades that the power of per- Atheists). The rationalist delusion Rusher—who had flown in from San suasion is overrated. It opens minds is not just a claim about human Francisco at Buckley’s urgent request— to the near universality of closed nature. It’s also a claim that the ra- at a tense meeting at WFB’s Stanford minds. Does Haidt’s convincing the- tional caste (philosophers or sci- home. Buckley was known for having, ory affirm or rebut his argument? My entists) should have more power, in O’Sullivan’s words, “a whim of iron.” brain hurts. and it usually comes along with a Once his mind was made up, he never “Western philosophy has been utopian program for raising more changed it, no matter what mitigat- worshipping reason and distrusting rational children. ing facts were brought to his attention. the passions for thousands of years,” Rusher knew better than to argue with the University of Virginia psychol- Intelligence is a virtue. So are pru- Buckley. I didn’t. I said it was a bad deci- ogy professor writes. “There’s a di- dence, integrity, humility, and courage. sion, that it would betray the thousands rect line running from Plato through People who possess the first trait, but of small contributors and subscrib- Immanuel Kant to Lawrence Kohlberg. lack the latter ones, tend to downplay ers who had kept the magazine afloat. I’ll refer to this worshipful attitude the importance of their weaknesses Rusher took that as an opening and throughout this book as the rational- and inflate the importance of their began, in his calm, lawyerly way, asking ist delusion. I call it a delusion because strength. The limitations of intelligence questions that framed the transaction when a group of people make some- are never as glaring as when highbrains as a public-relations disaster. Buckley— thing sacred, the members of the cult advocate intelligence as the panacea for very reluctantly—changed his mind. lose the ability to think clearly about it.” everything. But it is not the intelligence Not long after, I was encouraged to pur- Intellectuals confuse a more ideal of Haidt’s fellow liberals that he indicts. sue another career. O’Sullivan was given state of affairs for the way things ac- It’s their morals. the same encouragement a little while tually are—reason after that. I doubt that Rusher was ever is more often than invited back. not rationalization, a Intellectuals confuse a more ideal state of David Frisk’s biography gives us a justification for ideas affairs for the way things actually are. full portrait not only of a good man at developed not in the work, but also of an era that saw one of brain but in the gut. the most abrupt changes in governing Haidt’s antecedent philosophy in American history. Wil- here is David Hume. Reason plays Haidt helped devise a questionnaire liam A. Rusher was at the heart of that servant to man’s whims. Man forces that gauged moral views by eliciting change, and it will be surprising for the facts to fit his beliefs rather than test-taker responses to statements in some to learn that on the political and the reverse. It’s no wonder that ideas five categories: care/harm, fairness/ organizational front he was its chief that work marvelously in our minds cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/ protagonist. If Not Us, Who? gives the fail miserably when applied to the subversion, and sanctity/degradation. man his due. It is invaluable reading world outside our heads. How a theo- Haidt likens these moral groupings to for any student of the rise of American ry makes us feel, not whether it works, the five taste receptors of the tongue conservatism. is the most important prerequisite for (sweet, sour, bitter, savory, salty). It our acceptance of it. turns out that liberal receptors failed to Wick Allison is chairman and editor in chief Were athletes to seek rule by the engage on questions of loyalty, author- of D Magazine partners and president of the strong or models rule by the beauti- ity, and sanctity. Conservatives, on the American Ideas Institute. ful, intellectuals would clearly see other hand, reacted to all five moral

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 49 Arts&Letters

categories more or less equally. Haidt’s were pretending to be liberals or con- grasp the tug of the flag, the fear of dis- conclusion is that his fellow liberals are servatives. Liberals were the least ac- order, and the revulsion against sexu- morally tone deaf. “Republicans under- curate, especially those who described ally debasing behavior—really don’t stand moral psychology,” Haidt con- themselves as ‘very liberal.’ The biggest get why they lose. They don’t get the cedes. “Democrats don’t.” errors in the whole study came when American people, or just about any It gets worse for liberals. Haidt and liberals answered the Care and Fair- other people for that matter. They’re colleagues asked their subjects to an- ness questions while pretending to be WEIRD—as in Western, Educated, In- dustrial, Rich, and Democratic. Weir- does are more like weirdoes in other countries than they are like their fellow countrymen. The author notes of his subjects in Philadelphia and two Brazilian cities that “the effect of social class was much larger than the effect of city. In other words, well-educated people in all three cities were more similar to each other than they were to their lower-class neighbors.” Ironically, the values touted by WEIRD multiculturalists are prevalent nowhere but in their own backyards; the nationalism, religiosity, and puri- tanical values they deride are dominant in the cultures for which they urge tolerance. They mistake the value system of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic peoples for the value systems of Third World, uneducated, agrarian, impoverished, oppressed peoples. Thus, they urge tolerance of cartoon versions of non-Westerners while condemning their very real moral compasses. On some level, this confusion reflects the deep desire of rich white people to have their outlook affirmed by poor colored people. The cognitive dissonance inherent in this jumbled conception of the world is remarkable. One question Haidt posed to subjects shows how morally obtuse the WEIRD are: he asked about a man

Michael Hogue Michael who buys a chicken at the supermarket to eat for dinner, but before turning on the oven, copulates in secret with the dead, presumably plucked and head- swer their questionnaire as if they were conservatives.” Liberals see caricatures less, animal. Is that wrong? Everybody liberals, as if they were conservatives, when they see conservatives. thought so, save, predictably, the weir- and as themselves. Liberals don’t know The thesis may prove cathartic for does. Who was hurt? The implication their political adversaries nearly as well Republican readers. But it’s more use- here is that there’s something obviously as the right knows them. “The results ful to Democrats. Candidates who lacking in a moral barometer that reg- were clear and consistent. Moderates harp on the gap between rich and poor isters wrong only in direct harm. and conservatives were most accu- and appeal to the public’s heartstrings Our politics—right, left, and other- rate in their predictions, whether they to uplift the least among us—but don’t directional—is less clinical detachment

50 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 than stadium homerism. Haidt ob- predetermined. The Righteous Mind ex- planetary dominance.” A liberal or serves, “Bumper stickers are often trib- plains, “We’re born to be righteous, but conservative ideologue might sub- al badges; they advertise the teams we we have to learn what, exactly, people stitute his own worldview for “moral support, including sports teams, uni- like us should be righteous about.” The psychology.” If the irony is intention- versities, and rock bands. The driver of righteous mind, then, is part nature, al, the author is awfully subtle about the ‘Save Darfur’ car is announcing that part nurture. it. Do psychologists diagnosing “the he or she is on the liberal team.” Given The author is that rare academic righteous mind” suffer from the phe- the paucity of Red Sox fans switching who presents complex ideas in a nomenon, too? their allegiance to the Yankees, the comprehensible manner. Repetition Haidt occasionally inserts head- sports analogy doesn’t bode well for a and aphorism keep the reader on scratching non sequiturs into the politics open to persuasion. “People are path. Haidt boils down chapters into text, such as the bizarre idea that the quite good at challenging statements pithy, reappearing verses. “Intuitions 1970s crime wave resulted not from made by other people,” Haidt points come first, strategic reasoning sec- a spike in the youth demographic or out, “but if it’s your belief, then it’s your ond.” “There’s more to morality than permissiveness in the criminal justice possession—your child, almost—and harm and fairness.” “Morality binds system, but from leaded gasoline. The you want to protect it, not challenge it and blinds.” It’s hard to get lost when psychology professor, when appeal- and risk losing it.” the author stays on track even as he ing to the hard sciences—or explain- Haidt maintains that there are genetic meanders through psychology, poli- ing conservatism after telling readers and other biologial reasons for this. He tics, biology, religion, philosophy, and that he happened upon conservatism cites a study that claims that agreement other fields. in a used book store a few years ago— with comforting political positions re- The Righteous Mind delivers power occasionally stumbles outside of his leases dopamine in the brain, thereby shots to every outlook save its au- bailiwick. His professed utilitarian conditioning humans to conform to the thor’s. Haidt writes that “my beloved ethics would seem sure to dull the five group. He cites another study purport- topic of inquiry—moral psychology— moral sensors if the mathematics of ing to show that one’s place on the polit- is the key to understanding politics, the greater good added up. And im- ical spectrum is in large part genetically religion, and our spectacular rise to plicit in that moral taste-buds meta- phor is the absolute claim that morals are relativistic matters of taste rather than unequivocal matters of right and wrong. But if the reader can get past these quirks and shortcomings, the REGISTER core point—that reason inhibits the search for truth as much as it helps— provokes and rings, well, true. ONLINE NOW This book starts debates about the people who forever seek to end them. for the First Conference in the And with cable news an incessant re- minder of our calcified politics, the REBUILDING CHRISTENDOM series idea that the human brain is hard- wired to rationalize rather than to seek the truth has numerous unwit- ting televangelists buttressing the ar- WhatTowards a Vision is of Reconstruction to be Amidstdone? the Ruins gument at every hour of the day. Haidt argues that this phenomenon isn’t the Join 11 scholars, journalists, and men of action as we “take our stand” work of Phil Griffin or Roger Ailes but in defense of Catholic Social Teaching and the politics of Jesus Christ. of evolutionary psychology; the “righteous mind” is 4.6 billion years in the August 24–26, 2012 • Washington, d.c. making. The book arrives not a mo- Dulles Marriott • 45020 Aviation Dr., Dulles, Va. 20166 • 703.471.9500 ment too soon. Includes meals & lectures. Only $150 through May 2012. Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar www.rebuildingchristendom.com Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 51 Arts&Letters

To Save JFK such homely virtues. King specializes What happened to the legacy of in what T.S. Eliot called life’s “partial Zola and Balzac, Dickens and Thac- by Marian Kester Coombs horror.” He’s a master at seeing the keray? Here Wolfe applies the same grinning skull beneath the skin, the analysis to American literature that 11/22/63: A Novel, Stephen King, manic gleam in the eye of the quiet he earlier applied to the visual arts Scribner, 849 pages neighbor, the evil that somehow per- (“The Painted Word”) and archi- meates whole towns. He understands tecture (“From the Bauhaus to Our istory is the best story: you how a Thing can be hungry and want House”): “The intelligentsia have al- can’t make that stuff up. It to feed upon whatever is at hand: fear, ways had contempt for the realistic takes an Olympian imagina- jealousy, shame, regret, anger, weak- novel—a form that wallows so en- Htion to render historical events be- ness—even love and happiness. thusiastically in the dirt of everyday lievable, much less comprehensible. Almost a quarter-century ago, life and the dirty secrets of class envy The most outlandish part of Stephen Tom Wolfe wrote in “Stalking the and that, still worse, is so easily un- King’s 11/22/63 is its account of the Billion-Footed Beast: A Literary derstood and obviously relished by real life and adventures of Lee Har- Manifesto for the New Social Novel” the mob, i.e., the middle class.” vey Oswald and his shadowy mentor (Harper’s, November 1989) that he The intelligentsia look down not George de Mohrenschildt. Compared had expected to be overrun and out- only on realism but on all the popular to that farrago of double lives, the done by countless writers scrambling genres: mysteries, war stories, bodice- time-travel fantasy plot seems unex- to render the American experience— rippers, Westerns, spy thrillers, science ceptional. creating the “literature worthy of her fiction, horror, and humor. But a lot of Readers don’t turn to Stephen King vastness” that social-realist Sinclair good writing, and the best storytell- for belles lettres, but his writing hab- Lewis called for in his 1930 Nobel ing, can be found in those genres, on its are highly effective for storytelling, Prize speech—only to see the con- the page and on screens both big and plot development, character compo- temporary novel reduced to a mere small, from “The Sopranos” to “My sition (or decomposition), and other “literary game.” Name Is Earl.” Why do serious writers flee realism? Out of despair, Wolfe says, at being unable to keep up with a reality that grows more fantastical by the day:

The imagination of the novelist is powerless before what he knows he’s going to read in tomorrow morning’s newspaper. … [Yet] the

PATRICK J. BUCHANAN answer is not to [abandon] the Fewer Workers, More rude beast … the life around us Welfare How has America liquidated its labor force? … but to do what journalists do, or are supposed to do, which is to wrestle the beast and bring it to terms. “Hands down, bar none: The American Conservative has become the premier tephen King has always enjoyed Sa good wrestle with the beast. He journal for thinking conservatives.” made his debut with Carrie in 1974, ANDREW BACEVICH nearly four decades ago, and has been Professor of International Relations, mulling over the big idea behind Boston University 11/22/63 for some time. The novel required years of historical research Join the lively discussion at and plumbing his own memories of www.theamericanconservative.com growing up in the 1950s. The plot is this: Jake Epping is a 35-year-old high-school English teacher in Lisbon

52 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Falls, Maine, who is convinced by a he chooses to view the America of The greatest downside, of course, dying friend to check out a portal into a half-century ago through modern is the treatment of black Americans. the past—11:58 a.m. on September 9, eyes. First he notices the mind-blow- King resists the temptation to intro- 1958, to be exact—that he’s discov- ing debasement of our currency—the duce one of his black savior/mar- ered in the rear pantry of his diner. bills still marked “Silver Certificate,” tyr figures like Dick Hallorann in Each time Jake breaches the portal, the coins made of actually valuable The Shining, Mother Abigail in The the past “resets,” effacing any altera- metals. And the prices: comics five Stand, or John Coffey in The Green tions he has previously made. He ages cents each, gas 19.9 cents a gallon, Mile. King has been a prime purveyor at a normal rate while in the past, al- cars for a few hundred bucks, ground of the “Magic Negro” trope. But he though only two seconds have elapsed beef 54 cents a pound, complete din- means well—he lives in Maine, after in the present whenever he returns. ners 95 cents, a revolver for $9.99. all. And he movingly points out in Jake soon signs on to his friend’s ur- Ron Paul can speechify about sound 11/22/63 that second-class citizenship gent mission: to prevent the Ken- money, but literature nedy assassination by first spying on transports you back Oswald to ascertain that he’s the lone to it. assassin, then eliminating him. Save Next noticed are JFK, they figure, and the evils that the trust and friendli- If there were ever an act considered come after—including escalation of ness of a more inno- 100 percent righteous by my the Vietnam War (“Is the butcher’s cent time, the doors bill that high if Kennedy doesn’t die and cars left un- generation, it would be preventing the in Dallas?”), the MLK and RFK assas- locked, the unworld- death of John Kennedy. sinations, the riots, and maybe even liness, the corniness, Tricky Dick himself—will no longer the much more pro- ensue. nounced regional If there were ever an act considered identities. Unselfcon- 100 percent righteous by my genera- scious references to tion, it would be preventing the death God. Kids playing outside till dusk. for American blacks meant a separate of John Kennedy. His murder was Happy upbeat music and fun movies. and unequal quality of life. a live horror movie even before we Nights dark enough to display stars, The one serious anachronism I find were allowed to watch the Zapruder quiet enough to hear crickets. And in King’s recreation of this almost in- tape. The ’50s were as close to sweet- “the huge and stately elms” that are all credible world—which I found cred- ness and light as any cohort of kids gone now. ible only because I once lived there has ever come; the ’50s ended bru- Then there are the vibrant down- myself—is his characters’ foul mouths. tally with the trauma of November towns, the up-and-running industrial He seems to think nice people, even 22, 1963. Then carnage in color on the base, trains chuffing, oilfields roaring, young Southern women, would have nightly news, riots, more assassina- the dignity of manual labor, the un- used four-letter words with abandon tions. Yes, we’d believe Jake’s mission PC conversations, the absence of GPS back then. On the contrary, even “hell” could make the world objectively and tracking systems, the lack of a national and “damn” were reserved for the most quantifiably happier. ID system, no intrusive cell phones or dire situations. What Tom Wolfe has But first Jake has to wait five years nagging email. called the “f--k patois” was unknown for 1963 to roll around. The plan, as Mid-century America is a feast for outside the military, prisons, or core King contrives it, is to be sure Oswald Jake’s senses, if not always a pleasant ghettos. acts alone in his April ’63 attempt to one: “I was deciding that 1958 had As the novel progresses, the depth- kill General Edwin Walker. If he does, been a pretty good year. Aside from less mystery of Lee Harvey Oswald that should mean Oswald will also act the stench of the mill and the cigarette meets the Man Who Wasn’t There, alone in Dallas. Unfortunately, this as- smoke, that was.” No legislative cam- George de Mohrenschildt. The latter sumption turns out to be illogical and paigns to stamp out smoking, no EPA was clearly an instigator and enabler even perverse. to shut down factories, no health Na- of Oswald, but why? If we don’t know “The past is a foreign country; they zis whinging about trans fats, salt, and exactly who he was—and no one de- do things differently there,” wrote L.P. sugar. “This fifty-years-gone world nies he had ties to reactionary White Hartley in The Go-Between. As King smelled worse than I ever would have Russian circles and the CIA—or ex- has Jake accustom himself to liv- expected, but it tasted a whole hell of actly who Jack Ruby was—and no ing in the past, it’s fascinating how a lot better.” one denies he was a mobster—how

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 53 Arts&Letters can we assess Oswald’s true role? strongly reminded of the Republican wonders what history would have Just because de Mohrenschildt wasn’t Party and its candidates. Diminishing been like without Napoleon, just as with Oswald the night he aimed at returns, and reaching into the past to Stephen King wonders what it would Walker doesn’t mean he didn’t goad cherry-pick events is much like gov- have been like without the Kennedy the younger man into doing it. Or set ernment reaching into society to pick assassination. him up for ultimate patsyhood. winners and losers. For King, the “obdurate” past “doesn’t As it turns out, the past does not After Jake kills Oswald in the book want to be changed.” Time resists be- quite reset every time Jake dips into depository and returns to 2011, the ing tampered with. History happens, it. There is a raving wino who seems world has indeed been changed, but history is what happened, and history to function as a gatekeeper stationed overwhelmingly for the worse. The wants to happen. Moreover, “The resis- next to the portal, whom Jake is ad- alternate history he triggered has led tance to change is proportional to how vised to give a 50-cent piece to in to nukes being used, climate change, much the future might be altered by order to pass unmolested—like pay- pollution, impoverishment, political any given act.” For Tolstoy, the forces ing the boatman to be rowed across chaos, neotribalism—a real equal- of history are far greater than the will the Styx to Hades. After several trips, opportunity dystopia. Heeding the of any man. What appears in 20-20 Jake finds the guy with his throat cut; gatekeeper at last, he returns one final hindsight to have been willed by one the next time, another man rushes up time to let history happen. or many individuals only “came about and begs Jake to quit meddling, tell- Incomparable as they might be, step by step, moment by moment, ing him that every time the past is al- 11/22/63 has something in common event by event, as a result of the most tered, “it gums up the machine. Even- with Tolstoy’s War and Peace aside diverse circumstances”: tually a point will come where the from their great length and their machine simply … stops.” Apparently shared understanding that people The human mind cannot grasp each portal or “bubble” is manned most love to read stories about peo- the causes of phenomena in the by a guardian whose protests are be- ple: both books deal with theories of aggregate. But the need to find coming more and more feeble. One is history and how it is made. Tolstoy these causes is inherent in man’s soul. … To the question: What causes historic events? an answer presents itself, namely, that the course of world events is predetermined from on high, and de- pends on the coincidence of the wills of all who participate in those events, and that the influence of a Napoleon on the course

ROD DREHER of such events is purely superfi- Jeff Fortenberry: Crunchy cial and imaginary. Congressman The Nebraska representative defied Grover Norquist—here’s why. “Predetermined from on high” is another way of invoking King’s notion of the obdurate past. The Greeks called it moira, fate; their tragedies “In a political age dominated by chicken show how the more violently one hawks, cowards, and opportunists, The struggles to evade his destiny, the more tightly it embraces him. Jake’s American Conservative is indespensable sobering travels through time reveal and irreplaceable.” to him “a universe of horror and loss BILL KAUFFMAN surrounding a single lighted stage Author, Every Man a King where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.” To King, that is humanity’s Get your daily dose at hell, and its ultimate hope. www.theamericanconservative.com Marian Kester Coombs writes from Crofton, Md.

54 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Religious Middle fails to surface in Robert Wuthnow’s As Kansas became predictably Re- latest book on faith and politics in Kan- publican, local politics became increas- by D.G. Hart sas, Red State Religion. Understandable ingly hostile. Protests against abortion was Thomas Frank’s avoidance of the won national coverage in 1989 when Red State Religion: Faith and Politics in Pennsylvania Senator in What’s the 79 people were arrested for blocking America’s Heartland, Robert Wuthnow, Matter With Kansas, since Specter’s access to a clinic in Wichita. Twenty Princeton University Press, 488 pages example would not support Frank’s years later, Kansas opposition to abor- account of the state’s shift to the right tion took extreme form when troubled scholar who wanted to portray under pressure from highly contested activist Scott Roeder gunned down Kansas, a state widely known issues such as abortion. But Wuthnow Dr. George Tiller, a director of one of as “a bastion of Protestant Re- is interested in a different side of Kan- Wichita’s abortion clinics, just before a Apublican conservatism,” in a less right- sas politics and its religious influences, service at a local Lutheran church. (In wing light might turn to Arlen Spec- one less radical and ideological. Spec- 1993, Shelly Shannon, another anti- ter. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Robert ter never lived in the Sunflower State as abortion activist, shot and wounded Dole would also work for showing that an adult, but his instincts were formed Tiller.) not all Kansas Republicans hail from during his youth, when a fundamental- Teaching evolution in public schools the hard right—the 32nd president ly Kansas-style moderation took root. was another front in Kansas’s culture of the United States and the GOP’s Wuthnow is one of the premier so- wars. Between 1999 and 2006 religious 1996 standard-bearer fit squarely in ciologists of religion in the United conservatives were successful in con- the mold of political moderation that States. Instead of looking to moderate trolling the state Board of Education many intellectuals admire. But Spec- national GOP leaders from Kansas to and rewriting school standards to inter, who was born in 1930 in Wichita explain the state’s politics, he plays to clude alternative accounts of the human before moving cross state to Rus- his strength— analysis of religion. This race’s origins. Religion-based activism sell—also the hometown of Dole, who approach to red state politics allows also spawned in Kansas a movement is seven years older—may be a better him to deflect from Kansas Christians to make gay marriage illegal. In 2005 weather of Kansas Republicanism, un- the typical charge that religious devo- this effort succeeded in gaining voters’ likely as that might sound. tion in the forms associated with the approval for a constitutional amend- After transferring from the Uni- religious right is responsible for the ment that banned same-sex marriage. versity of Oklahoma to the University extremes of Kansas-style conservative Kansas’s version of red state politics of- of Pennsylvania, Specter established Republicanism. Wuthnow does not fers scholars the triple crown of social ties to the state from which he would deny the obvious. Since 1960, Kansas conservatism: pro-life convictions, Cre- launch his political career. In 1965, has been at the center of the contests ation Science, and family values. when he decided to run for Philadel- and controversies that put the religious If onlookers see these recent devel- phia’s district attorney, Specter was reg- right on the national map. With the ex- opments as an aberration, Wuthnow istered a Democrat, but he switched to ception of 1964—an intriguing anom- is quick to point out that the origins the Republican ticket with pledges to aly for alert conservatives—when Kan- of Kansas itself are shot through with uphold law and order. By the end of his sas favored Lyndon Baines Johnson forms of radical politics that were career, after serving five terms as one of over Barry Goldwater, the state’s voters prevalent at the time of the Republican Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators, he trans- have backed all of the Republican Par- Party’s birth. The Kansas-Nebraska act ferred back to the Democrats. Specter ty’s nominees of the last half-century: of 1854, which gave settlers the ability to believed his former opponents would Richard Nixon by a 20 percent major- determine through popular sovereign- be more receptive to his brand of po- ity in 1968 and a 38 percent majority in ty whether these newly created states litical moderation than the extremist 1972, Gerald Ford by 7 percent, Ronald would allow or prohibit slavery—and ideologues who dominated the GOP. Reagan by 24 percent in 1980 and 33 in the process destroyed the Missouri He failed to gain a sixth term in the percent in 1984, Bush Sr. by 13 percent Compromise of 1820—was crucial to Senate because he could not survive in 1988 and 5 percent in 1992, Robert the rise of the GOP and its abolitionist the 2010 Democratic Pennsylvania Dole by 18 percent, George W. Bush by constituency. Not only were Republi- primary. 21 percent in 2000 and by 25 percent in cans responsible for establishing Kansas As weaselly as Specter’s career might 2004, and John McCain by 15 percent. as a free state, but they were also advo- be, his effort to avoid extremes pro- This places Kansas alongside Indiana cates of women’s suffrage: Kansas be- vides a perfect case of the common- as the only states in the union to vote came the first state to grant women the sense politics underneath his native for Republicans in 30 out of 38 presi- right to vote in school elections (1861) state’s ideological exterior. Yet Specter dential elections. and to hold municipal office (1887),

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 55 Arts&Letters and it was one of the first to embrace He attributes this to a historic religious bringing in Kansas, concludes that two universal suffrage (1912). Given the ties rivalry between Methodists and Ro- elements characterize the state’s politics, between evangelical Protestantism and man Catholics, perennially the two thanks to its religious adherents. First, the Republican Party, observers might largest religious bodies in the state. Kansans exhibited a “pervasive skepti- be warranted in seeing great continuity Red State Religion follows the com- cism” toward big government. Second, between the radicalism of early Kansas ings and goings of these churches, how they embodied an “associational grass- politics and the state’s contemporary they benefitted or suffered from Kan- roots democracy,” which according to reputation for taking religious zeal into sas’s demographics and economic de- Wuthnow makes “families, churches, the public square. velopment, and somewhat awkwardly schools, and community organizations Between the fire of 19th-century overlays the state’s politics—local and … the core ingredients of civic life.” reformers and the brimstone of con- national—on top of its church history. He goes on to explain that rather than temporary religious activism was a pe- As the churches expanded, they creat- heightening political antagonism, in riod when moderation prevailed. To be ed administrative structures and insti- Kansas “religious organizations serve as sure, Kansas still displayed a propensi- tutions that cultivated civic participa- mediating structures between the indi- ty for religiously-inspired political action and restrained “fringe groups and vidual citizen and the national govern- tivism—in the service of Prohibition, radical factions.” To be sure, the Meth- ment.” Instead of proving how extreme for example, a cause also associated odists voted for Republican candidates, Kansas (and by implication, red state with the wing of the GOP that opposed some of whom were more moderate faith) is, history shows that religion, es- slavery and advocated women’s suf- than others, and Roman Catholics pecially in the form of denominational frage. Carrie Nation’s campaign against supported Democrats. But until Roe v. institutions, softens politics and en- saloons at the turn of the 20th century Wade, Kansas’s Christians were more courages civic participation. Only with is another instance of Kansas’s addic- of a moderating than a radicalizing ele- the rise of national issues like abolition, tion to political extremism. But Wuth- ment in politics. alcohol, or abortion has the localist ori- now stresses that Kansas also owned a Wuthnow, whose charitable interpre- entation and good sense of Kansans re- political style more calm than harried. tation may partly owe to his own up- ceded and faith turned activist. What is striking about Wuthnow’s conclusion is the gap between his description and his understanding of conservatism. As readers of this magazine well know, Wuthnow’s de- piction of mediating structures and local politics comes straight out of the traditionalist conservative play- book. In fact, the greatest weakness of JORDAN MICHAEL SMITH Can Democrats Get Wuthnow’s analysis is that he identi- Realist? fies political conservatism with the Why the best minds of international power politics are leaving the GOP GOP and religious conservatism with evangelical Protestantism. In a two- party system, paleoconservatives and traditionalist or liturgical Christians only have so many options; they may “If there is to be a resurgence of anything be forced to hold their noses with one resembling a thoughtful American hand while pulling the GOP lever conservatism, it will have been incubated with the other. But in the history of political thought and the Christian by The American Conservative.” tradition, the GOP and religious right JEREMY BEER only faintly resemble anything that Co-Editor, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia can be called conservative. No real conservative would ever countenance Let us hear your opinion at prohibiting alcohol as a remedy for www.theamericanconservative.com human infirmities, just as no genuine Christian would consider grape juice a suitable substitute for wine. Asso-

56 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 ciating conservatism with Republi- dustrial cities—Youngstown, Ohio or ation as change his or her mind on the cans is particularly annoying given Flint, Michigan, for example—may be issues. the party’s radical origins and current shrinking, but their loss of population Her choice to politicize the text dis- ideological posture. provides opportunity for reinvention. tracts from some of the more interest- Still, conservatism is an acquired She is excited about the potential of ing phenomena she examines, such as taste, and if scholars from Ivy League these smaller cities, places that once the impact of demographic shifts within universities don’t know the difference were thriving parts of regional cor- the American city. (Lawrence, Massa- between Russell Kirk and Jerry Falwell, ridors that have since stopped thriv- chusetts, a traditional manufacturing or between J. Gresham Machen and ing with the erosion of their industrial hotbed, is now 71 percent Hispanic.) Randall Terry, why should anyone ex- base. She theorizes that “smaller-cities She writes of the self-contained “micro- pect residents of America’s heartland to could be at the center of a low-carbon economies” brought to our major cities do so? Whatever is wrong with Kansas, world,” and she attempts to prove it by by recent immigration into their “first- it is not a condition that afflicts Kan- taking the reader through a series of ring suburbs,” but she presents little in sans alone. case studies that illuminate pieces of the way of context to explain how those the puzzle. microeconomies function. The book D.G. Hart is a visiting professor of history at The author spends time with agrar- also fails to draw connections between Hillsdale College and is the author, most ians in Janesville, Wisconsin—a for- the ideas discussed: it reads like a col- recently, of From Billy Graham to Sarah mer General Motors town in the heart lection of essays. The concept of being Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal of of Paul Ryan country—who seek to “small, gritty, and green” affords a nice American Conservatism. create farmland amid the suburban catchphrase, but most of the cities Tum- sprawl. She depicts the small-scale ber spotlights are making ad hoc efforts agricultural efforts of Puerto Rican rather than taking a holistic approach, immigrant farmers in Holyoke, Mas- which raises the question of whether sachusetts. And she introduces the any industrial city can really repurpose Recycling Cities reader to the troubles of Youngstown, itself in a meaningfully “green” way once by A.G. Gancarski Ohio, the former Jim Traficant strong- its signature industry leaves. hold hit hard by the twined issues of At the heart of Tumber’s book is the Small, Gritty, and Green: The Promise industrial collapse and Mafia corrup- unspoken assumption that Washing- of America’s Smaller Industrial Cities tion. Youngstown, argues Tumber, ton has significant unspent resources in a Low-Carbon World, Catherine would benefit from high-speed rail and that can be devoted to renovating for- Tumber, MIT Press, 192 pages more green space. The latter is easier lorn places that thrived generations to achieve than the former since the ago but will likely never flourish again. n her second book, Massachusetts Buckeye State’s Republican governor, But does the federal government have Institute of Technology historian John Kasich, opposes rail. a compelling interest in giving some Catherine Tumber explores the Tumber for the most part does well woebegone hellhole like Flint, Michi- Ivexed question of our blighted cities when she describes the mechanics of gan a leg up over some other city? The and how to revive these superannu- what is working in various places. But country has many ghost towns that ated structures for the 21st century. In she often bogs herself down in the tired rose and fell in service of specific busi- the tradition of the iconoclastic James language of partisan politics—blaming nesses and finite economic needs. They Howard Kunstler, who blurbed this Republicans for opposing everything vanished, and the country survived volume, Small, Gritty, and Green urg- from the aforementioned rail project anyway. Can a city be considered too es that, for cities to move forward, they to efforts to bring back neighborhood big to fail? need a renewed purpose. Increased lo- schools to North Carolina. Every 20 Despite my qualms, Small, Gritty, calism is Tumber’s prescription—pro- pages or so, Tumber makes an appeal and Green is a book that tells stories duction of everything from foodstuffs to the Obama administration to move otherwise unheard at the national to energy at the community level. her concerns along. These attempts to level, and it attempts—in a limited, As Kunstler has maintained insert the book into partisan disputes occasionally faltering way—to pro- throughout his career, the coming end have the opposite of the intended ef- vide a roadmap for former industrial of the fossil-fuel era will demand that fect, reminding the reader that Ameri- strongholds to regain a scintilla of fewer resources be expended on trans- can politics is largely framed in “us their vitality. porting goods from far away. Tum- versus them” terms and creating the ber’s analysis is more sentimental than impression that the author would just A.G. Gancarski writes and teaches English in Kunstler’s, however. Downtrodden in- as soon change someone’s party affili- Jacksonville, Florida.

JULY 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 57 Taki

Code of Bushido

’ve just had the worst time in my lines, my first wife hinted that perhaps one, a black steel hull, two masts, two life rubbing shoulders—actually we could get back together again. For long overhangs in the bow and stern, masts—with ghastly ex-Soviet once I acted smart. Who needs a wife and covered in teak and mahogany. gangsters, now being referred when he has a boat? Or, as my old man She is 120 feet long and by far the Ito as oligarchs by the gutter press always said, “He who has a yacht has most beautiful boat in the Med. When and the New York Times-Washington a different wife every night.” My first people ask when she was built I always Post camorra. There also were towel- boat was all mahogany and teak with a answer 1927, and I have yet to meet wearing Arabs with obscene boats flush deck; I thought of her as the Ava someone who questioned it. further polluting the French Riviera, Gardner of sailing vessels: difficult, So, I should be happy at last, n’est- but it’s the oligarchs playing Com- exotic, but with looks that drove other ce pas? The trouble is the rest of the modore Vanderbilt that make the sailors wild. I re-named her Bushido, people have yachts, as opposed to once-fabled south of France stink. after the samurai code of the warrior. boats. Everywhere I’ve gone these last Never have I seen such vile people— “Bushi” as my friends called her, ten years has been a nightmare. Every arrogant, ill-mannered, covered in lasted a good 20 years, then was sold marina is impossible to get into, every bling and surrounded by hookers, off to some conman who turned cove is chock-a-block with large mon- all showing off their horribly ugly her into a rental, a bit like pimp- strous stinkpots—as we old salts call superyachts that look like giant ing out Ava, not the kind of thing a boats with motors—and even when fridges on steroids. gent would do, n’est-ce pas? After my one is moored in waters far away from So let’s go back to the good old days father’s death in 1989, I inherited a the glitzy spots of the Med, the world’s for a moment. When my first wife left triple screw speedster of more than most annoying invention—the jet- me for being too uxorious, I reacted 100 feet (that means she had three ski—runs rings around Bushido mak- as most Greeks would. I threatened engines and three propellers, not ing sure no one on board has a mo- to kill myself, although the thought what you landlubbers first thought), ment of peace and reflection. (We’re never even crossed my mind. But my but that particular Bushido almost very big on peace and reflection on mother fell for it, and soon my wishes broke me after I took her from Greece Bushido). came true with a telephone call from to the south of France on bunkers Back in the glory days, I knew most my father. “Your mother is worried alone. Fortunately some gangsters of the people that sailed around the about you, but I know you’re faking. in Athens blew her up and then de- French Riviera, in Sardinia, Corsica, Nevertheless, go out and buy yourself manded the insurance money, some- the Spanish coast, and, of course, the a b o at .” thing I refused to pay, and a very long Greek Isles. People would anchor next That was 1968. My only regret after war of nerves and threats only ended to one another and a party would accepting my father’s generous offer once I imported some muscle from ensue. We were all friends. After the was that I had not thought of threat- America who photographed them- Arab oil boycott in 1974, some strange ening suicide before. Ever since the selves next to the daughter of the creatures began to float around, men late ’50s I had hitched rides on my leading hood, who gave up the fight. wearing towels and sheets who would father’s magnificent sailboat, the Aries, Then came the present Bushido. My throw their rubbish overboard along or on other elegant sailers like Gianni son and I conceived her, my wife and with the occasional hooker. It was the Agnelli’s Agneta or a fellow Greek’s daughter decorated her, and soon after beginning of the end of floating the one and only three-masted schooner, she was launched in 2004 she became good life, and as of this summer, with Creole. Now it was my turn. the “head turner” I always wanted to a gangster like Roman Abramo-son- After I acquired a 1939 Swedish own. She was Keira Knightley, Ava of-a-bitch polluting the place with five cutter of rare lineage, beauty, and Gardner, and Betty Grable rolled into megayachts, it is the end.

58 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE JULY 2012 Why Thomas Friedman’s “Flat Earth” ideas are ﬂ at wrong—and what we must do to reclaim America’s future

Facebook & Twitter create lots of jobs? “China is not the problem,” despite our $270 billion annual trade deﬁ cit with China? Higher American fuel bills will ultimately be good for Americans? WRONG!

In That Should Still Be Us, veteran foreign correspondent Martin Sieff convincingly refutes the claims Thomas Friedman makes in his bestelling books The World is Flat and That Used to Be Us. He explains why Friedman and the policies he recommends are wrong on everything from free trade and immigration to alternative energy.

In a stirring call to arms, Sieff takes on Friedman’s contempt for the American worker and provides sensible, workable solutions for reversing America’s decline and propelling the nation into a new age of prosperity and growth.

Available wherever books and e-books are sold. For more information, visit http://www.wiley.com/buy/9781118197660