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May 16, 2011 49145 $4.99 William A. Rusher, R.I.P.

Medicare Reform, Obama-Style Obama-Style $4.99 STANLEY KURTZ 20

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MAY 16, 2011 | VOLUME LXIII, NO. 9 | www.nationalreview.com

COVER STORY Page 30

The Acronym That Ate Health Care Remembering Bill Rusher The 2012 election, and the existence of a p. 37 free health-care market in this country, could well depend on a little-known BOOKS, ARTS agency called IPAB. Remember that & MANNERS acro nym. It stands for the 45 THE LONG CLIMB Independent Payment Advisory William Voegeli reviews The Origins of Political Order: From Board, a vastly powerful but too Prehuman Times to the French often overlooked component of Revolution, by Francis Fukuyama. the president’s health-care- 47 GENIUS REBUKED Michael Knox Beran reviews reform law. Stanley Kurtz Bismarck: A Life, by Jonathan Steinberg. COVER: DARREN GYGI 51 GREAT GENERATION ARTICLES Robert VerBruggen reviews Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: 16 DEBTORS CAN BE CHOOSERS by Ramesh Ponnuru Why Being a Great Parent Is Budget advice for the Republican leadership. Less Work and More Fun Than You Think, by Bryan Caplan. SYRIA NEXT? by David Pryce-Jones 18 52 MUSIC: THE RIGHT NOTES The horrible Assad regime faces its people. Jay Nordlinger on his friendship with the late composer Lee Hoiby. 20 THE TYRANT TEMPTATION by Steven F. Hayward Why intellectuals succumb to it. 54 FILM: PREACHER FEATURE Ross Douthat reviews 24 SHARIA CENSORS GO GLOBAL by Jacob Mchangama The Conspirator. The jihad for a world-wide blasphemy law. 55 THE STRAGGLER: 26 THAT COMMONER TOUCH by Theodore Dalrymple TUMBLED THE TOWERS Of the royal wedding and the decaying British monarchy. John Derbyshire contemplates the fragility of civilization. FEATURES SECTIONS 30 THE ACRONYM THAT ATE HEALTH CARE by Stanley Kurtz Meet IPAB, a constitutional outrage and de facto death panel. 2 Letters to the Editor 4 The Week 34 IT’S GOOD TO BE KING by Judith Miller 43 Athwart ...... James Lileks In the face of the Arab Spring, Morocco’s monarch hangs on. 44 The Long View ...... Rob Long 46 Poetry ...... Charles Baudelaire 37 REMEMBERING BILL RUSHER 56 Happy Warrior ...... Mark Steyn

NATIONAl RevIeW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by NATIONAl RevIeW, Inc., at 215 lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. © National Review, Inc., 2011. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to editorial Dept., NATIONAl RevIeW, 215 lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONAl RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 10:30 P.M. eastern time. Adjustment requests should be accompanied by a current mailing label or facsimile. Direct classified advertising inquiries to: Classifieds Dept., NATIONAl RevIeW, 215 lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTeR: Send address changes to NATIONAl RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015. Printed in the U.S.A. RATeS: $59.00 a year (24 issues). Add $21.50 for Canada and other foreign subscriptions, per year. (All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 4/27/2011 2:00 PM Page 2 Letters

Atomic Detail MAY 16 ISSUE; PRINTED APRIL 28 It was with great glee and anticipation that I opened the April 4 edition to read EDITOR William Tucker’s article regarding the events at Fukushima Daiichi (“Over- Richard Lowry reaction”). However, my glee turned to sorrow toward the middle of the article. Senior Editors As an individual who has spent the last quarter century performing testing on Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones welds at nuclear power plants, I found several errors in Mr. Tucker’s otherwise Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts persuasive defense of nuclear power. Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy 1. The “steel pressure vessel” (reactor pressure vessel) is not “cast from a sin- National Correspondent John J. Miller Political Reporter Robert Costa gle ingot.” Reactor pressure vessels are fabricated from multiple forgings that are Art Director Luba Kolomytseva welded together. In addition, they should never be considered “nearly invulner - Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson able to cracks.” We have had a number of vessels with minor cracking, but fortu- Associate Editors nately the cracking was discovered and repaired with no harm to the general Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen Research Director Katherine Connell public or plant workers. Research Manager Dorothy McCartney 2. The event at Three Mile Island did, in fact, create enough heat to melt through Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos the stainless steel (not chromium) cladding and affect the reactor vessel itself Contributing Editors be fore the operators regained control by injecting highly borated water. Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum 3. The torus is not designed to collect the molten core, but is a pressure- Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg suppression chamber where steam is released into water to condense the steam Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi during an accident. The torus also helps “scrub” some of the rather nasty radio- Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne nuclides out of gases prior to their release into the atmosphere. David B. Rivkin Jr.

NATIONALREVIEWONLINE Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez William A. Jensen Managing Editor Edward John Craig Manitowoc, Wis. News Editor Daniel Foster Editorial Associates Brian Stewart / Katrina Trinko IllIAM uckeR ReplIes Web Developer Nathan Goulding W T : Mr. Jensen is correct on No. 1. On No. 2, the cladding is Applications Developer Gareth du Plooy the zircalloy or steel coating on the fuel rods. It is my understanding that the steel Technical Services Russell Jenkins vessel has a chromium lining, and that when the fuel at Three Mile Island (and later EDITORS- AT- LARGE at Fukushima) melted to the bottom of the vessel, it was not hot enough to melt the Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan chromium. On No. 3, I was confusing the torus with the core-catcher, which is Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell another safety feature that lies below the pressure vessel. James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman Health-Insurance Equality Now! James Gardner / David Gelernter George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart Ramesh ponnuru’s “Replacement plan” (April 18) was excellent, but he is too Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler timid about getting rid of the outrageous unfairness in the tax code that penalizes David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune D. Keith Mano / Michael Novak those who don’t have employer-based health insurance. Alan Reynolds / William A. Rusher Tracy Lee Simmons / Terry Teachout Today, Americans who buy their insurance in the individual market are taxed on Taki Theodoracopulos / Vin Weber their premiums, but those who buy insurance through their employers are not. This Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge is a simple problem, and easy to fix: Allow individuals to deduct their health-insur- Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak ance premiums. congress will say that it would cost too much, but we should tell Business Services them fair is fair. Alex Batey / Amy Tyler Circulation Manager Jason Ng Group health insurance unnecessarily complicates health care and increases WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 expenses. Individuals, not groups, are treated for medical conditions. Individuals SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 relocate and change jobs frequently, and group health insurance does not move with WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 them. Individuals who are expensive to insure do benefit from group rates, but they Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd are best served by state-overseen substandard-risk pools funded by insurers. Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet We are a mobile society. Health insurance should not be tied to employment. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett

PUBLISHER John F. Brinson Jack Fowler Chairman, Lehigh Valley Tax Limitation Committee CHAIRMANEMERITUS Thomas L. Rhodes Allentown, Pa.

FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected].

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n Perhaps Trump is well-suited to be president. He has over- seen bankruptcies, after all.

n We speak of office holders growing into their jobs. Is Barack Obama shrinking into his? Mr. Cool has been Mr. Trump’s theory of property rights showing signs recently of self-pity. “I miss being anonymous,” he told Hearst executives. “I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls . . .” (We miss you doing all those things too, Mr. President.) He has also shown signs of ire. After an interview with Brad Watson, anchor of WFAA- TV in Dallas, he snapped, “Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?” Now, let us stip- ulate that the pressures of the modern presidency are crazy-making; that no one, not even former vice pres- idents, has any true idea of them beforehand; that even happy warriors like Reagan, Ike, and FDR sometimes misspoke. How much harder it must be, then, for a tyro lofted by his youth and freshness?

n Despite his messy personal life, history of liberalism, attention- seeking personality, and nutty birther claims, Donald Trump has risen to the top of some polls since hinting at a 2012 presidential bid. Republican primary voters who think his business cre - stream candidate. On this much, at least, we agree with the Pauls: dentials and name recognition outweigh his negatives should Abortion is hard to square with a political philosophy that abhors bear one more thing in mind: his lack of respect for the property coercive violence. of others. In the 1990s, he made two attempts to take real estate away from private owners by using “eminent domain”—in other n We used to say that there was nothing so vile that it could not, words, he asked local governments to steal it and give it to him, or would not, be said about Clarence Thomas. And the same with the promise that he would pay more in taxes than the pre - holds true for Sarah Palin. A well-known blog called Wonkette vious owners did. One project was a proposed amusement park made brutal fun of Palin’s youngest child, Trig (who has Down in Bridgeport, Conn., for which he needed land occupied by syndrome). Under pressure from conservatives—from decent several businesses; the other was an Atlantic City casino that he people, really—many companies pulled their advertising from wanted to expand onto the property of an elderly widow who did Wonkette. These include Papa John’s, Nordstrom, and Coldwell not want to sell. Trump failed both times (the park never panned Banker. Those who doubted that there was any limit to what out, and the elderly widow won a legal fight), but in 2005, the could be said about Palin and her family, without consequence, Supreme Court ruled that eminent-domain abuse was constitu- have to be somewhat comforted. tional, and Trump cheered in an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto. Trump should, at the very least, be pressed to add this to n The Left has been pounding Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona for say- his growing list of flip-flops. ing that Planned Parenthood devotes “well over 90 percent” of its resources to providing abortions. When an aide said that his n Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, is running remark was not meant to be “a factual statement,” Colbert and for the Republican presidential nomination. Sometimes no-hope Stewart and many lesser wits were off to the races. News reports candidacies are designed to change the direction of a party. In duly corrected the senator, saying that abortion accounts for only Johnson’s case, the candidacy seems as much designed to change 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s activity. But who will correct the direction of a tiny faction of it. Johnson represents those lib- the corrections? The truth is that 98 percent of the organization’s ertarians miffed at the ascension of Ron and Rand Paul within “services” to pregnant women are abortions. It is the country’s their movement because of the Pauls’ opposition to abortion and largest abortion provider. The 3 percent statistic is culpably mis- downplaying of drug legalization. The senior Paul is going to run leading. (Give a woman a pregnancy test, abort her child, and again, too. Our libertarian friends will have to decide for them- then hand her some birth control on the way out: Abortion

DARREN GYGI selves which direction they prefer, or else opt to support a main- accounts for only 33 percent of what you’ve done.) Kyl, and

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THE WEEK especially his aide, erred. But the senator was closer to the truth right-to-work states such as South Carolina. Not so fast, says than his critics are. the NLRB: If the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is chasing you out of Washington state, n “We’re not going to use signing statements as a way of do - that’s your problem, not theirs. Boeing’s crime, in the NLRB’s ing an end-run around Congress.” Mark that down as another view, was telling the truth: Executives made statements to Candidate Obama flop from which President Obama has flipped. employees that past strikes in Washington and the constant Throughout the Bush administration, congressional Democrats threat of future ones were main reasons for the South Carolina railed over the use of presidential signing statements. It was sheer expansion. Naughty, naughty, quoth the NLRB: Taking past politics. Obama has issued signing statements from the start, and strikes into account might have a chilling effect on future he has just issued another one promising to disregard, as uncon- strikes—since it apparently is to be forever enshrined in feder- stitutional, a restriction on his appointment of czars. While the al law that unions are to operate in an entirely consequence-free president’s interpretation does not bind others—courts may environment. And we wonder why Toyota thrives while GM reject it, rightly if the text of the statute contradicts it—signing is a ward of the state. statements are useful. The executive branch has immense discre- tion in deciding which provisions of law will be energetically enforced and which will be ignored. Better that a president tell us what he is thinking than that he stay mum, leaving us to infer it from his actions. This is how governing is done, as Obama has found in adopting one Bush policy after another.

n When the Supreme Court decided in Citizens United that Americans do not forfeit their First Amendment rights when they join together to form businesses or nonprofit organizations, Democrats responded by introducing the DISCLOSE Act, which would have restricted the political activities of some employees at firms that bid on federal contracts. DISCLOSE died in Congress, but now Obama is poised to resurrect it through presidential decree, an act of dubious constitutionality. Federal contractors n In the annals of Amer ican justice miscarried, few episodes already are covered by disclosure rules when it comes to cam- have been more appalling than the persecution of the Ami rault paign donations, as are their employees—whose donations, like family by prosecutors in Massachusetts. Gerald Amirault those of any other citizens, are subject to reporting requirements. served 18 years; his sister Cheryl and their mother Violet President Obama proposes to go one step further, ordering Big served eight years each; all on preposterous child-abuse Business to play Big Brother and keep tabs on employees’ private charges defended doggedly by state prosecutors. Wall Street political activities and donations made with their own money. Journal reporter Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote a fine book about Unions that negotiate enormous personnel contracts with the fed- the case, No Crueler Tyrannies (2003). Fiercest among the eral government would be exempt from the rules, as would orga- Amiraults’ persecutors was Martha Coakley, then district nizations such as Planned Parenthood that rely on federal funds attorney of Middlesex County. Incredibly, considering her for a considerable part of their operations. This planned decree want of judgment in the Amirault case, Coakley was elected is a naked attempt to intimidate critics and constrain political Massachusetts attorney general in 2006, and reelected in activities, including donations to issue-advocacy groups not 2010. Now she is in the national news again, demanding that directly involved in electing candidates. The president is demand- the Pabst Brewing Co. stop selling Blast, a fruit-flavored ing that those he considers his political enemies be compelled to canned beverage with a 12 percent alcohol content—a “binge compile his enemies list for him. Would that he showed such ruth- in a can,” says Coakley. At 23.5 ounces, a can of Blast is less efficiency in pursuit of the national interest. equivalent to four or five ordinary beers, or the same number of shots of liquor or five-ounce glasses of wine. Possibly this n On the heels of President is something to be concerned about; but we’d be more Obama’s recess appointment inclined to think so if the disgraced name of Ms. Coakley were of radical SEIU lawyer Craig not attached to the story. Becker to the National Labor Relations Board comes an n Workforce Central Florida, a federally funded nonprofit outrageous NLRB attack on agency charged with connecting employers to jobseekers, Boe ing’s plan to expand its faces a 10.4 percent unemployment rate in its five-county operations in South Carolina. region. What to do? Why, a PR campaign! Hence the “Cape- Boeing, like any business that A-Bility Challenge,” a $73,000 effort featuring, among other wants to remain in business, gimmicks, the handing out of 6,000 red superhero capes to is keen on shifting its re - unemployed Central Floridians. No sooner was the scheme sources beyond the reach publicized, however, than it faced a storm of derision. It has of the unions and the juris - now been canned, leaving Workforce Central stuck with those dictions they dominate, and capes, all bearing the program logo. The Orlando Sentinel has therefore seeks to expand in been collecting suggestions for their disposal. Here’s ours:

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Larger than actual size of 30.6 mm In 1893 a Columbian Half Dollar sold for $10,000. Aren’t you glad you waited? The World’s Columbian Exposition, also FIRST EVER, LAST EVER? You must be 100% satisfied with your known as the Chicago World’s Fair, heralded We haven’t had much luck finding quantities order, or simply return it within 30 days a remarkable number of firsts. big enough to make this kind of an offer. But by insured mail for a prompt refund of the when we stumbled across a small hoard of purchase price. Topping the list was the princely sum paid this 118-year-old silver, we were stunned. by Remington Typewriter for the first 1893 Columbian Exposition Half-Dollar Columbian Half Dollar ever struck. Which, SILVER LEGACY $29.95 plus S&H by the way, is also the first United States Order more and save! commemorative coin. OF LASTING VALUE 3 or More just $27.95 each plus S&H Relatively few Silver Columbian Half Dollars 5 or More just $25.95 each plus S&H In today’s dollars that $10,000 price tag survived the last century, and fewer yet in Very Fine condition. These coins retain their would be about $25,000! TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS A DAY full designs in bold relief with complete dates. 1-800-973-3058 Regular Exposition goers could purchase Columbus’s ship the Santa Maria sails a Columbian Half Dollar for twice its Offer Code CED131 across the reverse side of the coin, with the Please mention this when you call. face value, $1. Equal to a full day’s wages two hemispheres representing the world back then. beneath it. The other firsts at this first United States The 1893 Columbian Silver Half Dollar is World’s Fair? your chance to acquire a beautiful family 14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. CED131 heirloom. Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 The first Ferris Wheel. The first hamburger. www.GovMint.com The debut of the Pledge of Allegiance, ORDER TODAY RISK FREE Shredded Wheat, Juicy Fruit gum, and... While they last, an original 1893 Columbian Exposition Half-Dollar is just $29.95 plus ...the first serial killer, who lived just outside

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THE WEEK Stitch the capes together into one humongous cape and call in same-sex couples would violate the state’s public policy and an installation artist to wrap Workforce Central Florida’s head thus be unenforceable. The wisdom of permitting same-sex office with it in the style of the late Christo, lest those inside marriage has been debated widely, including in these pages; escape to inflict more silly stunts on Floridians. whether to let same-sex couples adopt is yet another question. But requiring religious organizations to violate their beliefs n In his epitaph, Thomas Jefferson listed what he saw as his would trample on the spirit of tolerance that Jefferson did so three greatest accomplishments: Composing the Declaration much to establish. of Independence, founding the University of Virginia, and writing his state’s Statute of Religious Freedom. Virginians n In presiding over a trial to determine the legality of take freedom of worship seriously, which is why attorney Proposition 8, the California initiative banning same-sex mar- general Ken Cuccinelli has determined that proposed rules riage, Judge Vaughn Walker made crystal clear which side he requiring religious adoption agencies to place children with favored. NaTIoNal ReVIeW oNlINe’s ed Whelan argues that Political Stimulus

HILE tone-deaf advocacy of Obamacare likely who were not. This pattern likely exists both because sealed the fate of Democrats in the 2010 election, more-powerful Democrats were able to capture more W it was the 2009 stimulus bill that began the large- pork, and because pork spending helped candidates scale protests over the massive expansion of government get reelected. under President Obama. Wikipedia credits blogger Keli While this chart is suggestive, it is hardly decisive. Calendar with organizing the first tea-party rally, the so- Mercatus Institute economist Veronique de Rugy recent- called Porkulus Protest that took place on Feb. 16, 2009, ly performed a statistical analysis that controlled for a just as the stimulus was becoming law. number of other factors that might influence this pattern, Supporters of the stimulus bristle at the accusation such as income, poverty rates, and the tendency for state that the bill was a massive pile of pork. Many of them are, capitals to receive more grant money. Even after control- after all, dyed-in-the-wool Keynesians, who hold the ling for these and other factors, de Rugy found that party genuine belief that the stimulus monies were timely and affiliation was an important determinant of the location of targeted medicine for a reeling economy. One can almost stimulus spending. hear the Obama economists thinking, “We were just Keli Calendar’s first tea-party event was appropriately trying to save those idiots from ruin, and this is the thanks named. we get.” —KEVIN A. HASSETT The assertion that the stimulus bill was more an exer- cise in pork than in sound economics can, to some extent, be evaluated with a simple chart. In theory, pork flows for political purposes. The party that controls Stimulus Funds Awarded Average by Congressional District spending can allocate more funding to itself and target government largesse to maximize the chances that Millions favored candidates get reelected. $800 If, on the other hand, the stimulus monies were eco- $700 $723 nomic medicine, pure and simple, then their flow should be uncorrelated with political variables once one controls $600 for all relevant economic factors. $589 $581 $500 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appro-

priated $787 billion to 28 federal agencies. The act allo- $400 $446 cated $288 billion of the stimulus for tax credits and $224 billion to entitlement programs. The remaining $275 $300 billion was to be awarded as contracts, grants, and loans, $200 following the guidelines in the act. The data on awarded

funds are publicly available at Recovery.gov. $100 The chart breaks down the stimulus spending by congressional district and political party. Two patterns $0 All Congressional Republican Democratic Districts Democratic Districts Districts Districts That Went Republican That Remained emerge. First, Democratic districts received a lot more In 2010 Democratic in 2010 stimulus money than Republican districts. Second, the districts of Democrats who were reelected in 2010 re - SOURCE: RECOVERY.GOV DATA ON CONTRACTS, GRANTS, AND LOANS AS REPORTED BY PRIME RECIPIENT. NOTE: DISTRICTS ARE CLASSIFIED ceived even more money than the districts of Democrats BY THEIR 2008 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION RESULT.

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THE WEEK Walker should have recused himself, since he has a longtime brought it too close to a military jet. In recent months, at least male partner, which gave him a strong interest in the outcome five instances of controllers’ being literally asleep at the of the case. But he did not, and proceeded to tilt the proceedings switch have been documented, and several have been fired. outrageously in favor of Prop 8 opponents—from the decision Why are they so sleepy? Surely it is not from working too to hold a trial itself, highly unusual in such cases, to his delving hard: Another was disciplined after being caught watching a into voters’ purported motivations and his gross misuse of dis- movie instead of the skies. We only wish Ronald Reagan were covery procedures and “expert” testimony—before declaring here to fire them again. the duly passed constitutional amendment to be unconstitution- al. One part of Walker’s design was foiled, as he repeatedly n The descent of the Libyan war into a stalemate almost tried to broadcast the trial until an appeals court definitively exactly coincides with our handing the operation over to prohibited it. Even then, Walker videotaped the proceedings, NATO. The handoff was not the only reason for our lack of supposedly for his “personal use.” The personal turned out to be progress: Bad weather hindered the campaign from the air, political when Walker, now retired, appeared on C-SPAN and and Qaddafi’s forces began trying to blend into the popula- showed a portion of the video (which is now all over the tion. But the war lost its momentum when the U.S. stood Internet) in open defiance of the appeals court’s directive. It back. We should be doing everything we can from the air, seems that the principle of judicial supremacy does not apply to including using the A-10s and AC-130s that no one else has, judges themselves. in exchange for our allies’ doing more on the ground to aid the rebellion—more advisers, training, funds, and weapons. n President Obama did everyone a favor by authorizing the This is a military intervention that needs to be decidedly release of his so-called long-form birth certificate from the more kinetic. Hawaiian archives. The document, as had been attested previ- ously, confirms the information on the birth certificate the presi- n Bashar Assad is defending the family fief in Syria with dent already had released, putting his place of birth at the location increasingly violent measures, sending tanks into the southern it has long been known to have been: Honolulu. Do not count on town of Daraa and having snipers pick off mourners at funer- this to settle the issue: The conspiracy kooks will spend from here als. Obama’s response, here as to the entire cascade of Arab One of Obama’s aides was quoted in The New Yorker describing the Obama doctrine as ‘leading from behind’—a policy that only the most advanced sophisticates can distinguish from weakness.

to eternity in grassy-knoll speculation about the issue, and revolts, has been halting. He has ratcheted up his criticisms, Donald Trump is moving on to our next great national priority: while keeping an ambassador in Damascus; he buys the notion Barack Obama’s college transcripts. Count us marginally more cultivated by the Assads that they can be regional peace bro- interested in those: We’d really like to know whether he studied kers, when in fact they have been patrons of Hamas and economics or history, under whom, and whether his present Hezbollah, destabilizers of Lebanon, and tools of Iran. Obama D-plus performance was augured in his undergraduate days. is neither a forthright Realpolitiker nor an evangelist, à la George W. Bush, for human rights. One of Obama’s aides was n Here’s a new fundraising idea for Democrats: Flee your local quoted in The New Yorker describing the Obama doctrine as legislature to block bills unions despise, and watch the money “leading from behind”—a policy that only the most advanced pour in. When Democrats in Indiana’s state house jumped the sophisticates can distinguish from weakness. border and commenced a five-week stay in Illinois earlier this year, they argued that their absence, which made impossible the n Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian member of the International formation of the quorum necessary to pass legislation, was for the Solidarity Movement, an internationale of pro-Palestinians little guy who would suffer under a right-to-work bill. Turns out and Israel haters. He had been living in Gaza since 2008; most the little guy has deep pockets: During the walkout, the Indiana recently, he monitored Israel’s naval blockade. This April he Democratic party received nearly $140,000 from national and was kidnapped and strangled by a jihadist grouplet. The im - local unions, according to the first-quarter campaign-finance pulse to take up foreign causes can be a generous one. The report. That took care of that pesky $85,000 Illinois hotel bill and American Revolution certainly benefited from it (cf. Lafayette, left plenty of change for the party, which had only $40,000 in the Kosciuszko, Thomas Paine). But one must pick causes that are bank at the beginning of the year. If Washington Democrats start just, and comrades who are trustworthy. Hamas, which rules falling behind in fundraising, watch for Nancy Pelosi and Co. to Gaza, condemned the murder, but it, like Arrigoni’s killers, is a head to Canada at the first whiff of an anti-union bill. jihadist outfit, and would have murdered Arrigoni the minute it found it convenient. Fools and gangsters mourn him. Israelis n An airplane carrying Michelle Obama was forced to abort and Palestinians (many of them foolish) were afflicted by him its landing after the incompetence of air-traffic controllers and still are by his ilk.

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THE WEEK n Many Iraqi Christians celebrated Easter from home, watch- istan, has taken a first step toward banning it. That first step is ing church services on television. They feared attacks, like the of course to outlaw the texting of the declaration, a practice ten coordinated bombings that left dozens of casualties on that apparently has been prevalent among Tajik migrant Christmas Eve 2009. Our Lady of Salvation, the Baghdad workers in Russia seeking to shrug off ties to their poverty- cathedral where militants for the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic stricken homeland. Any sign of modernization among State of Iraq murdered 52 Christians in October, was on lock- Muslims is to be welcomed: We welcome this one, and con- down. Parishioners said it was “more like a museum than a gratulate the wives of Tajikistan on a small but sensible church.” Throughout the capital, security guards with metal advance to full citizenship. detectors, pat-downs, and barbed wire foregrounding stained- glass windows greeted celebrants of the Resurrection. To some n Affairs in Belarus have taken a decidedly strange turn of avail: Gunmen attacked one Baghdad church, but were fought late. The thesaurus of crimes and blunders committed by off by security officers, who became the only innocent casual- the despot of that unhappy land, Alexander Lukashenko, ties. Nearby, a bomb exploded outside another church, but extends to clamping down on independent media, control- again no congregants were killed. Iraq’s remaining Christians ling vast swathes of the economy, and engaging in incessant are marvelously brave. The population has already fallen from harassment of the political opposition. No one was surprised some 1.5 million in the 1990s to about half that today. Of those, last December when Lukashenko remained in office after many have left the cities for Kurdistan, which, to give you an a fictitious tally was drawn up—or when riot police were idea of how hard things are, they find comparatively friendlier. ordered into the streets to disperse peaceful protesters. A The pope has urged Iraqi Christians to “to resist the temptation large explosion recently struck Kastrychnitskaya (October to emigrate.” But if they can’t, who would blame them? The Square) subway station in Minsk. Allegations have been Iraqi government is still too ramshackle to deliver them from made suggesting that the government perpetrated the attacks this evil. to deflect the country’s attention away from economic dis- tress, but no hard evidence has yet been produced on that n A new forecast from the International Monetary Fund pre- score. The government line is no better. The Belarusian dicts that in 2016, China’s economy will surpass in size that KGB (as the former Soviet republic’s security service is still of the United States—earlier than others had forecast. The touchingly called) has posited that political opponents were comparison between the economies is a complicated one in responsible for the attack. A pity that the best method for that most studies examine the two on the basis of current discovering the truth—an open society—is the very option exchange rates. Knowing that China manipulates its currency, that has been deliberately foreclosed by Europe’s last dicta- the IMF ran the numbers as measured by purchasing-power torship. parity, generally considered a more meaningful comparison, and came to its sobering conclusion. A whole mine’s worth of n The marriage of Prince salt is in order: China has serious economic, political—even William and Kate Middle - biological—challenges before it, from a banking system de- ton highlights that insti - signed by Hieronymus Bosch to a sexually imbalanced popu- tution so un-American and lation. And contra Tom Friedman, being a one-party police so anti-modern, the British state is not an advantage in the long run. All people of good monarchy. Perhaps the last will should welcome the fact that China, India, and other real monarch of Britain was countries that were once dens of despair have become wealth- Queen Anne (d. 1714), for ier and relieved immeasurable human suffering. For the she was the last to ceremo- Chinese people, such progress amounts to being a prisoner nially touch sufferers of given a better diet, but still it is preferable to the alternative. scrofula (among them, the As to who shall be the alpha dog of the global economic order: young Samuel Johnson). Whether the United States stays on top is largely in American When monarchs abandon hands, not Chinese hands. Those American hands had better their magical functions, be hitting some buttons marked “No” come time to vote on they become merely con - spending. stitutional—and for all the importance that theorists n Popular belief in the West has it that a Muslim husband need like Burke and Walter Bage - only say to his wife “I divorce thee!” three times for the hot invest in that role, it divorce to become a fact—the “triple talaq.” (The word talaq then becomes a subject means “divorce.”) The relevant Islamic jurisprudence is more of political calculation, of complicated than that, with differences between sects, Shiite pluses and minuses: Ed - Islam for example taking a more restrictive view of the matter ward VIII and abdica tion— Queen Anne than Sunni Islam. Even among Sunni-majority nations, the bad, The King’s Speech—good; Elizabeth II—good, more modern—Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, for exam- Charles/Di/Camilla—disastrous. Yet the aura of something ple—have banned the triple talaq. In the more backward parts all-too-human because it is larger-than-life still lingers. Amer - of the Islamic world it is still in play, but a key target for liber- icans invest it in the people we elect every four years and alizers. Now Tajikistan, a small, landlocked nation in the high (less creditably) in singers, actors, and models. God bless the

WILLIAM WISSING Pamirs of Central Asia, sharing a border with northern Afghan - couple then, and all the strange freight they carry.

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n Ever since the late 1960s, when Columbia University The United States Postal experienced a spot of bother over Vietnam, ROTC has been Service has issued a new banned from the Columbia campus. The few students who stamp in honor of the wanted to join the corps had to enroll in Fordham’s program. Sta tue of Liberty. But no, Over the years, occasional proposals were made to reinstate that’s not Lady Liberty’s ROTC, and eventually opponents settled on the military’s stoic visage on which “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as the reason for maintaining the you’re gazing, but that of ban, though many saw this as a fig leaf for more general anti- her younger cousin, a military sentiment. With the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” cheap 14-year-old repli - skeptics wondered whether Columbia would abandon its ca at Las Vegas’s New opposition and let students train for military careers. To its York–New York casino. credit, the university has announced that Naval ROTC will After a stamp enthusiast return to Columbia starting this fall—to general approval on alerted the press to the mis- campus, mixed with scorn from the usual quarters. It just take, the service, in typical goes to show that outdated prejudices don’t last forever, even government fashion, dug in academia. in its heels. “We still love the stamp design and would have selected this photograph anyway,” said Roy Betts, a USPS n In March 2006, Crystal Gail Mangum accused three mem- spokesman. In other words, good enough for government work. bers of the Duke lacrosse team of raping her, after she had been hired to strip at a team party. For months a nationwide n One of the greatest intellectual triumphs of our age is the gale of odium battered the accused players, college athletes, Standard Model of particle physics. First cooked up in the and white males generally. (Houston Baker, then a Duke 1970s and confirmed by innumerable experiments since, the English professor, fulminated about “young, white, violent drunk- Standard Model gives a mathematically elegant explanation en men among us.”) Then, in April 2007, North Carolina’s for the structure of matter in terms of 17 fundamental parti- attorney general dropped all charges and declared the cles. Although not contradicted by any experiments physi- accused players innocent. He added that Mangum “may actu- cists have been able to perform, the Standard Model is known ally believe” her own false accusations, and that it was not to be incomplete. Full explanations of gravity, “dark matter,” “in the best interest of justice” to prosecute her. Mangum has and the accelerating expansion of the universe, for example, now been indicted for the stabbing death of her boyfriend, all await an enlarged theory. Furthermore, one of the 17 par- Reginald Daye. May she be tried fairly, enjoying all the safe- ticles, the Higgs boson, has yet to be observed in experiment. guards of a system that she tried to undermine when she bore Observation of the Higgs, as well as confirming the Standard false witness five years ago. Model (or just possibly confounding it), would likely open the door to wider understanding. There was therefore much n Keen to open a new front in the war on childhood, regula- excitement in late April when a leaked internal memo by re - tors at the New York State Department of Health published a searchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, list of children’s games deemed to pose “a significant risk of Switzerland, claimed that Higgs-type phenomena had shown injury.” The games included freeze tag, kickball, Wiffle ball, up. LHC authorities were quick to douse the stories as spec- dodgeball, red rover, and capture the flag. Any public play- ulative. The LHC is still only at half power, though, and even ground or program permitting these games was to be classi- rumors of this sort raise expectations for what wonders may fied as a camp, adding costly requirements for state permits be found when it goes fully operational in, on present plans, and medical supervision. Faced with massive public scorn, 2014. the bureaucrats have backed down, at least for the time being. The matter is still open, though, and the state’s Camp n A film of Ayn Rand’s perennial bestseller/doorstop Atlas Directors Association, perhaps hoping to expand member- Shrugged has been made, and it has many things going for it: ship, still supports the proposal. In this age of prowling trial rousing blasts against statism and crony capitalism, a plot lawyers, “helicopter parents,” and control-freak legislators, filled with intrigue, a very enticing Dagny Taggart, and splen- New Yorkers may yet see their kids’ outdoor activities limit- did trains (who doesn’t love trains?), as well as a running time ed to . . . what? Shuffleboard? considerably less than that of John Galt’s infamous radio address in the novel. The worst feature of the film is its fidel - n Reality has borne down on the Philadelphia Orchestra. ity to Ms. Rand’s blunderous dialogue and ideological prim- Their problems are like those of Greece, Wisconsin, and the ness. It may be unique among current releases in that its heroes Western world at large: Pension obligations are killing them. are businessmen, and heroic because of, not in spite of, that The orchestra has filed for bankruptcy. This is yet another fact. This is the first installment of a promised trilogy, which wake-up call, screaming at societies and institutions to we predict will be insufficient to sate Ms. Rand’s acolytes and reform, pronto. Or subito, as they say in music. supersufficient for a great many others—in which case the film will be an apt complement to the novel. n “Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates,” the poet Emma Lazarus wrote, “shall stand / A mighty woman with a torch, EDITOR’S NOTE: The next issue of NATIONAL REVIEW whose flame / Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name / Mother will appear in three weeks.

USPS of Exiles.” And her face unmemorable—at least to bureaucrats.

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THE BUDGET A Poor Standard in Washington

ouse BuDGet Committee chairman Paul Ryan, invit- ed to listen to a presidential speech on the budget, had H the opportunity to hear himself described as a moral monster. the Republican budget, obama charged, would crush the hopes of children with disabilities and autism. (he didn’t spell it out, but the theory seems to be that state governments are eager to brutalize these kids the moment they get more responsibility over medicaid.) obama claimed that the Re - publican plan “essentially lowers the government’s health-care bills by asking seniors and poor families to pay them instead,” whereas he would do it “by reducing the cost of health care itself.” Behind the distortion is an argument: that the Republican reliance on competition and consumer power to reduce costs is misguided, and that we would do better to trust a government- OBITUARY picked board of experts to decide which medical procedures William Rusher, R.I.P. and practices are cost-effective. under obama’s plan, this board would set medicare’s payment policies and thereby drive illiam RusheR was the publisher of NatioNal the entire health sector toward greater efficiency. at least that’s Review, not quite from day one, but almost—brought the plan. what obama does not mention is that medicare has a W in to replace the terminally irascible willi schlamm. long record of trying to steer the market in this way, and just as Rusher stayed at his post from the magazine’s infancy to its adult- long a record of failing. trying even harder will impose costs of hood 30 years later. its own, some of them measured in patients’ lives. Rusher was a public presence—author, columnist, and a few days after obama’s speech, standard & Poor’s issued debater—but his most lasting mark was made in the trenches of a warning that it might downgrade america’s debt in the next politics. in 1961 he and two friends, longtime GoP operative F. few years. the warning was based on pessimism that a biparti- Clifton white and freshman congressman John ashbrook, san deal would be enacted to reduce the debt to manageable launched the movement to give Barry Goldwater the Republican levels. the president’s speech justified that pessimism. nomination in 1964. their success (notwithstanding Goldwater’s the warning should strengthen Republicans’ resolve to loss to lBJ) mortally wounded the Republican party’s liberal attach meaningful reforms to the pending bill to raise the fed- eastern establishment and changed the face of american politics. eral debt limit. that limit should be raised, since nobody— Rusher himself doubted whether the change had been drastic including the conservative senators who say they will lead the enough. in 1975, he published The Making of the New Majority charge against raising the limit—has a plan to bring the deficit Party, a call for a populist third party to be led by Ronald Reagan. to zero by July. But the need to increase the debt limit is a symp- Reagan decided to stay with the GoP, losing in 1976 but running tom of a serious problem, and it would be irresponsible not to the table in 1980. Rusher’s idealism was always alloyed with address that problem simultaneously. reality, and he abandoned his third-party projects to celebrate and a bipartisan group of senators—the “gang of six,” they style defend the Reagan presidency. themselves—are working on a grand deficit-reduction deal his personal style inclined to the severe—his ties tightly that might be joined to the debt-limit increase. while a final cinched, his suits trim. But behind the façade lay a marcellus judgment must of course wait until the specifics are determined shale of courtesy and warmth—a man ever ready to share his and revealed, the early signs do not look promising. the time and his advice. he had his favorite restaurants and had Republicans involved have been saying that it is impossible to trained their maîtres d’ well. he knew his port vintages and that reduce the deficit to manageable levels without tax increases, Château d’Yquem should not be served with chocolate (of which is simply false as a matter of arithmetic. a recent study course). he had crossed the globe in his travels and brought back of attempts by other countries to tackle their debt problems a cargo of anecdotes; he was pleased to have ticked off easter showed that the successful plans relied, on average, 85 percent island, though perhaps his favorite spot, culturally and political- on spending cuts. (some success stories actually involved tax ly, was embattled anti-Communist China on taiwan. he knew, cuts, with spending cuts making up more than 100 percent of and would recite, favorite poems by housman, swinburne, the deficit reduction.) the gang seems unaware of this finding. santayana. and it appears to be interested in ending “offshore tax loop- among Rusher’s stand-bys were the death-bed lines of the holes,” which to anyone who has followed the debate about emperor hadrian. in them, hadrian asks what will now become the tax treatment of overseas profits sounds like a protectionist of his soul? inclined to stoicism, Rusher sympathized with cul-de-sac. the humorous skepticism of the question. as an adult convert to Republicans ought to seek a better bargain than this. if that traditionalist anglicanism, he had a Christian answer. the image takes time, then the debt ceiling should be extended only for a of his soul is well-lodged in the memories of his many friends short term, to buy it. and admirers. Dead at 87. R.i.P.

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$38.5 billion in cuts supposedly achieved in the last deal were fake. It appears that we are going to hit the debt ceiling by mid-summer at the latest, so Republicans do not have much time to decide what they want and start negotiat- ing. And there’s another complication. In their opening bid, Republicans have to ask for more than the minimum they can accept. Otherwise, they’ll get less than they can accept. But to reach a deal they will have to abandon some of their demands. Which means the leadership will have to prepare backbench Repub - licans to live with the fallback position, without spelling out their strategy in pub- lic. This feature of large-group negotia- tions is exactly why it is so important for the group to trust its negotiators. The first question conservatives who want a debt-ceiling deal ought to ask is what spending cuts or reforms are both meaningful and achievable. One sugges- tion that should be dismissed peremptori- ly is that the bill should be paired with a vote on a balanced-budget amendment to Debtors Can Be the Constitution. Leave aside the reasons for skepticism about the amendment’s Choosers substance. (Chief among them the ques- tion of its enforcement: Do we want to let Budget advice for the Republican leadership judges raise taxes or decide where to cut spending? And if not, would the amend- BY RAMESH PONNURU ment be enforced at all?) The amendment, especially in its current form, which in IfTy-nIne House Republicans ceiling because they do not want to impair addition to mandating a balanced budget voted against the budget to fund the government’s credit and roil credit requires a two-thirds majority of Con - the government from April markets, because they know that their gress to raise taxes, is not going to get the F through September of this year. backers in the business and financial 67 necessary votes in the Senate, let alone But many more of them, including some worlds strongly favor it, and because they overcome the other hurdles to formally members of their leadership, know that know that almost nobody in America changing the Constitution. Holding a vote the deal Speaker John Boehner’s office wants the kind of sudden, sharp changes on it would merely give Harry Reid a struck was a poor one. They voted for it that eliminating the deficit immediately chance to let his vulnerable members for two main reasons: to avoid a govern- would require. But the public does not feign fiscal conservatism. ment shutdown and to avoid weakening favor an increase, and many conserva- Another idea is achievable but may not Boehner. Most of them like him personal- tives are dead-set against it. be meaningful: a law imposing automatic ly. They consider him a fellow conserva- The leaders have sought to keep both remedies if the government exceeds some tive who is doing the best he can, rather Wall Street and conservatives happy by target level for spending or for deficits. than a sell-out. even among those 59 saying that they will vote to let the feder- Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) has a plan to Republicans there were few critical re - al government borrow more money, but impose spending caps in this way. These marks about the speaker—on or off the only if at the same time they get tough schemes have been tried before, notably record. new spending cuts and reforms to the in the late 1980s, and Congress generally NEWSCOM But that affection goes only so far. As budget process. But there is not yet any loosens the caps before spending cuts take / House Republicans enter their next bud- consensus on what cuts and reforms, spe - place. Democrats ran the House and the get battle, over raising the debt ceiling, a ci fically, should be included. And the fall- Senate for almost all of that time, though, lesson an increasing number of them are out from the budget deal has only made so Republicans might make the case that drawing is that Boehner cannot negotiate the leaders’ task harder. Any deal they this time the caps would work. If they go CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY for the whole conference. The debt- make on the debt ceiling will encounter down this route, Republicans should cer- / ceiling debate was always going to pose additional skepticism: Are the spending tainly pledge that as long as they control FERRELL a challenge to the leaders of the House cuts real, or phony? Many conservatives either chamber of Congress they will not .

Republicans. They favor raising the debt concluded that a large proportion of the lift the spending caps. SCOTT J

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President Obama’s version of an auto- debt-limit increase that is contingent on matic remedy—a “failsafe” that imposes reaching a deal by a specified time. both spending cuts and tax increases if There are two arguments, apart from Syria Next? deficits do not decline—would be espe- necessity, for this strategy. One is that it cially vulnerable to nullification. If the has history on its side: Previous debt-limit The horrible Assad regime faces failsafe ever threatened to come into deals including reforms have followed its people effect, it is likely that a bipartisan major- short-term extensions. Washington does ity would vote to prevent it: republicans not achieve debt-limit deals on the first BY DAVID PRYCE-JONES would vote to stop defense cuts and tax pass. a second is that it preempts what increases, democrats to stop domestic- looks like President Obama’s strategy to aShar aSSad’S eleven unbroken spending cuts. avoid meaningful spending cuts and re - years as president of Syria have Sen. Marco rubio (r., Fla.) has set out forms. In mid-april he announced yet been an exercise of aggrandize- his own version of a deal: “I will vote to another bipartisan deficit commission. B ment through crime, culminat- defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it It seems tailor-made to enable Obama to ing now in murderous onslaughts against is the last one we ever authorize and is announce in a few weeks that the com- his own people. This should come as no accompanied by a plan for fundamental mission is making progress and that surprise. he has always shown himself tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory Congress should enable further progress completely indifferent to normal human structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a by raising the debt ceiling. Other than considerations. his subjects have gained balanced-budget amendment, and reforms helping Obama get a higher debt ceiling, nothing from his unconditional support for to save Social Security, Medicare, and it is hard to see what the commission Iran in its sustained campaign against the Medicaid.” he is, in other words, going to could achieve. United States, or from his hostile policies oppose any increase unless it is tied to a So, for example, an opening bid on a towards Lebanon and Israel. Only a few larger portion of the conservative econom- debt-limit increase could include five short weeks ago he was pretending to the ic agenda than the last six republican pres- components. First, caps on discretionary Wall Street Journal that, in contrast to the idents achieved put together. and this spending set at the levels in rep. Paul rest of the arab Middle East, Syria was mega-deal, recall, has to happen by mid- ryan’s budget plan (which are lower than stable because his regime “[has] to be very summer. rubio is certainly right to suggest the ones Corker is seeking). Second, closely linked to the beliefs of the people.” This from a man who rigs elections to give himself a vote just a couple of points The best course may be to pass a small below 100 percent. The tragedy of the debt-limit increase that buys time to arab and Muslim world is that men of such character are able to have power. make a better deal. Furious demonstrations are taking place all over the country as people try to take that republicans should approach the debt- reductions in the federal workforce and in control of their lives. Bashar is fighting to ceiling debate as part of a larger argument its benefits. Third, an end to some of the preserve his dictatorship, and perhaps his about government reform and economic administration’s most onerous regulatory life. Coups and murder used to be quite growth. But to lay out goals this ambitious initiatives—which would help remind the customary procedure for changing the is to rationalize a “no” vote rather than to voters that jobs and growth are the point presidency in Syria. according to reports advance the prospects of a deal including of this exercise. Fourth, a law ending gov- that almost certainly understate the toll, conservative policies. ernment shutdowns: If the parties cannot security forces have already shot dead Grover Norquist, the influential anti- agree on a bill to fund the government, upwards of 300 people. The number of tax activist, thinks that republicans there should be automatic spending cuts those arrested is unknown. should increase the debt limit a little bit at from the previous year’s level. Fifth, and The protests against Bashar are also a time, getting concessions every time the most important, Medicaid reform. The against his father, hafez assad, and fur- limit approaches. The trouble with this debt-limit extension could stipulate that ther against the strange republican dynasty approach is that it creates an opportunity a law to save $750 billion from Medi - they set up and the whole order that goes for democratic challengers to run ads caid over ten years must be passed by with it. after a coup in 1970, hafez assad saying that the incumbent republicans december, or the debt limit would again held power for 30 years, and his memory “voted ten times to raise the debt limit.” kick in. still inspires fear and loathing. he re - No politician wants to have to respond to Once the negotiations are over, re - mains an outstanding example of a ruler that criticism. That goes double for politi- publicans should heed one more lesson for whom criminal violence is the natural cians who ran hard on opposing federal from the recent budget deal: don’t over- instrument of government. By birth, he profligacy. sell your accomplishments. The house was an alawi; that is, he belonged to a But Norquist may be on the right track. republican leadership kept touting the minority sect that forms maybe 10 percent There probably isn’t enough time to reach “historic” nature of its deal with Obama, of the Syrian population. Not accepted as the kind of deal conservatives should be which grated on people familiar with the orthodox by other Shiites, alawis were seeking. So the best course may be to pass details. Then again, if republicans drive a excluded by the majority Sunnis, who a small debt-limit increase that buys time hard enough bargain, they won’t have to have always taken their own superiority in to make a better deal—or to pass a large oversell it. every field for granted.

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Hafez Assad transformed the down - Emergency Law completely outside any Lebanese personalities, including Prime trodden Alawi minority into ruthless legal system. Minister Rafik Hariri, were crimes in all overlords of Sunnis, Kurds, Druze, and Freedom of speech and association has likelihood carried out on Bashar’s orders everyone else. The procedure was simple. been forbidden, and the media kept under to empower Hezbollah; the continued He appointed Alawis he could trust to control. The stability Hafez Assad im - withholding of the United Nations report head the military and police apparatus, and posed was the stability of the graveyard, on these murders is typical of the special he made sure that the Baath party had a but it sealed his reputation as a strongman indulgence Bashar receives. About a dozen monopoly of politics. Modeled on pre-war not to be trifled with. Western powers have terror organizations, including Hamas and Nazism and Communism, Baathism pro- preferred accommodation to confronta- al-Qaeda, have headquarters or training vides the structure of the one-party state, tion, even when he invaded Israel (losing grounds in and around Damascus, and by and it also gives a false secular veneer to the Golan Heights as a result) and then these means Syria has proxies attacking Alawi supremacy. There are of course Lebanon. Persuading the mullahs of Iran Israel or American forces across the bor- capable Syrian intellectuals, exiles, and that Alawis are really bona fide Shiites, he der in Iraq. Only the strike in 2007 by dissidents, but as yet none in a position to enrolled Syria as a vassal of the Islamic Israel prevented Syria from developing a expose the Baath as the historic relic of Republic in its drive to regional power. nuclear program in defiance of interna- European totalitarianism that it is. Succeeding his father as president, tional regulations. The Muslim Brotherhood is a world- Bashar inherited the working principle Outwardly the members of the Assad wide Sunni organization, and its Syrian that violence is not only cost-free but pos- family keep firm hold of the nation’s branch dates back to the mid-1940s. The itively rewarding, and therefore crime has spoils and privileges, though rumor has it Muslim Brothers always resisted Alawi no moral dimension. Bashar and Iranian that they quarrel among themselves like domination, and in 1982 staged a dramatic president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad share the gangsters they are. Maher, a younger revolt that serves as a precedent for today. a common front and boost the Shiite brother of Bashar, commands the Repub - Estimates of Sunnis then massacred by crescent; together they threaten Lebanon lican Guard that defends the regime. Assef Hafez Assad’s security forces range from and Israel by subsidizing and arming Shawkat, Bashar’s brother-in-law, is the 20,000 to 50,000. Law was what Hafez Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group in head of military security and intelligence. Assad said it was. For nearly half a cen- Lebanon that now has more military A first cousin, Rami Makhlouf, has be - tury, a special court has been operating the power than many states. Assassinations of come one of the world’s richest men, with

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a fortune in telecommunications, oil, arming the Irish Republican Army in bank ing, and much else. A French televi- Northern Ireland and providing $300 sion company once calculated that he The Tyrant million in weaponry for the Nicaraguan earns in a day the equivalent of 700,000 of Sandinistas. About a third of African his countrymen. he is such a symbol of Temptation nations, many of them fellow despotisms, corruption that crowds are now shouting, refused to have diplomatic relations with “Makhlouf, you thief!” Why intellectuals succumb to it Libya. Qaddafi crushed several coup Bashar’s initial response to the upris- attempts against him the old-fashioned ings in Tunisia and Egypt smugly implied BY STEVEN F. HAYWARD way: with mass executions of opponents. that he was too popular for anything of But when Qaddafi, under mounting this kind to affect him. But at the end of hERE is a close contest under diplomatic and economic pressure, re - March, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi made a way to choose the most embar- nounced his nuclear-weapons program in speech on Al-Jazeera television calling rassing aspect of our Libyan 2003 and agreed at last to compensate for revolution in Syria. Spokesman of the T mis adventure: Is it the utter feck - the victims of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi is widely lessness of American and NATO power in bombing, it was all the opening the ex - considered the foremost Sunni authority. the field, the murkiness of the result being perts needed to rehabilitate the Libyan The intention is evidently to have re - sought, or the wider incoherence of the loon. Ray Takeyh, senior fellow in Middle venge on the Alawis by restoring Sunni Obama administration’s perspective on Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign supremacy. the “Arab Spring,” one day declaring that Relations, pronounced in the Washington The incitement succeeded. At first in Egypt’s hosni Mubarak is “not a dicta- Post that “Qaddafi’s recent rhetoric and dribs and drabs and then in mobs, protest- tor,” demanding his ouster the next, and behavior hint at a genuine ideological ers gathered in villages and towns, in then going on to declare hands-off in Syria conversion. The collapse of the Soviet Deraa, Banias, Latakia, and Damascus, because its bloodthirsty ruler, Bashar Union, a growing interest in Africa and chanting “God, Syria, and freedom.” A Assad, is a “reformer”? an emerging disdain for Arab politics led hesitant Bashar set in motion reform, The Obama administration can at least him to offer a new vision for his restive sacking his cabinet (a token gesture in a claim that a certain amount of opacity or nation,” one that supposedly included lib- dictatorship), lifting the hated Emergency ambiguity is necessary in dealing with a eralizing markets and encouraging more Law, and hoping to appeal to large num- region of such immense instability and foreign investment. (Notably absent was bers of Kurds by granting them citizen- political immaturity. The intellectual class any offer to make restitution for the for- ship. Abruptly switching to the alternative that had come to regard Qaddafi as a more eign assets he seized back in the 1970s, of repression, he accused the demon- or less normal ruler with potentially rea- but never mind.) British sociologist An - strators of belonging to “armed criminal sonable or liberal inclinations has no such thony Giddens visited Qaddafi in his tent gangs,” conspiring in behalf of a foreign excuse, and their self-deception has had in 2006 and wrote afterward that “Qad - power, and being Sunni extremists into the consequence of enabling the policy dafi’s ‘conversion’ may have been driven the bargain. The confrontation grew incoherence of our political leaders. partly by the wish to escape sanctions, but angrier and more personal. When demon- It is one thing to accept the existence of I get the strong sense that it is authentic strators began to call for regime change, tyrants as a practical matter, but it is debil- and that there is a lot of motive power Bashar ordered the security forces to fire itating to take the next step and whitewash behind it.” Dartmouth professor Dirk on them with live ammunition. “The trai- their characters. Qaddafi has been among Vandewalle explained on NPR recently tor kills his people!” is now the popular the worst of the worst since his rise to that Qaddafi’s bizarre squad of all- cry. There can be no going back. Foreign power in the late 1960s—calling Libya female “Amazon” bodyguards was not journalists are not allowed in to witness under Qaddafi a rogue state is an insult evidence of the usual tyrant’s indulgence events; the frontier with Jordan is closed to rogues everywhere. This is the man in kinkiness, but arose from his “attempt as the crisis gathers. Bashar is gambling who in the 1970s wanted to use a bor- to im prove the situation of Libyan that crime on a large enough scale will rowed Egyptian submarine to sink the women.” restore the sullen oppression that passes Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner and But the gold standard for moral blind- here for stability. who routinely sent assassination squads ness to Qaddafi’s character and regime Those who know Syria hesitate to pre- abroad to kill Libyan exiles. “It is the duty belongs to Rutgers University political dict what happens next. There could be of the Libyan people constantly to liqui- scientist Benjamin Barber (“the interna- chaos, anarchy, even disintegration. A date their opponents . . . at home and tionally renowned political theorist,” as Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship in Syria abroad, everywhere,” Qaddafi declared. he describes himself in his latest press would probably act no differently from the he once ordered the assassination of an release), who until mid-February was a Alawi-Baathist dictatorship, and might American ambassador to Egypt; only a board member of the Qaddafi Inter na - even be worse in the event that the United stern warning from Washington, tipped to tional Charity and Development Foun - States really proves unable to defend its the plot, dissuaded him. At one point in da tion, the outfit Qaddafi’s son Saif interests against militant Islamism and the the 1980s, Qaddafi was supplying arms operated as a forum for “complaints about regional balance of forces is upset. how to to guerrilla insurgencies in 45 countries, torture, arbitrary detention, and disap- bring about justice and freedom and peace pearances.” Who needs Amnesty Inter - without bloodbaths and war remains as Mr. Hayward is the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the national when you’ve got Saif Qaddafi on great a puzzle as ever. American Enterprise Institute. the job? Barber was the ideal Libyan lack-

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ey, having written in the Washington Post ism, or authoritarianism, and so on, and as modest $3.5 billion in his own Swiss in 2007: “Qaddafi is a complex and adap- a citizen he may wholeheartedly condemn bank account, but there are rumors that tive thinker as well as an efficient, if laid- these things; but as a political scientist he his net worth may be as much as $70 bil- back, autocrat. Unlike almost any other is forced to reject the notion of tyranny as lion. The tyrant’s insatiability for recog- arab ruler, he has exhibited an extraordi- ‘mythical.’” nition and reassurance against personal nary capacity to rethink his country’s role Barber and other intellectuals who insecurity always runs deeper than the in a changed and changing world . . . . cozied up to Qaddafi did eventually ren- need for a huge cash stash; think of Surprisingly flexible and pragmatic, Qad - der such value judgments, but only after Imelda Marcos’s shoe collection, and dafi was once an ardent socialist who now the tyrants’ crimes became so conspicu- the nearly uniform practice of plastering acknowledges private property and capi- ous as to embarrass them. the tyrant’s picture more ubiquitously tal as sometimes appropriate elements in Intellectuals have always been cheap than the Coca-Cola logo. The greed and developing societies. once an opponent dates for tyrants, never more so than dur- the vanity are expressions of the same of representative central government, he ing the Cold war, when Communist rulers underlying pathology of tyranny. is wrestling with the need to delegate sub- learned how easy it was to get western The lowliest social-science undergrad- stantial authority to competent public intellectuals to swoon before the lyrics of uate ought to be able to make out these officials if libya is to join the global sys- justice and equality. Redemptive ideo - hallmarks of rulers who are never going to tem.” logical movements such as Communism rule in the best interests of their subjects, But now Barber is shocked to discover may have lost their élan, but the chief let alone allow any genuine liberalization. that this laid-back, would-be-liberal attraction of tyrants for intellectuals is not Tyrants understand themselves quite regime, this California of the Mediter - ideology but proximity to power: hence well—this is one of the clear teachings of ranean, is repressive: “The position of the Thomas Friedman’s endless “China is Xenophon, whose Hiero tells Simonides Foundation has now been made untenable awesome” columns. that the tyrant “lives night and day as one by the country-wide repression of protest- Behind the immense egos of “inter- condemned by all human beings to die for ers by the most barbaric means, and the nationally renowned political theorists” his injustice.” Poland’s foreign minister Qaddafi is a tyrant plain and simple, and tyrants always abide in tyrannical oppression.

public declaration of the Foundation’s such as Barber (or Friedman) lies a and former NaTIoNal RevIew correspon- honorary chairman, Saif Qaddafi, endors- hubristic confidence in the efficacy of dent Radek Sikorski reported in 2005 ing the repression and rationalizing the their wisdom. Xenophon had their num- about a conversation at a diplomatic din- massacre of protesters.” who could have ber 2,500 years ago: Just as the poet ner in Havana involving Fidel and Raúl seen that coming? Simonides hopes to instruct the tyrant Castro, during which the former rebuffed Barber added on the Huffington Post Hiero on how to govern as a benevolent a speculative suggestion from his brother that the prospects for democracy are now dictator, today’s wise poets of human that Cuba consider liberalizing its econ - very slim—unless Qaddafi survives, in improvement think they can at the very omy, arguing that they’d both end up which case “all those who cast him as least moderate the modern tyrant’s ex - swinging from a lamppost in a matter of nothing more than a monstrous buffoon cesses if only they gain his ear. and even months. will have to rethink their easy dismissal if the tyrant is unwilling to govern in a The elites’ excusing of tyranny has and deal with stark reality again.” way that is worthy of honor, the intellec- real-world consequences, as it leads to But the stark reality is that Qaddafi is tuals can bask in the self-honor of their appeasement and weakness. It makes it a tyrant plain and simple, and tyrants endeavors to “reach out” as they pat them- possible for Nicolas Sarkozy to say always abide in tyrannical oppression. selves on the back in Davos. watery things such as “Qaddafi is not per- equally stark is the reality that Barber’s These enablers of modern tyranny can ceived as a dictator in the arab world. He approach to tyrants is entirely typical of always be counted on to overlook its is the longest-serving head of state in the modern political science. as leo Strauss markers, which are obvious even in region—and, in the arab world, that observed in his treatise On Tyranny, a cases in which violent oppression is counts,” and for Hillary Clinton to say of commentary on Xenophon’s Hiero, “it is largely absent. one hallmark of the Syria’s assad, “Many of the members of no accident that present-day political sci- tyrant is that he always loots his people Congress of both parties who have gone ence has failed to grasp tyranny as what it and does so far in excess of his own to Syria in recent months have said they really is. our political science is haunted material needs. But the United States and believe he’s a reformer.” by the belief that ‘value judgments’ are its coalition partners were reportedly How about instead we call such ty - inadmissible in scientific considerations, stunned when they moved to freeze rants and their regimes by their proper and to call a regime ‘tyrannical’ clearly Qaddafi’s assets and found that he had names—maybe even call them “evil”? amounts to pronouncing a ‘value judg- socked away about $60 billion, a sum That word raises hackles, but unlike so ment.’ The political scientist who accepts that works out to more than $9,000 per much of what we have heard of Qaddafi this view of science will speak of the capita in a poor and decaying country. and his kind, it would have the virtue of mass-state, of dictatorship, of totalitarian- egypt’s Hosni Mubarak had a more being true.

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and expression could in no case justify for now—are a dead end at the U.n. blasphemy.” Moreover, the OIC definition While the failure of the OIC to win Sharia of blasphemy is extremely far-reaching, as support for a 2011 resolution constitutes a witness the widespread use of blasphemy significant and positive step, the threat to Censors laws in countries such as Egypt, where freedom of expression is far from over, blogger Kareem Amer spent four years in and the wording of the adopted resolution prison for insulting Islam (and Pres. Hosni includes several worrying elements. That Go Global Mubarak), and Pakistan, where hundreds threats to freedom of expression remain is The jihad for a world-wide have been prosecuted for blasphemy, with confirmed by a new OIC initiative: In a blasphemy law religious minorities being disproportion- March 29 press release, the OIC promised ately targeted. Even relatively modern to present a new draft resolution on the BY JACOB MCHANGAMA Indonesia has seen a number of blas - issue of “Islamophobia” at the General phemy cases. Assembly in September. The OIC said that n March 24, the U.n. Human It is this kind of law that the OIC has it “did not back down from its position” in Rights Council one again tried to turn into an international human- the Human Rights Council. According to adopted a resolution intended rights norm. The first resolution offered the OIC, it was in fact Western countries O to combat “negative stereo- by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC in 1999 that “made a major concession by accept- types” and “intolerance” of persons based came under the title “Defamation of Is - ing the new version of the resolution.” on religion or belief. For the first time lam,” but after some debate it was changed The OIC also stated that the concept of since 1999, a resolution of this recurrent to “Defamation of Religions.” It expresses defamation “has not been abandoned, and type did not include a reference to “de - “deep concern at negative stereotyping of it is still valid, and can be resorted to if famation of religion,” the concept by religions” and states that “Islam is fre- necessary.” which the Organization of the Islamic quently and wrongly associated with hu- Rather than an admission of defeat, the Conference (OIC) has sought imposition man rights violations and with terrorism.” OIC’s acceptance of the new Human of a global blasphemy law to protect Islam The resolution also “expresses its concern Rights Council resolution should there- from criticism. The development has been at any role in which the print, audio visual fore be seen as a change in tactics. The heralded as a victory for the West and for or electronic media or any other means is concept of “defamation of religion” has no human-rights organizations that have long used to incite acts of violence, xenophobia basis in international human-rights law, campaigned against this attack on free or related intolerance and discrimination which protects individuals rather than reli- speech. towards Islam and any other religion.” The gions as such. However, international The issue of defamation of religion has 1999 and 2000 resolutions on defamation human-rights law does include hate- been divisive at the U.n., pitting the OIC of religion were adopted unanimously, speech prohibitions that encompass and its supporters against Western states. without a vote. That initial passivity un - religion. Article 20 of the International The OIC’s insistence on criminalizing doubtedly advanced the ever more aggres- Covenant on Civil and Political Rights defamation is a manifestation of the ongo- sive agenda of the OIC. Since 2001, states that “any advocacy of . . . religious ing challenge to the idea of universal hu - res o lutions on defamation have become hatred that constitutes incitement to dis- man rights by a number of non-Western increasingly comprehensive and hostile to crimination [or] hostility . . . shall be pro- states, including Muslim ones. These freedom of expression. Resistance to their hibited by law.” The recently adopted states view the idea of universal human more aggressive character means that they resolution includes several references to rights as a form of soft imperialism, threat- now are being put to a vote, both in the the wording of Article 20. But it also men- ening their traditional cultural and Human Rights Council (HRC) and, since tions “derogatory stereotyping, negative religious values. In 1990, the OIC states 2005, in the General Assembly. profiling and the stigmatization of persons adopted their own “Cairo Declaration on After peaking in 2003, resolutions on based on their religion or belief” and “con- Human Rights in Islam,” which seeks to defamation of religion have steadily lost demns . . . any advocacy of religious reconcile Islam with human rights—to votes in both the HRC and the General hatred that constitutes incitement to dis- an extent: All the rights in the Cairo Assembly. In 2003, 32 countries voted in crimination.” This wording is vague and Declaration are subject to the often illiber- favor, with 14 against and 7 abstaining. In unclear, opening the possibility of abuse. al rules of sharia law. Thus, Article 22 2010, those numbers were 20, 17, and The resolution should thus be seen as states that “everyone shall have the right to 8. The OIC was also dealt a blow at an attempt by the OIC to broaden the express his opinion freely in such manner the Durban Review Conference held in scope of Article 20 to include instances as would not be contrary to the principles Geneva in 2009. The OIC had lobbied of so-called Islamophobia, such as the of the Shari’ah.” In a 1995 debate at the hard for the inclusion of a reference to Danish Mo ham med cartoons, which were U.n., the OIC clarified what subjecting defamation of religion, but the final- condemned by the U.n. special rapporteur free speech to sharia entails, arguing that outcome document, while very far from on freedom of expression in 2005. The “the right to freedom of thought, opinion perfect, did not include direct defamation broadening of Article 20 and the emphasis language. Dwindling support, as well as on the enforcement of this hate-speech Mr. Mchangama is director of legal affairs at the the murder of two Pakistani politicians clause were the consequence of the final- Danish think tank CEPOS and an external lecturer critical of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, has outcome document of the Durban Review in international human-rights law at the University likely been key to the OIC’s realization Conference and a 2009 compromise reso- of Copenhagen. that defamation-of-religion resolutions— lution on freedom of expression cospon-

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sored by the United States and Egypt at the they to Diana, that they should weep for Human Rights Council. joy for her? But then the whole cult of Eleanor Roosevelt warned against pre- That celebrity is to me utterly mysterious. cisely this sort of development when Only 30 years ago, no one thought of Article 20 was first debated at the U.N. in Commoner divorce when the supposedly happy cou- the 1950s and 1960s, cautioning that it ple appeared on the balcony of Bucking - would give governments license to punish ham Palace, to the wild (and, as it all criticism under the guise of suppressing Touch sub sequently turned out, the naïve and religious hostility. These views were shared Of the royal wedding and the foolish) cheering of the crowd below; by delegates of almost all other Western there was still a mildly unthinkable qual- (and a few non-Western) states at the time. decaying British monarchy ity about the association of divorce and Unfortunately, as Western societies cower the heir to the throne. But now you could before the power of authoritarian states BY THEODORE DALRYMPLE run a sweepstake on how long the mar- abroad and politically correct elites at riage between Prince William and Cather - home, the principled defense of freedom of ROyAl marriage, if wedding ine Middleton will last. It is true that the expression—even expression that seriously comes, can divorce be far divorce rate in Britain is declining, and this offends—has become the exception rather behind? For a marriage these for two reasons: First, far fewer people are than the norm, even in liberal democracies. O days, unlike a diamond, is bothering to get married in the first place, The latest example is the impulse of many definitely not forever, and the British so that those who do are self-selected for in the West to blame the murder of inno- royal family, though it remains somewhat maturity, and second, the economic reces- cents in Afghanistan on Terry Jones, a different from the average or median sion has made it more difficult to dispose disturbed Christian pastor who burned a British family in many respects, has not of the matrimonial home and divide the Koran, rather than on the Muslim funda- been able to insulate itself entirely from spoils. There is nothing quite like a flag- mentalists who killed in cold blood. the social trends of the age, the instabili- ging property market, it seems, for keep- The new OIC strategy based on broad- ty of relations between the sexes being ing married couples united, at least in the ening existing hate-speech provisions is among them. A large dose of social real- absence of any belief in the sacramental much more likely to succeed than would ism, indeed, has been insinuated into the nature of the union. be an insistence on combating defamation Saxe-Coburg-Windsor fairy story. But the royal couple, presumably, will of religion. While most Western states Prince Harry, for example, whose be insulated from the preservative effect have abolished or ceased enforcing blas- paternity almost everyone in the country of a plunging property market, and there- phemy laws, all countries, with the excep- doubts, conducts himself, at least when fore so much the more susceptible to the tion of the U.S., have hate-speech laws in free to do so, as the worst (and largest) miasma of divorce by which they are sur- place, and they are often actively enforced. element of the young British male popu- rounded. Their relationship (before their In 2008, the EU adopted a framework that lation conducts itself: That is to say, he is engagement) was already described as obliges all EU states to criminalize incite- drunken, aggressive, foulmouthed, arro- “on-off,” according to one astrology site ment to hatred directed against a group gant, graceless, and stupid. Perhaps he on the Internet, because, “in the spring of defined by race, religion, etc., or a member will grow out of it, as burglars grow out 2007, Kate was having [such] a bunch of of such a group. Moreover, the European of burglary, but what it leaves behind horrific transits including a Heartbreak Court of Human Rights generally does not remains to be seen. My guess is that it Transit [that] Prince William broke off protect hate speech. Thus, the court has will not be very much, but I would be their affair.” sanctioned the conviction of politicians most happy in this instance to acknowl- My experience of “on-off” relation- critical of Islam and Muslim immigration, edge prophetic error. ships among my patients—most of whom as well as the confiscation and censorship The last royal marriage of any con - in truth had no other type—is that, in of films insulting the feelings of Chris - sequence was that of Prince Charles the end, the “off” moiety usually pre - tians. Moreover, most Western human- to Diana Spencer, which I happened to vails over the “on” moiety, or Saturn over rights organizations, even ones dedicated watch on television, en directo de la cate- Venus, as the astrologer would no doubt to the protection of freedom of expression, dral de San Pablo de Londres, in a cafe in put it. It may take a few years to do so, but support hate-speech laws and their en - Cuzco, Peru. I am myself a believer in the fracture widens until it becomes a forcement. Accordingly, unlike the situa- constitutional monarchy, at least for my gulf or chasm. Such gulfs always existed tion with defamation of religion, Western own country, in part because I find the in couples, of course, but in the days states cannot reject an attempt by the OIC prospect of any of my fellow-countrymen before divorce on demand they could be to broaden Article 20 without the risk of being head of state so appalling; but I expressed only by an emotionally freez- being accused of hypocrisy. That is a pow- nevertheless found the interest in the ing household or violent argument, and erful and persuasive accusation at the whole spectacle evinced 10,000 feet up not by public and legally sanctioned dis- U.N., where Western states often are in in the Andes strange and difficult to sociation. In these weak piping times of the minority and on the defensive, and comprehend. What was Diana to them, or human rights, even members of the royal therefore constantly have to compromise. family can claim their right to the pursuit We will soon find out how far the West Mr. Dalrymple is a retired psychiatrist, and the of happiness, or at least to the avoidance is willing to compromise on freedom of author, most recently, of Spoilt Rotten: The of unhappiness, by means of divorce: expression. Toxic Cult of Sentimentality. Why should its members be expected to

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vated economist can always find hidden costs to vitiate a conclusion that he does not care for; and so what seems like a profit can be soon be made to appear like a loss. The general acceptance of the economist’s conclusions will depend more upon his abilities as a rhetorician and propagandist than upon the truth of what he says. Besides, there is something intrinsically undignified about the use of the language of profit and loss about a monarchy that has lasted, with a short break for revolution, an entire millenni- um. If after a thousand years the best or only thing you can say for a political institution is that it brings in a few extra tourists, who are a market for foreign- produced junk, attachment to that institu- tion in an age that prides itself on its rationality and ability to found itself on self-evident first principles is not likely to be very strong or to last long. Worse still, polls among young people, especially women, show a high, even overwhelming, level of support for mak- ing Prince William king after the death of the present queen, mainly because William and Kate—Saturn over Venus? (one suspects) he is young, is better-look- endure what no one else in the realm is never rest until they get what they want. ing than his father, and has tastes that are expected any longer to endure? The second, and more important, is more in concert with their own. In other So if Prince William and Princess that the general population is now so dis- words, he would be made king in the Catherine discover that they need their connected from its country’s past that it same way, and for the same reasons, that own space, to use the psychobabble term has not the faintest idea of the constitu- someone is made the winner of a TV for the hostility of one person in a couple tional role of the monarchy. So weak has reality-show competition. towards the other, a divorce cannot be understanding become that those who This kind of popularity is fickle, of excluded for mere dynastic considera- defend in public the extravaganza of course. The prince is beginning to bald, tions or for raisons d’état. These days, the royal wedding and its expense are and if the baldness were to progress too nothing must get in the way of the pur - reduced to performing a cost-benefit quickly, he would lose his support. And suit of personal happiness; there is no analysis of it. The security and other if it were to emerge that, far from shar - quid pro quo for being maintained in the arrangements will cost perhaps $35 mil- ing the tastes of his age group, Prince utmost luxury. A human right is a human lion; but the receipts from the extra William actually spent his spare time right, and members of the royal family tourism, television rights, and kitsch parsing Latin poetry and abominated are human. industry—royal memorabilia such as rock music as the solvent of all thought, Of course, it is perfectly possible that plates, mugs, biscuit tins, and bogus com- he would lose his mandate for the throne the prince and princess will live happily memorative coins—will amount to an and be deemed quite unfit to sit upon it, ever after: One cannot deduce the actual estimated $750 million, even if most of as lacking completely the common touch. fate of anyone from mere statistical prob- the kitsch will be produced in China. (No The whole point of a constitutional ability. But there are other storm clouds junk shop in the country is free of the monarch, that he is head of state and on the horizon for the monarchy in royal kitsch of the past, commemorating symbol of national unity not by virtue of Britain, irrespective of the personal rela- coronations, jubilees, and marriages, the a popularity contest or of any personal tions of the prince and princess. mugs and plates produced to celebrate qualities, and is therefore above the fray The first is that the intelligentsia are the marriage of Charles to Diana usually to whose violence his very existence now hostile to it as never before. Ever on being relegated somewhat sheepishly to places a limit, is entirely lost on young the lookout, not for new fields to conquer the rear of any shelf, behind even those British people, who believe in their own but for old institutions to destroy, little to celebrate the accession of Edward VIII unlimited sovereignty. If they celebrated but the monarchy remains for their atten- to the throne, another royal embarrass- the wedding at all, it was for them just tion. Thanks to the expansion of tertiary ment.) another occasion to get drunk, like a AP / education and the decline of industry, the The trouble with cost-benefit analyses Friday or Saturday night, for which, in intelligentsia are larger and more influen- is that they can generally be made to suit all conscience, they hardly need an addi-

REX FEATURES tial than at any time in history; and they any judgment. An ingenious and moti - tional excuse.

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The Acronym That Ate Health Care Meet IPAB, a constitutional outrage and de facto death panel

BY STANLEY KURTZ

He 2012 election, and the existence of a free health- massive, IPAB-imposed health-care controls that would care market in this country, could well depend on a amount to rationing. That means the best Republican defense little-known agency called IPAB. Remember that against the inevitable avalanche of Democratic attacks on the T acro nym. It stands for the Independent Payment Ryan plan is a good offense against IPAB. Advisory Board, a vastly powerful but too often overlooked The IPAB controversy raises anew longstanding concerns component of the president’s health-care-reform law. IPAB about President Obama’s political convictions and methods: has not yet come into existence, but when Obamacare goes his radicalism, ideological stealth, and long-term intentions. into full effect, it will be an unelected and unaccountable An emerging bipartisan movement to abolish IPAB highlights bureaucratic entity with nearly limitless power over federal the fact that many moderate Democrats have been uncom - Medicare spending. IPAB will have the power to effectively fortable with this board from the start. IPAB’s central role in ration health care through price controls—which may not even Obama’s plans suggests that, despite his denials, the president be the scariest thing about it. That distinction arguably falls to has never truly surrendered his aim of driving America toward its unprecedented overriding of congressional sovereignty, in a socialized, British-style single-payer model, in which our flagrant violation of the constitutional separation of powers. entire health-care system would be government-run. President Obama won’t admit to any of this, of course, but While almost nothing about IPAB has been subject to public his nationally televised April 13 speech in response to Paul debate, almost everything about it should be controversial. Ryan’s deficit-reduction plan did push IPAB out of the shad- Paul Ryan calls IPAB a “rationing board,” to which the White ows and into public view. Obama made clear in that speech House replies that IPAB is specifically prohibited by law from that IPAB’s authority over Medicare pricing would be a central rationing care. IPAB is indeed legally barred from formal component of his deficit-reduction plan, and he used the occa- rationing, but with its authority to control prices, it will be able sion to call for a substantial expansion of IPAB’s already to drive Medicare payments so low that doctors will simply unprecedented powers. stop offering key services to patients. In theory, Medicare For the GOP, that spells political opportunity. Obama can’t would still pay for a whole range of tests and treatments, but in begin to match Ryan’s deficit-reduction program without practice, patients solely dependent on Medicare would be barred from a great many of them. That is de facto rationing. Mr. Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author Of course, as with the Ryan plan, Medicare patients would of Radical-in-Chief (Threshold, 2010). still have the option of paying for non-reimbursed care out of

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pocket—that is, until IPAB helps usher us into a fully social- And it may not end there. Under the current version of the ized single-payer health-care future (of which more below). law, Congress retains the option of passing separate legislation So is IPAB a “death panel”? Not exactly, at least in the sense authorizing additional Medicare expenditures. As part of his of explicitly deciding who shall live and who shall die. Yet response to Ryan, however, President Obama called for IPAB IPAB’s price-setting power gives it control over medical decisions to be granted the power of “automatic sequester.” While the now made by doctors with their patients. And, yes, that means White House has done little to fill out the details of this auda- rationing by unaccountable bureaucrats. The one-size-fits-all con- cious proposal, it apparently means that IPAB would be able to sequences of IPAB’s declarations will be final for many an unfor- prevent Congress from appropriating any additional money for tunate patient. In that sense, IPAB will indeed be a death panel. Medicare outside of IPAB-initiated legislation. Oh, and by the No plan, least of all Obama’s, can offer a bottomless health- way, the Obamacare legislation exempts IPAB’s recommenda- care purse to every American. The advantage of the Ryan plan, tions from either administrative or judicial review. however, is its reliance on patient choice. Having been taxed As the Goldwater Institute’s anti-IPAB suit puts it: “Con - throughout their working lives to support a system that offers gress has no constitutional power to delegate nearly unlimited no choice, Medicare-dependent patients lose control of funds legislative power to any federal executive branch agency, they might otherwise have used to purchase private health much less to entrench health care legislation against review, insurance. Ryan’s plan returns some of that money to Amer- debate, revision or repeal. . . . Such federal overreaching must icans via a tax-supported health-care voucher. This allows con- be rejected if the principles of limited government and the sep- sumers to choose the private insurance plan that most closely aration of powers established by the United States Constitution matches their priorities—devoting more or less resources to mean anything.” end-of-life care, for example. A Congressional Research Service report acknowledged the IPAB’s centrally planned and democratically unaccountable price-setting authority pulls us far down the road to socialism.

Yet the constitutional problems surrounding IPAB are at unprecedented nature of Obamacare’s attempt to restrict the least as disturbing as the lack of choice. IPAB’s defenders power of future Congresses: “How these entrenching provi- euphemistically refer to its unprecedented powers as “fast- sions will be reconciled with the well-established constitu - tracking,” as if clever efficiency experts were simply speeding tional right of each chamber of Congress to make the rules of IPAB’s decisions through the usual legislative process. In real- its own proceeding, and how or if one Congress can broadly ity, IPAB upends, short-circuits, and refashions the fundamen- regulate the actions of a future Congress in this way, will like- tals of American government in ways that make a mockery of ly only be clarified in practice.” the Constitution. You don’t need to be a professor of constitutional law to see Peter Orszag, former director of Obama’s Office of Manage - that there is something profoundly wrong here. As Orszag ment and Budget—and an enthusiastic IPAB supporter—once notes, IPAB essentially captures a substantial portion of the called IPAB “the largest yielding of sovereignty from the sovereignty granted to Congress by the Constitution and trans- Congress since the creation of the Federal Reserve.” Arizona’s fers it to a semi-independent entity within the executive Goldwater Institute, which has filed a lawsuit against Obama - branch, freed from judicial review to boot. Obamacare is an care that focuses on IPAB, argues that IPAB’s largely unchecked offense against the Constitution, and while the courts may or power over the nation’s health-care system will actually exceed may not eventually acknowledge that, it is up to the electorate the Federal Reserve’s control of the banking system, as well as to step in now to set things right. Its attack on individual liber- the Environmental Protection Agency’s reach. ty and democratic accountability, as embodied in America’s system of constitutional self-rule, tells you all you need to know about Obamacare and the man it’s named for. HE basic principle is that IPAB’s recommendations will Radical? That’s not too strong a word for the systemic trans- have the force of law unless they are countered by formation we’re dealing with here. T Congress. And Obamacare makes them exceedingly Socialist? Rep. John Fleming (R., La.), a co-sponsor of the difficult to counter. Congress can modify IPAB’s decisions House legislation to repeal IPAB, calls the panel a Soviet-style through its ordinary procedures only if Congress’s total “central planning committee.” He’s right. Even in the absence Medicare expenditures do not exceed IPAB’s recommended of a single-payer system, IPAB’s centrally planned and demo- levels. It takes a three-fifths supermajority of the Senate to cratically unaccountable price-setting authority pulls us far waive these restrictions. In addition, IPAB’s recommendations down the road to socialism. Socialism inhibits liberty, and must be moved through Congress according to a specific IPAB’s panoply of restrictions on democratic self-rule are the timetable. This “fast-tracking” supersedes even the Sen ate’s logical corollary of command-and-control central planning. standing rule requiring 60 votes to invoke cloture in case of a Conservatives must take this lesson to heart and make the filibuster. constitutional issues every bit as central to their assault on

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IPAB as the question of rationing itself. Claremont Institute single-payer system. Obama hasn’t gone that far himself yet, scholar Charles Kesler has forcefully argued that Obamacare but he’s already using the political cover provided by will be repealed and Obama himself defeated only when the Simpson-Bowles to call for expanded IPAB authority. public recognizes that the very “future of self-government in The literature on IPAB is filled with plans and suggestions America” is at stake in this debate. If IPAB stands, the door is for expanding its cost-cutting (i.e. rationing) powers. Wash­ing­- open to further ceding of congressional authority to boards and ton­Post blogger Ezra Klein, for example, wants the stricture panels and commissions. If an extraconstitutional health-care on formal rationing to be removed and has called for IPAB to rationing board is required to rescue us from a debt crisis dri- have “at least” an advisory role in Obamacare as a whole. A ven by rising health-care costs, why not unaccountable energy- report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, beloved of liberal pol- rationing or carbon-rationing boards to rescue us from an icy wonks, implicitly lays out a political route to a single-payer oil-price spike or the supposed crisis of global warming? system: The report essentially agrees with conservative critics Some observers say that IPAB will have little effect on that IPAB’s price-setting will freeze Med icare recipients out of Medicare spending (contrary to its advocates’ claims of huge a great deal of care, but suggests that the solution is to place savings), while the Ryan plan would lead to draconian cuts. equal regulatory pressure on private payment rates. That is too simple. It’s true that according to current Congres - So once Ryan’s plan is effectively taken off the table, and sional Budget Office (CBO) projections, IPAB’s legislated burgeoning deficits bring stricter IPAB cost-cutting targets, a cost-cutting targets will likely fail to bite over the next ten massive and politically powerful generation of retired baby years. Curiously, a week after Obama’s reply to Ryan, White boomers will be told that the only solution to their rationing House deputy chief of staff Nancy-Ann DeParle actually tout- problems is to bring even private health-care services under ed this fact, virtually boasting that IPAB would do nothing to IPAB’s purview. Once this politically unaccountable panel has save money for a decade. By then, however, DeParle’s claims control of the entire health-care system, seniors on Med icare were out of date, since her boss had just promised harsher cost- will gain at least somewhat greater access—but at the cost of cutting targets for IPAB. While the CBO hasn’t yet scored British-style rationing for all, not to mention the end of cutting- Obama’s new targets, White House spokesman Nick Papas edge medical innovation in the country. acknowledged, under questioning from Fox News, that This is what Obama has been planning all along, of course. Obama’s new IPAB proposal would indeed have some fiscal In 2007, he made it clear that if he were designing a system impact before the decade is out. from scratch, he’d opt for single-payer. When he proposed health-care reform as president, however, Obama vehemently denied that his plan was a Trojan horse for a single-payer sys- HAT is going on here? Quite simply, Obama knows tem. But the denial is implausible. Indeed, the Tea Party was that his health-care plans are his political Achilles inspired, in part, by a video clip in which Obama clearly W heel, so he’s doing his best to disguise and downplay implied a long-term goal of leveraging his plan into a single- the inevitable impact of IPAB. To a degree, Ryan’s bold plan payer system. has served to smoke Obama out, forcing the president to at At this point, it is unnecessary for Obama to openly advocate least hint at his expansive vision for IPAB’s future. Perhaps such a system. All he needs to do is keep Obamacare in place, from Obama’s perspective, however, it is he who has success- effectively eliminate Republican alternatives by winning fully tricked Ryan into laying out a detailed program of politi- reelection, and then quietly manage the powerful fiscal forces cally unpopular cuts. If Obama can disguise the true long-term that will push the system in his preferred direction. impact of IPAB’s price controls on Medicare, he wins. Should Ryan’s free-market plan be repudiated, we will face Obama’s approach is to promise eventual savings from a future in which socialized medicine is the only alternative IPAB, while never actually spelling out what they are or who to fiscal meltdown. Quite possibly, however, it will prove no will suffer the cuts. That’s why IPAB isn’t even slated to come alternative at all, and we will end up with the worst of all into existence until after the 2012 election. From Oba ma’s per- worlds: heavy-handed rationing alongside a still-expanding spective, better to be criticized for not saving enough money deficit. Health-care expert Avik Roy recently noted that since than to acknowledge how deeply IPAB’s decisions will some- the board that is IPAB’s British counterpart was established in day bite. 1999, health-care expenditures have actually grown at a high- Obama doesn’t have to demand a strengthening of IPAB’s er rate in Britain than in the United States. This suggests that fiscal targets and powers; it may occur naturally. If he effec- Paul Ryan’s strategy of relying on free-market competition tively defeats the Ryan plan by securing reelection, Obama care to lower health-care spending is the better way to go. That free- will become the only game in town. At that point, the bur- market strategy has already had some success in the case of geoning fiscal crisis will force even some Republican budget Medicare’s prescription-drug plan. hawks to demand expanded targets and powers for IPAB. Obama’s plans depend on keeping IPAB as far under the In fact it’s already happening. The bipartisan Simpson- radar as possible until after he has secured reelection in 2012. Bowles deficit commission, appointed by Obama, essentially Ryan has exposed the president’s strategy a bit, but unless had no choice but to work within the framework of Obama - Republicans seize on Obama’s still-muffled hints of his inten- care. Accordingly, Simpson-Bowles pushed for IPAB to be tions to strengthen IPAB’s targets and powers, Ryan will be granted a much wider range of powers, including the extension thrown permanently on the defensive. That means victory for of its authority beyond Medicare to all of Oba ma care. Once Obama, socialized health care for America, and sorrow for IPAB’s rules govern America’s health-care system as a whole, those who still believe in the founders’ vision of a free people we will be most of the way down the road to a British-style under constitutional government.

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Policy, says that in that traditional country, “when Moroccans line up to kiss [the king’s] ring,” they are pledging fealty not just It’s Good to Be to a political leader “but to the ‘Amir al-Mu’minin,’ the ‘com- mander of the faithful.’” (This was the title of the second of the first four Muslim leaders after the Prophet Mohammed.) Mo - KING hammed vi is, in the words of the act of allegiance made by members of the political and religious establishment, the “rep - In the face of the Arab Spring, resentative of God on earth,” and therefore, says Ahmed Benchemsi, a bold young Moroccan journalist who is now a vis- Morocco’s monarch hangs on iting scholar at Stanford, “he cannot be challenged.” in the rest of the Sunni Arab Middle east, only King Abdullah ii of Jordan, BY JUDITH MILLER who is said to be a 43rd-generation descendant of Mohammed, has as much islamic legitimacy. he Arab Spring, which almost no one anticipated, con- Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, by contrast, does not claim tinues to confound. Nobody knows how long the descent from Mohammed, though both Mohammed and islam protests will last, or how many dictatorships mas- itself were born on land he rules. Although in less than 300 years T querading as Arab “republics” or “kingdoms” will be his family has conquered and unified its vast kingdom in the toppled before the passions are exhausted. But academics and name of islam not once but three times, King Abdullah’s reli- policymakers are already compiling lists of “lessons learned.” gious credentials have always rested on the extraordinary Among the most fascinating so far, observes Fawaz Gerges, alliance between his family, the Sauds, and the fundamentalist director of the Middle east Center at the London School of sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who preached religious economics, is that, while no Arab regime has been immune to reform, purity, and a strict-literalist interpretation of the Koran. the unrest engulfing the region, Middle eastern monarchies are Since the kingdom owes its existence to this merger and to the proving more resistant than the Arab-nationalist republics. continuing enforcement of the most rigid observance, the Sauds According to the “shoe-thrower’s index,” a scale designed by The have challenged policies dictated by Wahhabism’s religious Economist that attempts to predict the likely survivors among the zealots only when the interests of the state have absolutely Arab League’s 22 member states, the monarchies—most of them demanded it. conservative—almost all outrank their ostensibly democratically When young Saudi reformers threatened to stage a protest elected, citizen-based alternatives headed by strongmen. “The in March to demand constitutional reform, the king fell back fake republics are goners; the monarchies have a fighting chance,” partly on religion to prevent public gatherings. Demonstrations, elliott Abrams, who advised George W. Bush on Middle east proclaimed the government’s spokesmen, were “un-islamic.” policy and democratic movements, wrote in late March on Taking no chances, the king had already announced that he NATioNAL RevieW oNLiNe. would reward what was, in effect, the continued quiescence and Why should that be so? Why do monarchies—be they sul- submission of his 25 million citizens with some $130 billion in tanates, emirates, or other sorts of kingdoms—several of extra “subsidies”—larger government salaries and pensions, which were created by Britain or other colonial powers less half a million new houses. he also promised to hold municipal than a century ago, tend to be perceived as more legitimate by elections (without women voters, of course) whose winners their citizens than the often more secular-appearing Arab- would “share” power with the royals, a vague formulation de - nationalist “republics”? signed to give the ruling family maximum flexibility. (Such experts disagree. But religion, or more specifically the per- elections had already been held, in 2005; further ones, scheduled ception of religious legitimacy, almost surely accounts for at for 2009, were postponed. The councils, in any case, have had least part of the discrepancy. The case of Morocco is particular- little power.) As added insurance, Abdullah also expanded his ly striking. As a ruler who claims to be a descendant of the security forces by 60,000 and increased the budget for the much- Prophet Mohammed through the line of Ali and Fatima, Mo - hated religious police. hammed’s daughter, and as heir to the oldest kingdom in the Like the Saudi king, some other Arab monarchs have so far Middle east, King Mohammed vi has enjoyed religious legiti- proven adept at staving off demands for change. As protests over macy that the region’s other autocrats can only envy. skyrocketing food and living costs and high unemployment Long before the Arab Spring uprisings, Mohammed vi used spread to the hilly streets of the Jordanian capital of Amman, this lineage as a powerful weapon against what prior to the King Abdullah unveiled a $125 million package of subsidies for protests had been the primary challenge to so many Middle fuel, sugar, and other products. he also fired his cabinet: tradi- eastern regimes: the effort by militant islamists to attain power tionally a crowd-pleasing move, and an efficient way to shift and greater influence by portraying him and other islamic mon- blame. archs as “un-islamic.” Mohammed vi’s lineage claims have proven a tool of legiti- macy powerful enough to help his family survive both colonial uT Morocco may be different. Despite King Mo - rule under the French and independence in 1956. Robert Satloff, hammed’s vast personal wealth and that of his en - a scholar who heads the Washington institute for Near east B tourage—the subject of a WikiLeaks diplomatic cable made public last December, in which a former u.S. ambassador Judith Miller is a journalist, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the complained of the “appalling greed” of some of the king’s author of God Has 99 Names: Reporting from a Militant Middle East. men—Morocco, which lacks oil and ranks among the poorest

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states in North Africa, cannot buy off reformists as easily as the The king’s creation of a truth-and-reconciliation commission United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and other Gulf kingdoms with to study and expose torture and other human-rights violations small populations and large numbers of stateless guest workers during the rule of his father, Hassan II, was also courageous. (who tend not to make demands for greater political representa- Though the commission has been criticized for its inability to tion). Al-Jazeera, the powerful Qatari television network, has name names or punish those responsible for abuses, Ahmed spread the reformist gospel everywhere (except, of course, in Herzenni, president of the government’s human-rights council, Qatar, which provides the network’s budget). It has been such a says that 23,000 Moroccans have gotten compensation for hav- tireless cheerleader for the protests in Tunisia and Egypt that jubi- ing had their civil rights violated. Some 9,000 files have been lant demonstrators have vowed in interviews to erect monuments studied, and only 66 cases remain “unresolved.” and rename streets in the network’s name. Morocco’s govern- Over time, Herzenni says, the king’s powers have continued ment shut down Al-Jazeera’s office in Rabat last October. to decline and the elected parliament’s to increase; but, he adds, I was visiting Morocco as a guest of the government-funded Morocco’s political parties were still too weak and inexperi- Moroccan American Center for Policy when the protests erupt- enced to govern. The king’s unwillingness to relinquish the ed in Tunis that led to Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben powers inherent in his status as “commander of the faithful” was Ali’s ouster. Many of the Moroccans who told me they were nonetheless justified, he says, since “history has proven that thrilled by Tunisia’s uprising quickly added that they did not there is no alternative to the king,” and “monarchy is vital to sta- want to oust their own king. While reformist writers and sever- bility in Morocco.” (Herzenni himself spent twelve years in al other intellectuals said they were intensely dissatisfied with prison under King Hassan II for his leftist activism.) both the endemic corruption in their country and the slow pace But a sizeable portion of the country’s youthful protesters and superficiality of King Mohammed’s reforms, the protests in seem to disagree. On February 20, tens of thousands of Rabat were ostensibly aimed at accelerating and intensifying Moroccans turned out on the streets in over 50 cities, demand- those changes, not at replacing or even delegitimizing the king. ing, among other things, a truly democratic constitution and, in This, I was repeatedly told, was because Mohammed VI had effect, the diminution of royal power. For the first time in the begun modernizing the state’s government long before the scent history of Moroccan protests, many of them were not holding of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution wafted across its borders. pictures of the king. Mohammed VI responded with a pledge of Reform, in fact, began almost as soon as the king ascended the even deeper reform and with what seems to be a move toward throne in 1999. In a speech to the nation, he pledged to fight the creation of a genuine constitutional monarchy, similar to poverty and corruption and to improve Morocco’s dismal that of, say, Spain. He promised his citizens the “rule of law,” an human-rights record. This he has done. In the last decade, “independent judiciary,” separation of powers, and an “elected Morocco has also made impressive progress in reducing pover- government that reflects the will of the people, through the ty. According to a recent study by Lahcen Achy, a resident schol- ballot box.” ar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, less than 9 But Ahmed Benchemsi and other critics smell deceit. In an percent of Morocco’s population is now considered poor—that online article for Stanford University that was translated from is, living on less than $2 a day—compared with 16.2 percent a an essay in Le Monde, he noted that the king, in his speech, had decade ago: a drop in the poverty rate of more than 40 percent. clearly indicated that those “immutable values of sacred char- Despite this poverty reduction, Achy concludes, Morocco still acter” would not be debated. The phrase, Benchemsi wrote, was faces “high illiteracy, inequality, volatile economic growth, a reference to the current constitution’s articles 19 and 23, informal and vulnerable jobs, and uncertain levels of future which designate the king as commander of the faithful and remittances.” assert that he is “sacred.” Another article of the constitution Thanks to the king’s reforms, political space has dramatically gives him the right to issue dahirs, or royal decrees that cannot opened. Some 35,000 non-governmental organizations are now be challenged. Benchemsi argued that this suggests that the 47- registered, and about a third of this still relatively poor country, year-old Mohammed VI does not intend to become the Arab whose per capita GDP is roughly $2,770, has access to the world’s first Juan Carlos, much less Queen Elizabeth. Even Internet. Investment in infrastructure has increased dramatical- after the promised reforms, Benchemsi wrote, the king would ly. Political parties, though weak, are permitted to function, even be able to do “absolutely anything he wants, and no one is the Justice and Development party—Morocco’s largest opposi- granted the slightest power to stop him—all of this in the name tion group, an Islamist party in the mold of Turkey’s ruling AKP of Islam.” party. It won 46 of the Moroccan parliament’s 325 seats in 2007. Thus the king’s sacredness, which has heretofore been a pillar Mohammed VI has also pressed for greater rights for women, of legitimacy for the Moroccan system, is becoming a potential usually a taboo for Islamists. Because of the king’s implementa- vulnerability in this seemingly most stable of regimes. For the tion in 2004 of a new family code, called the mudawana, some moment, Moroccans seem to want to stick with the king, what- of his most enthusiastic supporters are women. “The code was ever his failings. In the longer run, they may prove unwilling to nothing short of revolutionary, and it was fiercely opposed by replace his religious legitimacy with the rigged elections, repres- the Islamist parties,” says Mbarka Bouaida, one of the youngest sive security services, and rubber-stamp judiciaries that have female parliamentarians. In assuring women the right to divorce, been the hallmark of the ostensibly secular Arab-nationalist apply for passports, and refuse polygamy; prohibiting the mar- regimes of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Those insti- riage of those under the age of 18; and establishing a right of tutions themselves will have to have real power before they can equal inheritance (in violation of fundamentalist interpretations be credible. Benchemsi is confident that one day they will be: of the Koran), the code “broke new and important legal ground,” Once the “democratic Pandora’s box is open,” he says, it “will she says. not be closed again.”

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Remembering Bill Rusher

on the American Right. Our own indigenous Mountie, he almost always got his man. Only a single exception sticks to the brainpan Debater on this sad day. Rusher spent years, almost a decade, chasing NEAL B. FREEMAN Jacob Javits around the ideological block. Time and again, New York’s über-liberal Republican would manage to skip past the He young Bill Rusher took to debating pretty much as the snares set for him by Trapper Bill. In a 1968 book, Rusher finally circling shark takes to soft human tissue—with hungry conceded defeat. In a passage that deserves at least a footnote in T purpose and to startling effect. Rusher received his basic the history of polemical writing, Rusher issued this verdict: “As training in the blood sport at Princeton’s Whig-Clio society and for Jacob Javits, you pays your money and takes your choice. It is then polished his skills as the feisty co-founder of the Young simply not possible to believe that his Communist contacts in Republican Club at Harvard Law School. (For a sense of the 1945 and 1946 were all totally innocent. But was he a Communist correlation of forces in Cam bridge, think of a School for entre - sympathizer, as some of his critics believe? Or was he merely a preneurship at Moscow University along about the middle of garden-variety opportunist, as his more candid defenders con- the last century.) Rusher took his graduate debate work in tend?” That is a quintessentially Rusherian judgment, even if one Washington, chasing furtive Communist witnesses down dark doubts that Javits’s defenders would ever so contend. testimonial holes for the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. Bill Rusher could have written the book on debating and, in It was there, as a Senate investigator and quasi-prosecutor, that he due course, he did. He published How to Win Arguments in developed the ultimate debate weapon: what we came to call The 1981—explaining structure, pace, diversion, jujitsu moves, time- Rush er Question. buying techniques, the whole bag of tricks. What’s not in there is The Rusher Question never elicited, nor indeed expected the what Bill Rusher brought preeminently to the public arena: a courtesy of, any answer. It was in business for itself. In its basic competitive fire born of utter conviction. I can see him now— form, it went something like this: “Mr. Smith, if you were not at coiled forward in his chair, the klieg lights glinting off his no- the hotel on the night in question—despite the fact that, as their nonsense glasses, measuring his opponent with gimlet eye, testimony will show, you were observed in the dining room by awaiting the opening that he knows will surely come. In wobbly the maitre d’, two waiters, three hotel guests, the sommelier, and moments, you could almost feel sorry for the poor bastard across the busboy—where exactly do you claim that you were that the stage from him. night?” The normal human response to such questions is some For an entire generation of American conservatives, Bill variation of: “Abba, dabba, dabba.” As the witness fumbled Rusher was our lawyer. We were all his pro bono clients, deeply through his memory files, Rusher would add helpfully, “I would grateful that he cared so much, and that he pressed our case so remind you, Mr. Smith—if that is in fact your real name—that effectively. you are under oath.” Over the years, from the Senate to the college speaking circuit Mr. Freeman collaborated with Mr. Rusher in various radio and television

JENNY POWELL to the television studio, Bill Rusher became the premier debater projects for more than three decades.

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If we mean by that a man whose wit was biting but never Founding Father unkind, whose sense of humor was hilarious to the place of danger on formal occasions, then Bill Rusher was Churchil - EDWIN J. FEULNER lian. You would know this if you had traveled to Asia with him, for on that trip he would read the Buddha, and spout his apho- N the early 1950s, American conservatism was in disarray. risms until they made a theme sometimes wise, more general- Lionel Trilling dismissed it as a series of “irritable mental ly strange and funny. I can hear Bill at this moment, intoning I gestures which seek to resemble ideas.” But then a hand- to explain some odd sight: “Change is the fate of all compound ful of conservatives came together and transformed the politi- things, quoth the Buddha.” I can hear him reciting Longfellow cal and intellectual climate, paving the way for Ronald as we strode across a Japanese formal garden. He had an ear Reagan’s historic victory in 1980. william A. Rusher was one not only for the noble, but also for the incongruous. of those indispensable conservative founding fathers. There are differences between Bill Rusher and Churchill. “Ronald Reagan did not spring full-blown from the brow of Churchill would not, if he offered you a drink in his home, Jove in 1980 or any recent year,” Rusher wrote shortly after hand you a printed menu, accurate as to inventory, that he had Reagan’s election—and as usual he was right. The first post- prepared himself. Churchill did not have his bookcases built war American presidential nominee to run openly as a conser- with spaces shaped for the specific books and other objects vative was Barry Goldwater—and Bill Rusher played a pivotal that would be in them. Churchill, said his wife, was a “sport- role in securing Goldwater’s nomination. ing man, who liked to give the train a chance to get away.” Although Goldwater lost the election, his nomination had Rusher would speak sharply to Churchill about that, as he did world-shaking consequences. As my colleague Lee edwards to me. recounts in his contribution to this symposium, the Goldwater I never got to work at NATIoNAL RevIew, but I went there campaign raised up American conservatism’s greatest standard- plenty. After I worked with Bill Rusher, I did not think it was bearer: Ronald wilson Reagan. If Bill Rusher had not thought Bill Buckley who gave the place what tidiness it had. The two up the Draft Goldwater Committee in 1961—and persisted until Bills collaborated rather on its wisdom, its principle, and its it became a reality—Ronald Reagan would not have become wit. president in 1980. Like Churchill’s work, that of Rusher lives because it gives Besides paving the way for that landmark election, the us a model and a chance today. we owe him a debt, to be paid Goldwater candidacy mobilized a small army of conservative in love and memory. activists. Thousands of young conservatives were inspired to become politically active—including, as it happens, me. I took Mr. Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, was director of research for my commitment to Goldwater seriously—so seriously, in fact, Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill. that I almost dropped out of my MBA program at the wharton school to volunteer. Fortunately, I didn’t. I received my degree the month after Goldwater lost in a landslide to LBJ. But like so many other men and women active in American conserva - Young Republican tism today, I date my political coming-of-age to the Goldwater JOHN R. THOMSON campaign of 1964—which would never have happened with- out the behind-the-scenes efforts of Bill Rusher. He was one of those remarkable people whose names don’t ILL RusHeR was the man behind the Young Republican appear very prominently in the history books, but whose con- throne during much of the 1950s and ’60s. He was the tributions help to define an age. B strategist and supreme decision maker, in league with his longtime friend, master tactician F. Clifton white. Mr. Feulner is president of the Heritage Foundation. Bill plotted and Clif executed the election of numerous chair- men of the Young Republican National Federation, starting with the 1953 convention in Rapid City, s.D. There, the 30-year-old attorney was dubbed “The Chairman” by delegates awed by his Churchillian quietly successful backing of the candidacy of dark horse LARRY P. ARNN sullivan Barnes as YRNF chairman. The Rusher-white team went on to a string of YR—and numerous senior GoP—victories, including the election of HuRCHILLIAN? If we mean by that a man who had a nat- Charlie Mcwhorter, co-founder with Bill of the Harvard Young ural ear for good words in prose and poetry, committed Republican Club in 1946, as YRNF chairman at the 1955 con- C them to memory without seeming effort, and recalled vention in Detroit. The 1957 convention in washington saw the them on the right occasions, then Bill Rusher was Churchillian. election of John Ashbrook, future ohio congressman, presiden- If we mean by that a man who distilled a wide reading into tial candidate, and key player with Bill and Clif white in the truths that could be remembered and applied to his own 1964 Draft Goldwater movement. choices, then Bill Rusher was Churchillian. I first met Bill in 1953 and was elected the HYRC’s ninth If we mean by that a man who learned from Churchill all his president. Rusher, the first president, was followed by Mc - life, who saw into his character as a gentleman would see, then whorter and a string of future GoP activists, including Roger Bill Rusher was Churchillian. Allan Moore, longtime chief counsel of the Republican National

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Committee and equally longtime chairman of NR’s board followed ever since. It led to my involvement in James of directors (dubbed “Colonel Moore” by Bill, who enjoyed Buckley’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1970, devising such honorifics, for their joint appreciation of mint and eventually to my nomination by President Reagan as juleps), and Don hodel, secretary of energy and the interior dur- ambassador to Nepal—where Bill happily paid me a visit. ing the Reagan administration. Thanks to Bill, my life has had a rich meaning for which I Frustrated by the suffocatingly leftist orientation of the aptly will always be grateful. named Harvard­Crimson, I founded in 1955 a weekly newspa- per, The Harvard­Times-Republican, a rogue project thoroughly Mr. Weil, former ambassador to Nepal, is an investment banker in New York City. opposed by the harvard administration. Bill was instrumental in the project’s success, as organizational adviser and editorial con- tributor. Drawing on relationships he had developed as counsel to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, he recruited Memo from: WAR Senate Minority leader William Knowland of California plus PRISCILLA L. BUCKLEY Sens. John Bricker of Ohio and William Jenner of Indiana for the paper’s advisory board, persuading each to visit Cambridge and address hYRC meetings. Ill RUSheR in shirtsleeves was unimaginable. he One of his own guest editorials, “Cult of Doubt,” caught Bill arrived at the office at 150 east 35th Street at precise- Buckley’s eye, as had the paper’s founding, a month prior to B ly 9:15 every morning, shoes polished, in dark suit and NR’s. After receiving the first few issues, WFB mentioned our fedora in winter, lighter suit and Panama hat in summer. he “maverick newspaper” in the magazine. And when he decided was in charge of the business end of NR: met the payroll, he should not continue as both editor and publisher of NR, he ordered the paper, negotiated with the printer, cajoled prospec- contacted Chairman Bill, launching the relationship that led to tive advertisers, mollified the banks. The business end was in Rusher’s three decades of service as NR’s publisher. fine shape, prudently managed, but the rest of the outfit was his When I last saw Bill, in October, I said, “Greetings, Mr. despair. Why couldn’t everyone else do things the right way, Chairman,” on entering his hospital room, whereupon the when the right way was so easy, so sensible? But what he had drowsing patient opened his eyes and smiled. We recalled our on his hands was a bunch of talented eccentrics who would times with “The Commissioner,” Bill’s moniker for Clif White. have flunked out of any business school in the land. As I left, Bill called me “honest John,” his sobriquet for me for This did not deter him from trying to whip us into shape. more than 50 years. he had clearly enjoyed himself. Memos flew from WAR’s third-floor office with such profu- Chairman Bill has passed on, joining so many of his generation. sion that at one point they provoked massive retaliation from his concern and counsel for countless Young Republican activists Bill Rickenbacker, who sent a memo of his own: will long remain an integral part of his remarkable legacy. From: WFR Mr. Thomson’s career as international businessman, writer, and diplomat To: The Torrent Across the hall has included articles for NR over four decades. WAR’s memos addressed working hours (“The office day starts at 9:30 A.M.”), lunch hours (“Two-and-a-half-hour lunch- es are excessive”), and even the irresponsible way staffers Movement Conservative tossed their personal letters into the outgoing mailbox un­- L E O N W E I L stamped. (Fat chance he had of fixing this one!) he was the standing joke of the younger staffers, who made book on how long his newest secretary would last and were F there was one person who shaped my political life and careful, if called to his office on a Friday, not to sit on the left- thought, it was Bill Rusher. I had always considered hand side of the couch because that was where the NR­Bulletin I myself a “Republican,” but beyond that I knew nothing. he would take home to read over the weekend would be placed As a matter of fact, I had to look up the New York Young when it arrived. Republican Club in the phone book when I settled in New York But when things got really tough, when major internal prob- City after college in 1954. lems occurred, what did we do? We called in what the junior At my very first meeting I met Bill, who took me under his staffers called the WAR Department. wing and explained the facts of life as far as the rivalries The problem would be brought to Bill Rusher’s attention. he inside the club were concerned. There were the White Shoes would call in the people involved one by one, ask all the right and the Dirty Necks. John lindsay and Roswell Perkins led questions, consider the matter from every aspect, separating the White Shoes, and the other side was led by F. Clifton out the frivolous from the serious complaints, then call every- White, Charlie McWhorter, and Bill. I of course became a one back into his office and suggest the solution. he was Dirty Neck. almost always right on target. Thanks to Bill, I learned not only the difference between a Tease him we did, but live without him we could not. he was conservative Republican and a liberal one, but also that there the ballast of our often wobbly ship of state. was a difference between an instinctive conservative and a movement conservative, of which Bill was the quintessential Miss Buckley, NR’s longtime managing editor, is the author of example. It opened up a path to political activity that I have Living It Up with National Review.

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out, was that he would produce a TV commercial for NR. The Aphorist only proviso was that we had to enlist the talent. Well, Charlton Heston was already a friend of the magazine, and we dis - DEROY MURDOCK covered that Tom Selleck was also a fan. And we had some footage of the pre-presidential Ronald Reagan from our 20th- ILLIAM A. RUSHeR was many things: a political anniversary celebration. thinker, activist, debater, and bon vivant. He also When I presented all this to Bill Rusher, he too was skepti- W was a lightning-quick wit, who unfailingly shared cal but agreed to give it a try. The result was NR’s first TV and generated laughter. commercial—a classic, with Selleck, Heston, and Reagan l As Bill Buckley details in United Nations Journal: A singing the praises of NR. We received 25,000 new subscrip- Delegate’s Odyssey, the FBI once phoned Rusher while vetting tions in three weeks. Unheard of in that day and age! Buckley for a diplomatic post to which he had been appointed. At the end of the third week I got a call from Bill asking me “Has Mr. Buckley done anything since 1969 that might to come to his office ASAP. When I walked in, I thought I was embarrass the Nixon administration?” an FBI agent asked. going to get a medal. Instead I was greeted by a red-faced Bill “No,” Rusher replied. “But since 1969, the Nixon adminis- saying, “You have to stop the commercial—it’s going to put us tration has done a great deal that has embarrassed Mr. out of business.” What had quickly come to Bill—but not to Buckley.” me because of my euphoria—was that all these new subscrip- l When challenged to explain what was wrong with big- tions were expenses that had to be met before we collected any government liberalism, he exclaimed: “Look around!” money. The cost of printing, paper, and postage on 25,000 new He had several maxims by which he lived and which he subs was enormous. So I pulled the ad, and Bill’s blood pres- cheerfully shared with others. sure returned to normal. l First, there was Rusher’s Rule: “If you find a good thing, The story had a happy ending. A large number of the please- run it into the ground.” bill-me-laters did pay, and we began running the ad again, l “Rusher’s Third Law: ‘Never cross Sixth Avenue if you which eventually resulted in the largest circulation increase in can help it.’ That assumes that you are on the east Side to begin NR’s history. Bill could have taken the cash, but he decided to with.” take a chance instead. “What caused you to come up with that?” I wondered. “experience,” he said flatly. Mr. Capano was NR’s publisher from 1991 until his retirement in 2006. l “When difficulties become too numerous, they start can- celing each other out.” For example, “You’ve got to go to a party that you don’t really want to go to, but then you sprain your ankle.” Travel Impresario How lucky I was—and grateful I am—to have imbibed these LINDA BRIDGES and other distillations of Bill Rusher’s wisdom over nearly 30 years of friendship. R. RUSHeR was not the favorite person of NR’s junior Mr. Murdock is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard staff in the early Seventies. We knew that WFB had News Service and a media fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, M hired him not only for his business acumen, but also and Peace at Stanford University. to be bad cop. But when he called us on the carpet for this or that, we felt that he didn’t have to be quite so good at being bad cop. But even then, we couldn’t help enjoying his performances Publisher at editorial gatherings. He would always have some story to EDWARD A. CAPANO tell. It might be about some malfeasance by New York’s liber- al Republicans, or something Governor Reagan had told him. But as likely as not, it would be about food, wine, or travel. He HeN I was assistant publisher of NR, I worked close- was a regular at some of New York’s finest restaurants and a ly with Bill Rusher, manning the barricades against member of its top two wine groups, the Commanderie de W our creditors. Cash was always scarce, and Bill was Bordeaux and the Chevaliers du Tastevin. (“What you have to a master at juggling payments to vendors, knowing which ones understand about Buckley,” he once told us, “is that he still he could string out and for how long. They screamed and thinks wine ought to cost what his father told him it ought to stamped their feet, but somehow, some way, a check always cost.”) And he was an inveterate traveler. He frequently visit- arrived before they pulled the plug. ed his favorite “pariah nations”—the countries hated by the In 1982 a letter arrived from a subscriber saying that he had Left: South Africa, South Korea, and the Republic of China— a plan that would dramatically increase our circulation. He but he also loved driving trips in europe. He himself had never would put up the princely sum of $1,000 to carry it out—pro- learned to drive, but that was no obstacle. He could always find vided someone would meet with him in Pennsylvania. Bill a friend or two who would be delighted to follow an itinerary passed the letter along to me and asked my opinion. I was skep- lovingly planned by Bill Rusher. tical, but I thought I should investigate. I dutifully drove to I was never in on one of those jaunts, but I did get a taste of Pennsylvania and met with the gentleman. His plan, it turned the Rusherian flair for trip-planning. After he had retired and

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moved to San Francisco, he still faithfully returned to New York tried out his thesis on Rep. John M. Ashbrook of Ohio, an old for NR board meetings. One time he and I were seated togeth- friend from Young Republican days. Ashbrook agreed to help. er at the directors’ dinner, and I mentioned that I was going to Back in New York City, Rusher took another old friend to be out his way for a family reunion. Whipping out his little lunch, F. Clifton White. White was a tall, bow-tied professional black notebook, Bill determined that he was free the day I politician, who knew the GOP’s nomination process better than would be arriving, and why didn’t we drive out to Domaine anyone else in America. White readily enlisted in the cause. Chandon? “You provide the car, I’ll provide the lunch,” he said. In October 1961, Rusher, White, and Ashbrook convened a Two months later, as I flew across the country, I found “hard core” of 26 conservatives—including members of myself wondering what I would have thought in 1970 if some- Congress, Republican state chairmen, and businessmen—that one had told me that I would willingly, indeed eagerly, sign on would become the National Draft Goldwater Committee. Clif to spend a whole day in Mr. Rusher’s company. White was named chairman. He met me at baggage claim, the informality of a drive in the From the winter of 1961 until the fall of 1963, White trav- country signaled by a navy-blue double-breasted blazer eled more than 1 million miles visiting friends, building an instead of a gray business suit. We picked up the car, and he organization, identifying delegates. All along the way—which skillfully directed me. We were going out by the Bay Bridge, was filled with more than a few potholes—there was an ever- he told me, and would return by the Golden Gate, for the max- optimistic Bill Rusher encouraging White to stay the course. imum of scenic beauty. On the way and over lunch we talked Money was always a problem. Rusher called the first half of about everything—the exhilaration of the Contract with 1962 the draft movement’s “Valley Forge.” White was reduced America and Newt Gingrich’s Republican Congress; how well to making long-distance telephone calls in lieu of flying. He NR was doing under John O’Sullivan and ed Capano; Anglo- spent money he had set aside for his son’s college education. Catholicism (he had converted some years earlier; I was in the At last, a discouraged White said the committee would have to midst of doing so); and, of course, food and wine. I had men- “fold the tent,” but Rusher argued so persuasively that White tioned that I would need to fax to the office the work I had done agreed to keep going for another month. on the plane, and as we drove back into San Francisco he At the last moment, Randy Richardson, J. D. “Stets” announced that he had the solution. He directed me to the Coleman, Jeremiah Milbank Jr., and J. William Middendorf II University Club, where he introduced me to the concierge and came to the rescue. The latter pair became so proficient at pro- asked if I might use the club’s fax. ducing cash that they were nicknamed “the Brinks Brothers.” I drove north to my cousins’ house a few minutes later think- Barry Goldwater never burned with desire to be president. ing that it had been a magical day. Whatever desire he had was nearly extinguished by Kennedy’s assassination. But he was persuaded to seek the nomination Miss Bridges, an NR editor-at-large, is co-editor of Athwart History: because so many young conservatives urged him to do so, and Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations: because he wanted to offer a choice and not an echo to the A William F. Buckley Jr. Omnibus. American people. When Goldwater accepted the GOP’s nomination, he knew he would not have been standing before thousands of ecstatic conservatives in San Francisco if it had not been for the Man behind the Scenes National Draft Goldwater Committee. And the committee’s LEE EDWARDS godfather was Bill Rusher, nonpareil strategist in the rise of the Right.

He political calculus is clear: If Barry Goldwater had Mr. Edwards is distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the not run for president in 1964, Ronald Reagan would not Heritage Foundation and the author of numerous books about the modern T have been elected president in 1980. conservative movement. Goldwater gave Reagan the opportunity to make a remark- able TV address on his behalf, “A Time for Choosing,” which turned the Hollywood actor into a political star overnight and led to his running for governor of California and then president of these United States. ‘Mr. Rusher’ the But Barry Goldwater would never have run for president if it had not been for—enter stage right—William A. Rusher. Gentleman In the late spring of 1961, Bill Rusher felt that a leadership JOHN O’SULLIVAN vacuum had developed in the Republican party. Richard Nixon had been defeated by John F. Kennedy the previous November. OeS anyone ever remember Bill Rusher raising his General eisenhower had retired to his farm. Nelson Rocke - voice in anger? I heard him raise his voice in amuse- feller was too liberal for most regular Republicans. D ment many times. His laughter was slightly more rau- The obvious man to fill the vacuum, Rusher was convinced, cous than anything else in his temperament or manners. On my was Barry Goldwater. Goldwater had just appeared on the relatively narrow and brief friendship with him, however, I cover of Time, which described the senator as “the hottest recognized that he was angry only by noticing that he was political figure this side of Jack Kennedy.” growing quieter and more intense rather than becoming louder Rusher set to work, flying to Washington, D.C., where he or more boisterous.

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That in no way meant that he swallowed his anger and went along with things he disliked. On the contrary. Bill was adaman- Rusher and Poetry tine in defending what he believed or in advocating a political position. But he did so in terms that were always courteous in RICHARD BROOKHISER form even if explosive in content. such behavior is generally known as gentlemanly. Analysts of ill RusheR was an adult convert to Anglicanism. But the gentleman as a moral species from Cardinal Newman to our words, like our temperaments, are set earlier in life. shirley Robin letwin have identified two very different traits B his favorite poets were all stoics. life is short and not that coexist in his character: a desire to put all other people at always sweet, and it ends. Whether another life follows it is as their ease and a firm determination not to be denied the regard out of our ken as it is out of our control. What we can control is owed to him. Thus the gentleman is invariably civil to others, but our emotions here and now. he will not tolerate incivility toward himself (or toward those Rusher would summon his poets over drinks after a fine meal. who depend on his protection). Just because life is short doesn’t mean we shouldn’t eat well. his i think that perfectly describes Bill Rusher (though even bards were not those of right-world—T. s. eliot, Philip larkin. homer, another gentleman, in my view, nods occasionally). Bill Rusher’s were swinburne, housman, san taya na, and hadrian. was, of course, gentlemanly in more obvious ways. Most mem- swinburne is the odd man in that list. he would have called bers of NATiONAl ReVieW’s staff referred to him as Mr. Rusher. himself a stoic, certainly an ancient Greek, but his moan ing That never seemed forced or “inappropriate” even in an office alliterations and his touch of hysteria forfeit his claim to the title. that was unusually lively and argumentative. he simply enjoyed One evening Rusher performed sections of swinburne’s long their respect. he dressed in the neat and formal style of a mem- poem “Dolores”— ber of the American establishment of his youth and early career. he had expensive tastes in food and wine, but his self-control O mystic and somber Dolores, meant that these never became vices. his manners were agree- Our Lady of Pain? able, his conversation drily witty. he had many lasting friend- ships, but he was ultimately self-contained. he never sought it was like chugging White Russians. attention for himself as such, but when he needed it to make a i shared his love of housman too much to be able to distin- point, he commanded it easily. Again, whether he was at a club guish now my favorites from his. George santayana was new to table or in a television debate, he simply enjoyed the respect of me. The spanish Catholic atheist, who spent 40 amused years in those present. this country, is remembered as a philosophy professor, but he it is an extraordinarily fortunate thing that someone with these was also a grave and able sonneteer. Rusher loved the sonnet that highly unfashionable qualities of character became the fidus ends Achates to WFB’s Aeneas in the early days of NATiONAl ReVieW. Being number two is always difficult even when you It makes me happy that the soul is brave, realize that, for some inexplicable reason insisted on by the And, being so much kinsman to the dead, Cosmos, it is also necessary and right and, besides, unavoidable. I walk contented to the peopled grave. WFB was a fizzingly brilliant number one—but his qualities of character did not exclude caprice. Bill Rusher often had to argue hadrian, the second-century Roman emperor, is known for one against editorial ideas and commitments that would capture short lyric written in his last days. here is Byron’s translation: tomorrow’s headlines but cost innumerable subscriptions. he sometimes had to urge worthy conservative positions that struck Ah! gentle, fleeting, wav’ring sprite, his boss as pedestrian. history was sometimes on the side of Friend and associate of this clay! WFB, e.g., Bill Rusher’s desire for a national conservative party; To what unknown region borne sometimes on Bill Rusher’s side, e.g., WFB’s lack of interest in Wilt thou, now, wing thy distant flight? the Goldwater insurgency. Bill Rusher came close to resignation No more, with wonted humor gay, at least once. But pallid, cheerless, and forlorn. instead, he stayed—and helped to create a great magazine and a great political movement, to write books well regarded by the The one time i seriously disappointed Rusher was when my political professionals, to enjoy a separate career, vamping with wife and i, on a trip to italy, passed up hadrian’s Villa outside his left hand as a debater and columnist, and to enjoy the respect Rome for the gardens of the Villa d’este. i had missed com- of all who knew him and the affection of all who knew him well. muning with the author of those lines for what Rusher called Most critics regard the gentleman as a vanishing species. “a bunch of trick fountains.” Feminists in particular welcome his demise. even some conser- Poetry does not reason about serious things, it depicts them. vatives seem to prefer more dramatic and even vulgar advocates. When we read and remember it we mold ourselves; when we Bill’s life and achievements, things accomplished rather than recite it we share what we have become. Reading is rare enough celebrated, are a decisive assertion that the gentleman is an in this world, the courage to recite rarer still. Walk contented, my indispensable support of any society that aspires to be both free friend. and virtuous. Mr. Brookhiser, an NR senior editor, is the author most recently of Right Time, Mr. O’Sullivan, an NR editor-at-large, is executive editor of Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Radio Free Europe–Radio Liberty. Conservative Movement.

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Athwart BY JAMES LILEKS Triumph of the Petrophobes

ON’T worry about six-dollar-a-gallon gas. The lishing the moral virtues of his case; ease of confiscation is president can sign an executive order demanding always the first thing you want to consider when taking pumps be rebranded to deliver the juice in half- money out of people’s pockets. “By adding a cost to the wan- D gallon increments. Swift, decisive action! A 50 ton consumption of gasoline, you actually encourage conser- percent drop in price! But since that would be swift and deci- vation,” he added. Wanton! Those hussy pumps with their sive, the president will probably stick with his original plan— shapely hoses, seducing the innocents. Drive to Costco. Go a Task Force will look into the matter. This is slightly less on. You can afford it. efficacious than sending Jed Clampett out to shoot at some As for the economic impact of the tax, he barked this crisp food and stumble across a pond of bubblin’ crude. (Oil, that refutation: “Others say it penalizes those in remote and rural is. Black gold. Texas tea.) The Task Force will labor for areas. So what?” Spoken like someone who looks at a subway weeks, investigating the strange and inscrutable forces at map and sees HERE BE DRAGONS signs where the lines work here, breaking into subcommittees: Okay, you guys end. He does elaborate, to be fair: “Very few taxes are perfect, work on “supply,” you guys work on “demand,” and we’ll get and our electoral system—with its over-representation of big back together next week to see if there’s any connection. agricultural states in the Senate—already pampers the rural.” Why is gas high? Asian demand. Middle East instability— So there: So what? If it costs more to fill the family tractor, the Libyan conflict, at press time, has not been solved by the well, no tax is perfect, Jack. introduction of two Predators, nor have Qaddafi fighters melt- Well, now the dream’s come true. Gas is as high as the ed away in terror upon hearing that Italian petrophobes want it, and the result will be military advisers will assist the rebels. depressed consumer spending, inflation, a (You will want a loose fit in the sleeves of depressed summer-vacation sector, mal - your uniforms, here, so that when you aise, rending of garments, gnashing of throw your arms up in surrender, there is teeth, and—worst of all—a growing lack not the chafing.) There’s the seasonal shift of faith in Presidential Task Forces. to summer-blend gas, mandated by one of Imagine if we already had a two-buck tax those Clean Air Acts intended to make on gas. If we didn’t get one in the mid- exhaust-pipe discharge indistinguishable 2000s, it’s because politicians lacked the from the breeze across an alpine meadow, ability to make the case as plainly as and there’s the impact of an enervated, Sullivan (“Some conservatives say it’s watered-down dollar. Real-world prob- antithetical to the American Dream,” he lems. Naturally, the president suspects wrote, adding: “Hooey”). But once upon a speculators and other forms of warlocks who use their dark, time politicians had spines. Vision. Foresight. They gave us alchemic powers to turn money into more money. the gas tax in 1932, when Old Man Depression had pum- What angers some on the left isn’t the price of oil, it’s the meled federal revenues so hard the budget deficit stood at a fact that the government isn’t profiting. In the halcyon days of mortifying $2.7 billion, or roughly the amount the current cheap gas, when you didn’t have to check the pump to see if government loses in the sofa cushions every day. The rate you’d selected Glenlivet instead of Regular, there were con- went up to one-and-a-half penny to help finance WWII— stant calls to slap enormous taxes on gasoline. It would have when you fill your tank, you’re socking it to Hitler!—and it’s several salutary effects: drifted up to a little over 18 cents today, with almost three It could fund trains that went so fast the G-forces would cents funding mass transit. make even Nancy Pelosi’s Botoxed visage show signs of But there’s another invisible tax: the price we pay because acceleration. we don’t expand our supply. The EPA just told Shell they can’t It would discourage people from moving to the suburbs, drill in Alaska, after five years of permit wrangling. Add that where they turn into Republicans, possibly because of con- gas we won’t be getting from Alaska to the gas we won’t get tinual exposure to lawn chemicals. from the Gulf to the gas we won’t get from anywhere we could It would help the planet, since NASCAR rallies alone are be drilling. No, drilling won’t help us today, but it might help expected to raise the global temp by 0.00006 degrees by 2457 us in the future. You know, that thing we’re supposed to win. A.D. Speaking of winning the future: Will there be an award cer- People who insist on owning cars for some peculiar reason emony? Because it would be great if the Chinese came in sec- will buy smaller vehicles made out of lightweight materials, ond, and drove to the event in limos, and we showed up to get like dried, pressed kelp. first prize on horses and bikes. No, make that bikes. Horses Andrew Sullivan made the case in Time magazine in 2004: issue pollution, too. As soon as we’ve gotten everyone out of “Such taxes are relatively easy to collect,” he noted, estab- their cars, we can start hectoring them about their carbon hoofprint. People think they can trot anywhere, as if it’s a free AP / Mr. Lileks blogs at www.lileks.com. country. Wanton oat consumption, that’s the problem. DON RYAN

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The Long View BY ROB LONG

and “support.” He stomped on my Wii Wish we could show @lawandordersvu remote. here on Korea 1. Would show the citi- zens that the West is filled with perverts Hey, @barnesandnoble, would love to and drug addicts. Also, could get talk re: opening a “mini” store in @mariskahargitay here for a panel dis- From the Twitter feed Pyongyang. Wouldn’t need to be a cussion. Rowrrrrrrr! superstore. Would have to carry all of of @youthcaptain, the @dearleader’s 13,000 books, though. Drummer and bassist of Juche Rising next leader of the (my new rock band) both suggested Tried to organize TV show to raise changes to set list. In spirit of coopera- Democratic People’s money for Japan tsunami relief. Dad tive openness, had both sent to work looks at me like I’m a bug. He wants farm instead of executed. #newday - Republic of Korea . . . new ideas, then dumps on them when indprk he gets them. #can’twin @muamargaddafy got your DM. Have Skinny jeans arrived today. Not sure it’s to ask @dearleader before we can ship Hey! @ladygaga! Follow me so I can the right look. #backtojumpsuits anything. In doghouse right now for DM you! Would love to host you here in making “Jackie O” joke re: his sun- Pyongyang. How do you feel about Hosting Iranian scientists here for the glasses. Will ask re: centrifuges when performing with 65k kids with colored week. FYI: They do not party. Bored out storm lifts. cards that make it seem like Spirit of of my skull. On other hand, they keep Korea lighting world on fire? talking about how free they feel here. Do not get all of the Trump haters. Do #iguesspyongyangisn’tsobad not understand what’s wrong with his Still getting silent treatment from hair. Looks awesome to me. @dearleader. Silence hurts more than Thinking when I take over I’ll be more yelling. And he wonders why I overeat. Bloomberg-y than Giuliani-y. Thoughts, @asmaassad Love love love love the #foodfillstheemptiness- Tweeps? spread in Vogue. You and @basharas- whereloveshouldbe sad seem like perfect couple. Had to It’s official. Prefer Jay to Conan or read it online b/c hard to find in Decided to forget trying to modernize Letterman. Bored of Colbert (always Pyongyang bookstore. #weneeda - and reform DPRK government. the same joke) and wish Stewart wasn’t barnesandnoble Forming indie rock band instead. First such an Obama toady. And that’s say- single “Smash the Reactionary ing something. #evenwehavelim- just heard that @justinbieber is per- Western Despotic Forces as Juche itsinthedprk forming in Beijing. Do I dare ask @dear- Rises Triumphant in Homeland and leader if I can borrow the train? World.” Hit #1 as soon as we released Brilliant Idea: create World League of #can’tstanduptodad mp3. Super Leaders—include @dearleader, @muamargaddafy, @basharassad, Would love to order some selvage AI not as good without Simon. Also: @mugabe, @mahmoudahmadinejad, denim if I knew what selvage denim don’t know who that old lady is or why etc., etc. Have badges and uniforms. was. #needtogetGQinPyongyang she’s so famous. #whoissteventyler? Big bash in Pyongyang.

@dearleader says reason for revolu- Hey, all my Tweeps! Question for the Response to Brilliant Idea at party tions in Middle East is protein, nutrition group. Skinny jeans or bootcut for meeting: crickets. Holding back tears. in local diet. Hunger makes for a yours truly? #jumpsuitsbegone Can hear the generals snickering. drowsy population, he says, then asks #I’dbeshotifmynamewasn’tKim me why I’m not writing it down. Listening to Tony Robbins tapes. Try - #becauseyouterrifymeandiremem- ing to awaken the giant within. Getting Would I ever leave my homeland? Sure. bereverythingyousay psyched to achieve all of my dreams. Am already pursuing teaching post at @dearleader comes in during my visu- London School of Economics. Thinking maybe the reason why Tamara alization exercises. Reads from my suc- Considered Harvard, but maybe too lib- and Gretchen hate each other is cess journal in girly voice. eral? because both are so alike? #realhouse- #notadearleadertome wivesoforangecounty Watching new @drwho with @dear- In tomorrow’s big meeting with @dear- leader. Was watching alone, then he Kimchi and loneliness do not mix leader and generals and party officials, came in and sat down next to me #majorgastricdistress will pitch my Brilliant Idea. #mytime- without saying anything. #nicemo- toshine ment Long harangue from @dearleader. Wants me to be more “proactive” and @ericboehlert love your work, love your Gotta say. Best part about taking over to show more “pizzazz.” Told him I’d mission. Give my best to @george- after @dearleader? The purges. like him to show more “acceptance” soros. #scorestosettle

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relinquished control over the nations of Fukuyama’s enterprise. The Origins pub- The Long Eastern Europe, the essay made its author lished in 2011 examines the coalescence famous for providing a sweeping interpre- of political order from the emergence of tation of the meaning of America’s victory Homo sapiens as a distinct species up to the Climb in the Cold War. French Revolution. A forthcoming second Some who hailed and others who volume will analyze how humanity has WILLIAM VOEGELI attacked Fukuyama’s thesis sped past the confronted this challenge over the past two article’s qualifications and nuances, begin- centuries. ning with that question mark in its title. The first volume synthesizes a remark- Fukuyama was not contending that the able amount of material, not just from po - Soviet demise marked the culmination of litical science, history, and economics, but the epochal struggle to rid the world of also anthropology, archaeology, genetics, tyranny and oppression, or a guarantee and sociobiology. The reader will learn, for that mankind would live happily ever after. example, that ground squirrels “discrimi- His point, rather, was that the collapse of nate between full and half sisters in nesting Communism, as both a practical enterprise behavior.” That matters because “indivi - and a moral ideal, marked “the total ex - duals of any sexually reproducing species The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman haustion of viable systematic alternatives will behave altruistically toward kin in Times to the French Revolution, by Francis to Western liberalism.” proportion to the number of genes they Fukuyama (Farrar, Straus, 608 pp., $35) Moreover, argued Fukuyama, not only share,” which explains why human had Fascism and Communism been sub- “nepo tism is not only a socially but a n framing a government which tracted from the “common ideological her- biologically grounded reality.” is to be administered by men itage of mankind,” but it had become Humans are the only species with a his- over men,” according to The exceedingly difficult to see how any new tory, in the sense that the clusters we live in ‘I Federalist Papers, “the great isms would ever be added. That was the together have, over the millennia, changed difficulty lies in this: you must first enable sense in which history had ended: Man - radically in size and complexity. Ground the government to control the governed; kind would spend the imaginable future squirrels, chimpanzees, and all other ani- and in the next place oblige it to control working within the liberal-democratic mals appear to live in groups determined itself.” Francis Fukuyama, in The Origins framework rather than attempting to fash- by their species’ natures, rather than their of Political Order, makes the same funda- ion another. members’ choices, and thus have the same mental point: “Successful liberal demo - Unfortunately for the human race, stipu- extent, structure, and functions today as cracy requires both a state that is strong, lating that liberal democracy is the only they did 500 or 50,000 years ago. Fuku- unified, and able to enforce laws on its own justifiable regime does not guarantee that it yama is, in this sense, an Aristotelian, territory, and a society that is strong and can be made to work. The least-bad alter- believing that our nature directs human cohesive and able to impose accountability native might not be good enough, either to beings to seek security and happiness in on the state.” Every page of Fukuyama’s flourish where it exists or to spread to new social life. latest book conveys that grappling with habitats. Fukuyama has written half a He is, at the same time, a kind of Dar- this Goldilocks problem—establishing and dozen books since publishing one based on winian. For Fukuyama, the test of political maintaining a government that is neither the end-of-history article in 1992. They arrangements is how well they succeed. too weak to do its essential work, nor too address a range of topics, but a recurring Configurations that conduce to humans’ strong to be safely entrusted with the liber- concern is the frailty as opposed to the living longer, healthier lives; bearing and ties and welfare of the people—has been inevitability of liberal democracy, given raising more children; satisfying the the crux of political history. the way free societies depend on but do not de sires for distinction and meaning; Fukuyama, now a senior fellow at necessarily reinforce social habits or moral and collectively acquiring the capacity Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for understandings that lie beneath the level to dominate other groups or to avoid be - International Studies, was working for the we typically think of as “political,” where ing dominated by them—these are the State Department’s policy-planning staff such things as elections, wars, and policy arrange ments that will be retained, imitat- in 1989 when The National Interest pub- debates take place. ed, and elaborated. The ones that fail these lished his article “The End of History?” The Origins of Political Order can, then, real-world tests, whose members are poor, Appearing weeks before the Soviet Union be viewed as Fukuyama’s attempt to move sick, weak, hungry, infertile, defeated, from discussing discrete aspects of poli - subjugated, or miserable—these are the Mr. Voegeli, a senior editor of The Claremont tical weakness and strength to making configurations that will be discarded in hu - Review of Books, is the author of Never a comprehensive, systematic argument manity’s long trial-and-error process. Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State about the causes of political disarray and Questions of comparative advantage and a visiting scholar at Claremont McKenna cohesion. “Comprehensive,” however, would be irrelevant if Earth’s geography College’s Salvatori Center. does not do justice to the ambition of placed each distinct social group on its own

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BOOKS, ARTS & MANNERS distant island. We still occasionally dis - good,” but not enough power to say, “Do nitely advantageous; but states in which cover previously unknown peoples, living this!” Such power is the defining feature of the rulers possess power sufficient to de - as they had lived thousands of years the next step in political development, feat all enemies can also employ that ago, protected from contact with all other state-level societies. In them, a sovereign power to abuse their own people. We might groups by some impenetrable jungle. source of authority possesses a monopoly object to that prospect, hoping to be gov- Having devised a satisfactory approach to on legitimate force. States have a larger and erned by nicer and more respectful rulers. inhabiting a particular environment, they more defined territorial extent than tribes, But if constraining the state so that it can- had no reason to alter that approach as long and a more stratified and unequal social not abuse its citizenry weakens its ability to as the environment stayed the same. It is structure, and are “legitimated by much defend them from enemies, then the Dar - the interaction of groups of people that more elaborate forms of religious belief.” winian logic of successful experiments’ fuels the permanent experiment to see Echoing Rousseau, Fukuyama writes displacing failed ones would always be tilt- which social arrangements work best. that “the transition from tribe to state ed toward the augmentation of government Economic and cultural advances are good, involves huge losses in freedom and equal- power, even entailing tyranny. as far as they go, but unless accompanied ity,” making it “hard to imagine societies The hope that natural selection of by military advances they will benefit only giving all this up,” even to obtain econom- poli tical arrangements might allow non- the aggressors who expropriate, conquer, ic or technological benefits. “Competitive tyrannical regimes to survive or even or enslave the prosperous and civilized. state formation” is easy to explain: “States thrive rests on the possibility that politi - Small “groups of nomadic families” that are usually so much better organized and cal strength derives only partially from “inhabit a territorial range that they guard powerful than . . . tribal-level societies that weapons and prisons, and can be augment- and occasionally fight over,” in Fuku ya- they either conquer and absorb them, or ed by the loyalty and enthusiasm of the ma’s description, were the earliest form of else are emulated by tribal neighbors who governed population. To the extent this is human association, and for tens of thou- wish not to be conquered.” “Pristine” state true, states that can’t or don’t abuse their sands of years the only one. The develop- formation, however, where a tribe evolves own people will compete successfully ment of agriculture permitted a new and into a state without any threat or example against objectively stronger states that are significantly larger kind of social arrange- from some other, preexisting state, is a potentially or actively tyrannical. ment, the tribe, to supersede bands of mystery. There must have been at least one The “end of history” may mean that hunters and gatherers. The tribe’s more state that came into existence for reasons popular consent and support really did con- elaborate division of labor and status in - having nothing to do with other states, fer a big advantage. Less reassuringly, it cluded “the emergence of a separate caste but in the absence of a known example and could just mean that, so far, liberal democ- of warriors.” reliable account, its origins can be the racy has been very lucky. Clear thinking Nonetheless, bands and tribes were subject only of untestable hypotheses. about human history requires constant re - much looser associations of humans than Strong states protect their members sistance to the temptation of retrospective any of us live in today. Fukuyama cites the against all enemies, foreign and domes- determinism, the assumption that because anthropologist Morton Fried to the effect tic—invaders, rebels, and criminals. If that something did happen it had to happen. that pre-modern leaders had enough au- were the entirety of the political problem, Fukuyama does not commit this error in thority to say, “If this is done, it will be then strengthening the state would be infi- The Origins of Political Order, specifical- ly rejecting the Whig theory of history, which treats ever-increasing liberty, pros- WHAT SHALL YOU SAY . . . perity, and security as mankind’s destiny. The bulk of the book is taken up with a What shall you say this evening, solitary soul? thorough, wide-ranging, and provocative What shall you say, my heart, heart withered heretofore, examination of the political history of To the very good, the very dear, the beautiful China, India, the Muslim world, and Whose divine regard has brought you into bloom once more? European Christendom (and several states within it). The unifying thread is to account —To sing her praise, we set aside our haughtiness. for how societies “get to Denmark”: that is, Nothing is equal to her sweet authority; attain the three institutional requirements The perfume of angels, her spiritual flesh, for a “successful modern liberal democra- And her eye clothes us again in clothes of clarity. cy.” Those are, first, a state able to “bring about compliance with its laws on the part Regardless if it be by night, in solitude, of its citizens and to defend itself against Regardless if in the street and in the multitude, other states and threats”; second, the estab- Her phantom dances like a torch within the air. lishment of the rule of law, constraining the state by “forcing it to use its power accord- At times, it speaks: “I’m fair, and I command,” we hear it ing to certain public and transparent rules”; Say, “For love of me, love nothing but the Fair. and third, holding the state accountable, I am your Muse, Madonna, and your Guardian Spirit.” “ensuring that it is subordinate to the will of the people,” as that will is expressed —CHARLES BAUDELAIRE in elections and other forms of popular translated by Jennifer Reeser political participation.

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“Getting to Denmark” was a phrase public.” Two personas emerged early: the coined by World Bank social scientists. “mad Junker,” a violently eccentric reac- The purpose was prescriptive, to guide Genius tionary, and the cool chess player who international agencies in their efforts to used the “mad Junker” as a foil. One of help impoverished nations, badly or bare- Rebuked Bismarck’s closest friends, the American ly governed, become (in Fukuyama’s diplomat and historian John Lothrop words) “stable, democratic, peaceful, MICHAEL KNOX BERAN Motley, explained the relation between the prosperous, [and] inclusive,” and enjoy two Bismarcks in his 1839 novel Morton’s “extremely low levels of political corrup- Hope, a book that grew out of his student tion.” The problem, he says, is that “the days in Göttingen. Bismarck figures as struggle to create modern political institu- Otto von Rabenmark, who “in every re - tions was so long and so painful that peo- spect,” Morton (Motley) says, “went ple living in industrialized countries now immeasurably beyond any person I have suffer from a historical amnesia regarding ever known.” He drank deeply, dressed how their societies came to that point in wildly, and provoked innumerable duels; the first place.” There may be no shortcuts but always with an object in view. “You to forging the social bonds, cultural dis- see I am a very rational sort of person positions, and political institutions that now,” Rabenmark tells Morton, “and you make Denmark Denmark. would hardly take me for the same crazy In his second inaugural address Pres. mountebank you met in the street half an George W. Bush said, “The survival of lib- Bismarck: A Life, by Jonathan Steinberg hour ago. But then I see that this is the way erty in our land increasingly depends on (Oxford, 592 pp., $34.95) to obtain superiority. I determined at once the success of liberty in other lands. The on arriving in the university, that to obtain best hope for peace in our world is the MONG the statesmen of his mastery over my competitors, who were expansion of freedom in all the world.” To generation, Bismarck may all extravagant, savage, eccentric, was to the extent this is true, the problem of get- very well be the best compa- be ten times as extravagant and savage as ting to Denmark is everyone’s problem, A ny. Disraeli alone can rival anyone else.” not just one for people enduring life in him in wit, personal fascination, and devi- The savage extravagance was not those places on the globe least similar to ousness. They met in 1862, before either altogether feigned. Bismarck’s “hypo - modern liberal democracies. But those of them had reached the top of the greasy chondria, gluttony, rage, and despair,” democracies are vulnerable not only to pole, and later in 1878 at the Congress of Stein berg writes, were always present, but terrorist attacks incubated in failed states. Berlin, after both had attained secular grew more pronounced as he grew more They—we—are also threatened by the immortality. Disraeli was by then 73, and powerful. His “health, temper, and emo- am nesia Fukuyama describes, which without a trace of sullenness he contented tional life deteriorated the more successful makes us complacent about the tenuous himself with recording, in a series of bril- he became.” His letters are heavy with attainment of modern liberal democracy. liant letters, the spectacle of the younger spleen. He was so enraged by “those who “The end of history,” Fukuyama wrote man in motion, mastering everything in keep knocking at my door” to “annoy me 22 years ago, “will be a very sad time,” sight. with questions” that “I could bite the one where “the worldwide ideological In Bismarck: A Life, Jonathan Steinberg, table.” “Now that I have talked myself struggle that called forth daring, courage, an emeritus fellow of Trinity Hall, Cam - hoarse to artisans and statesmen,” he imagination, and idealism, will be re - bridge, and a professor at the University of wrote in 1859, “I have almost gone mad placed by . . . the perpetual caretaking of Pennsylvania, has written what may be the from annoyance, hunger, and too much the museum of human history.” The tri- best introduction in English to Bismarck business.” “I am sick to death and have umph of liberal democracy will be self- the man. No writer can unravel the tangled gall-bladder problems,” he wrote ten years negating if it renders our lives trivial skein of Bismarck the diplomat in a way later. “I have not slept for 36 hours and and inane, and dangerous if our boredom that is easy for a reader new to the subject spent the entire night throwing up. My and melancholy blinds us to the reality to follow; it is enough for a book if it deep- head feels like a glowing oven.” that civilization is “the work of centur - ens the picture of the living personality When, in the 1860s, the fate of Ger many ies,” as Evelyn Waugh wrote, describing behind the diplomacy. This Steinberg has and his own power hung in the balance, Kip ling’s views: something “laboriously done, through a skillful use of diaries, let- Bismarck suppressed his more disagree- achieved” but only “precariously defend- ters, and memoirs, and by availing himself able qualities to win the game. Between ed.” A liberal democracy that disdains the of the most recent German scholarship. his accession as minister-president of discipline needed to defend, educate, gov- “Faust complains of having two souls in Prussia in 1862 and the unification of the ern, and challenge itself consumes the his breast,” Bismarck said. “I have a whole German Empire in 1871, he allowed the economic, political, and social capital squabbling crowd. It goes on as in a re - “mad Junker” out of his cage only when on which its existence rests. The Origins it served a constructive purpose. But of Political Order will help remind its Mr. Beran is a contributing editor of City Journal after he had, in his words, “beaten them readers that climbing the hill has been and the author, most recently, of Pathology of the all,” he raved and stormed whenever the long and difficult, but falling back down Elites: How the Arrogant Classes Plan to mood was on him. The realist who said could happen suddenly and easily. Run Your Life. that politics is the “art of the possible”

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THE NATIONAL REVIEW Sailing November 12–19 on Holland America’s luxurious M S Eurodam 2011 Post-Election Cruise Join FRED THOMPSON, JOHN BOLTON, James Q. Wilson, Bernard Lewis, Victor Davis Hanson, John Sununu, Jonah Goldberg, Tony Blankley, Andrew McCarthy, Cal Thomas, James Lileks, S. E. Cupp, Andrew Klavan, Kevin Hassett, John Yoo, Ralph Reed, Rob Long, Mona Charen, Elliott Abrams, Jim Geraghty, Ramesh Ponnuru, Jay Nordlinger, Michael Walsh, Tracie Sharp, Dinesh D’Souza, Charles Kesler, Sally Pipes, Kathryn Lopez, John O’Sullivan, Deroy Murdock, Rich Lowry, Bob Costa, Kevin Williamson, John Derbyshire, John Miller, & Charmaine Yoest

as we visit Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay, and Ft. Lauderdale

oin us on one of the most exciting seafaring adventures John Yoo, former New Hampshire governor John Sununu, polit- you will ever experience: the National Review 2011 ical guru Ralph Reed, social critic and humorist James Lileks, J Caribbean Cruise. Featuring a cast of all-star conservative domestic-policy expert Sally Pipes, bestselling conservative speakers (that will expand in coming weeks), this affordable authors Andrew Klavan and Michael Walsh, ace economist trip—prices start at only $1,899 a person—will take place Kevin Hassett, State Policy Network executive Tracie Sharp, November 12–19, 2011, aboard Holland America Line’s Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest, MS Eurodam, the acclaimed ship of one of the world’s and, from NR, editor Rich Lowry, Liberal Fascism most respected cruise lines. author Jonah Goldberg, NRO editor-at-large Kathryn From politics, the presidency, and policy to eco- Lopez, senior editors Jay Nordlinger and Ramesh nomics, national security, and foreign affairs, there’s so Ponnuru, NRO “Campaign Spot” blogger Jim Geraghty, much to discuss. That’s precisely what our array of conserv- “Exchequer” blogger Kevin D. Williamson, “Long View” ative speakers, writers, and experts will do on the Eurodam, your columnist Rob Long, contributor John Derbyshire, national cor- floating luxury getaway for scintillating discussion of major cur- respondent John J. Miller, former NR editor John O’Sullivan, and rent events and trends and the upcoming 2012 elections. political reporter Bob Costa. We’ve assembled a crew of exemplary speakers to make sense The “typical” NR cruise alumnus (there are thousands) has of politics and the day’s top issues. We’re happy to announce two gone on four of our voyages and knows NR trips are marked by new speakers for NR’s 2011 Caribbean Cruise: former Senator riveting political shoptalk, wonderful socializing, intimate dining Fred Thompson and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. with our editors and speakers, making new friends, rekindling old They’ll be joining our tremendous lineup of confirmed speakers: friendships, and grand cruising. That and so much more are in Islam scholar Bernard Lewis, historian Victor Davis Hanson, store for you on the National Review 2011 Caribbean Cruise. esteemed academics James Q. Wilson, Dinesh D’Souza (now The best reason to come is the luminaries who will be aboard. president of King’s College), and Charles Kesler, foreign-policy This extraordinary gathering is one of the best-ever ensembles. expert Elliott Abrams, columnists Tony Blankley, Cal Thomas, We guarantee fascinating and informative seminar sessions. Mona Charen, and Deroy Murdock, Fox News commentator a Get a close-up of Fred Thompson as he provides his dis- S. E. Cupp, terrorism and legal experts Andrew McCarthy and tinctly sharp and intelligent take on life on Capitol Hill (and in Hollywood), and of John Bolton as JOIN U S FOR SEVEN BALMY DAYS AND COOL C ON SERVAT IVE N IGHT S he reflects on the standing of the USA as a world power. DAY/DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART SPECIAL EVENT aSome of our primo past cruise SAT/Nov. 12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 5:00PM evening cocktail reception experiences have been the informed SUN/Nov. 13 AT SEA morning/afternoon seminars interchanges between Bernard Lewis and Victor Davis Hanson on the MON/Nov. 14 Grand Turk 7:00AM 3:00PM morning/afternoon seminars struggle between Islam and the “Night Owl” session West. These academic giants, and TUE/Nov. 15 San Juan 1:00PM 11:00PM morning seminar terrorism experts Andy McCarthy late-night smoker and John Yoo, will provide their WED/Nov. 16 St. Thomas 8:00AM 5:00PM morning seminar razor-sharp insights on America’s evening cocktail reception dealings in the Middle East and the “Night Owl” session Muslim world. THU/Nov. 17 AT SEA morning/afternoon seminars aWatch Tony Blankley, Ralph FRI/Nov. 18 Half Moon Cay 8:00AM 4:00PM afternoon seminar Reed, S. E. Cupp, Cal Thomas, evening cocktail reception Mona Charen, Deroy Murdock, SAT/Nov. 19 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 7:00AM Debark John Sununu, and Charmaine Yoest provide expert analyses of the the caribbean 2-page spread may 2 2011_carribian 2p+application.qxd 4/26/2011 4:15 PM Page 3

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BOOKS, ARTS & MANNERS engaged in a fatuous attempt to crush the Taylor wrote. “Yet, in the last resort, it dered Germans was manipulated by Church of Rome in a nation that was heav- came to much the same.” It did? A hedo- demagogues, and nourished a fanatical ily Catholic. He was under a “psychologi- nist of power, Bismarck was another ex - politics. Nationalism in Germany was cal necessity,” said Friedrich von Holstein, ample of a problem that drove Machiavelli hysterical, and bred nothing that was not of making “his power felt by tormenting, to despair. The leader who is strong morbid. harrying, and ill-treating” others. The enough to make a nation is rarely good Words like “demonic” and “le diable” Berlin salonière Hildegard von Spitzem - enough to give it freedom. abound in accounts of Bismarck. He was berg, who adored him, was appalled by the Yet even in his despotism, Bismarck “Mephistopheles,” a “second Wallen - “brutality and heartlessness” with which defies typicality. With all his fantastic stein,” the “Pomeranian phoenix.” All he “trampled” people “into the dust.” Dis- egotism, he saw with great clarity the state who knew him felt the uncanniness of his raeli, observing him in Berlin, told Lady of Europe. After 1871, his principal task genius—even those who were themselves Bradford that he “is a complete despot was to prevent his countrymen from uncanny geniuses. Disraeli was entranced here,” and “from the highest to the lowest” overturning the peace in a euphoria of by Bismarck’s “Rabelaisian monologues: the Prussians “tremble at his frown.” violence. The general staff was eager for endless revelations of things he ought not One would take Bismarck for another battle. No sooner had Moltke returned to mention.” Yet the effect, Disraeli said, example of the truth of Henry Adams’s from the French war than he began to was not grotesque, for there was a striking dictum that power is poison, if he did not draw up mobilization plans for the next contrast between Bismarck’s “ogre-like so often deviate from the type of the cor- fight. He foresaw, long before Schlieffen, form” and his voice, which was “sweet rupted potentate. At times he was unaf- a war on two fronts, with Russia coming and gentle.” “His views on all subjects are fectedly kind, although characteristically in on the side of France. Bismarck pre- original, but there is no strain, no effort at it was the death not of a person but of a ferred to meet the challenge through an paradox. He talks as Montaigne writes.” dog that provoked his most impassioned intricate diplomacy designed to prevent One is left with the mystery of a man ex pression of remorse. He “cannot stop the emergence of a Franco-Russian al - who possessed the rough magic of Pros - talking about the death of his dog and liance. In this he was successful, and only pero, but whose soul was shot through especially that he hit him shortly before he after he got the chuck from Wilhelm II did with the resentments of Caliban: a wit as amusing as Falstaff, but suffused with the malignity of Iago. There is no accounting Even in his despotism, for the strangeness; one can simply accept it, as one does any other great work of Bismarck defies typicality. nature or of art. If Steinberg’s brilliant book has a weakness, it is that it is a little died,” Christoph von Tiedemann, his pri- the French and the Russians negotiate too avid of explanations, and pants for vate secretary, wrote. “He tortures himself their entente. reasons. For a thread with which to find with the thought that he caused the dog’s Bismarck’s caution came too late; he his way in the labyrinth, Steinberg looks to death. . . . He accuses himself of violent had united Germany too quickly. The Ma Bismarck (Wilhelmine), who appar- temper, brutality with which he hurts British Empire was the work of genera- ently never gave little Otto enough love, everybody who comes into contact with tions, and British character and institutions and to Pa Bismarck (Ferdinand), whom him.” adjusted themselves gradually to the king- Otto wanted to love, but whom he could The flaws would matter less if Bis - dom’s growing power. The German Em - not help despising because he was boorish marck, having united Germany, had fash- pire was the work of a historical instant; and limited. ioned a satisfactory government for it. and the revolution in politics coincided Can this be the clue to the mystery? Is Genius got in the way. The constitution he with a no less extensive revolution in the Bismarckian drama finally a thwarted imposed on the Reich was an extension of industry. In the blink of an eye the Ger - dream of a happy childhood—“something his own highly unusual personality; it was mans found themselves the most power - he couldn’t get, or something he lost”— as though the framers of the American ful people in Europe. The problem was with a “Rosebud” of one sort or another Constitution had drafted the document on exacerbated by cultural travail. The pitched into the fire in the closing scene? the supposition that George Washington nationalization of a people is invariably One might swallow a Bismarckian inter- would always be president. Bismarck ac companied by the decay of ancient pretation of Freud—the frustrated intel - gave Germany not constitutional govern- forms of local civilization, humane in lectual who is a conquistador manqué, ment but what the French diplomat Saint- scale and rooted in the knowledge of par- en chanted by dominion. But a Freudian Vallier called a “beautiful” imitation of it: ticular places and conditions. This cultural interpretation of Bismarck? It seems not to a “complicated ramshackle structure,” degradation, a trial for any people, was the do justice to the subject. Steinberg writes, that only Bismarck him- more painful in Germany; under the inspi- The more plausible moral is that genius self (“a very abnormal person”) could hold rations of an illiberal public life, a cult of has the defects of its virtues. Coming together. military violence, and the native insecur - away from Bismarck’s life, the American A. J. P. Taylor was one of the few histo- ity of the people, who for centuries had is apt to be grateful that the preeminent rians after 1945 to defend Bismarck’s con- dwelt precariously in the crossroads of a figure in the foundation of his own repub- stitutional handiwork. “No doubt it was a continent, cultural uneasiness became lic, if he was a man of much good sense poor thing by the standards of modern what the historian Fritz Stern called cul- and excellent judgment, was not a— democracy in Great Britain or France,” tural despair. The anguish of the bewil- genius.

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impact do parents really have on their their kids’ core qualities. As adults, in the kids? For answers, Caplan turns to a body areas of health, intelligence, happiness, Great of research that has been accumulating for success, and character, adopted children several decades: twin and adoption stud- tend to be far more like their biological Generation ies, in which scientists compare children parents than like their adoptive ones. with their identical and fraternal siblings, Some studies fail to uncover any influ- ROBERT VERBRUGGEN and with their biological and adoptive ence by adoptive parents at all. parents. This tells us which has a bigger In a sense, these findings are deeply effect: the parent who raises the child, or depressing—and even insulting to the the child’s genetic makeup. many loving and dedicated parents who These studies have often been trotted sacrifice their time and well-being for the out in the more general “genes vs. envi- future of their children. At the same time, ronment” debate, and for that purpose however, they give new parents an excuse they have some serious shortcomings. to relax—Caplan says that if your parent- Most of them concentrate on middle-class ing passes the “laugh test,” your kids will families in the First World—they cannot be fine—and focus on areas where they tell us how a child will turn out if he’s really can make a difference. raised in Afghanistan as opposed to Caplan’s advice for loosening up will Columbus, ohio, or even harlem as be difficult for the more uptight of us Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: opposed to the upper West Side. They to follow, but most of it is reasonable Why Being a Great Parent Is Less Work and also don’t foreclose the possibility that enough. For example, if your child doesn’t More Fun Than You Think, by Bryan Caplan some extremely unusual parents—child like an activity, you don’t like taking him (Basic, 240 pp., $24.99) abusers, for example—might have more to the activity, and the activity pro mises of an effect than the rest of us. Put differ- no long-run benefit, cut the activity. With hroughouT the developed ently, the word “environment” is mean- surly teenagers, make family vacations world, birth rates are cratering. ingless until you define a specific range of short and go light on the museums, or do Many countries are well below environments, and most of these studies a parents-only getaway. If both parents T the replacement rate. There are have looked at a narrow range indeed. work and you can afford to hire a nanny, many explanations for this trend, but the Concerning middle-class First World go for it, if it will mean you’re less worn most basic is sheer selfishness: Now that parents, however, these studies are quite out around your kids. women can have satisfying careers, con- useful. (Caplan is unapologetic in target- You can also take steps to make your traception is cheap and effective, and it’s ing his advice toward well-to-do read- kids less of an intrusion, secure in the easy to spend all your money on yourself, ers—in fact, he seems to know hardly knowledge you’re not doing long-term why bother with kids? Children are, after anything about childbearing in the lower damage. When infants cry, use the “Fer - all, expensive, obnoxious, and labor- classes. For example, he repeats as fact ber method” (that is, “let the child cry for intensive; if anything, it’s a miracle that the common but false assumption that a few minutes, comfort him, repeat”; this even in the countries with the lowest birth births to young, unmarried women are has been shown to discourage kids from rates, the average couple puts up with at typically unplanned.) As Caplan notes, crying in the first place). Don’t fret about least one rugrat. very few middle-class parents consider the fact that childhood punishments seem To economist Bryan Caplan, however, raising their children in dire poverty or to change kids’ behavior only when the a lot of these parents are simply miscal- locking them in a closet until they turn 18. parents are around, and have no long-run culating. In this new book, he argues that What these parents do have to decide is effect; well-behaved children around the most people overestimate how hard par- how demanding or relaxed to be within house are a good in themselves. enting needs to be, and thus underesti- the range of normal parenting—exactly As for what does make a difference, mate the number of kids they should the range that twin and adoption studies parents are a major determinant of their have. capture. children’s religious denomination (though Parenting can indeed be an all- And overwhelmingly, these studies not their religiosity). Parents also influ- consuming and exhausting activity— find that parents have almost no impact on ence kids’ political self-identification just ask the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua. (though not so much their overall world- or, for that matter, ask any parent on view). Further, a parent needs to watch the street: In 2000, the average working out for his child’s safety (though kids are mother devoted as much time specifically much safer today than they’ve ever been to child care as the average stay-at-home before, and it’s fine to give them a fair mother did in 1975, even as dads were amount of freedom). Parents can also helping out more. Many modern parents have a short-run effect on some of the big- run themselves ragged ferrying their kids ger things such as intelligence (though the from activity to activity (many of which emphasis is on “short-run”; these effects the kids themselves don’t even enjoy) and usually fade to virtually nil over time). taking hardly any time for themselves. “I thought he said he was a Jacobite, but Perhaps the most important thing a But is this worth it? What long-term he turned out to be a Jacobin!” parent provides, however, is childhood.

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BOOKS, ARTS & MANNERS Today, for the most driven parents, the sonatas, concertos, and quartets. But he kind who worry about getting their little Music is best known for music involving the brats into the best possible kindergarten, voice: be it songs, oratorios, or operas. the ages of zero through 18 are often seen His most frequently performed operas as little more than an investment—their The Right are Summer and Smoke, based on the sole purpose is to create a high-performing Tennessee Williams play, and A Month in adult. But in fact, those years constitute a Notes the Country, based on the Turgenev. One significant portion of the average lifetime, day, Williams and Hoiby were walking and kids will always carry with them JAY NORDLINGER down the street, and the playwright said, memories of the time they spent with their “Why don’t you make an opera out of one parents and in the town where their par- ’M just so grateful,” said Lee of my plays?” Hoiby said, “Which one?” ents chose to live. Hoiby, in the last days of his Williams replied, “Take your pick, sweet- When Caplan first began floating his life. “I’m grateful to have heart.” thesis a year or so ago, one of his leading ‘I lived the life I’ve lived, to Not every composer has the ability to critics was libertarian commentator Will have written the music I’ve written, to write an opera. Leonard Bernstein once Wilkinson, who pointed out that in sur- have known the people I’ve known.” He said to Hoiby something quite gracious: veys, parents tend to say they are less died at the end of March. I got to know “Maybe you’ll teach me how to write an happy than non-parents. Here Caplan him in 2004, something like that. And I opera someday.” responds in two ways: One, the happiness thought I’d say a little about the friend- It was in songs, however, that Hoiby gap is small, and if you follow his advice ship we shared. First, though, a bit of showed utmost skill. He wrote about a and relax a bit, you might not suffer it biography. hundred of them. Many have entered the yourself. Two, older people who’ve had Hoiby was born in 1926, in Madison, standard American repertory. Their great- kids tend to be happier than their child- Wis. He studied with two of the out- est champion was Leontyne Price, the less peers, and the childless tend to regret standing pianists and teachers of the soprano who retired in the late ’90s. One their decision; perhaps that’s because age: Gunnar Johansen and egon Petri. of the most popular Hoiby songs is grandchildren come with many of the Johansen had studied with Petri, actually. “The Serpent,” which sets a comical poem advantages of children and none of the And Petri had studied with Busoni (no by Theodore Roethke. A voice coach dis advantages. Today’s young people less). Hoiby opted against becoming a once said, “If you throw a brick out the would do well to give this some thought pianist, but he played the piano all his window on the Upper West Side [of when they’re planning their families. life. He practiced every day, on Chopin Manhattan], you’ll hit a soprano who has More recently, though, Wilkinson pre- études, specifically. learned ‘The Serpent.’” sented a new line of attack: If Caplan’s What he did was compose. His big In February 2005, I wrote a piece about point is that people should have a higher teachers in composition were Gian Carlo Hoiby for NATIONAL RevIeW: “Singing number of children than they planned to, Menotti, Darius Milhaud, and Samuel His Own Song.” He was grateful to have he has to raise their ideal number from Barber. But he had other teachers, teach- someone understand and appreciate 0 to 1, from 1 to 2, and so on—from 1.1 to ers he never met, in the flesh. “It was him. Shortly after this piece appeared, I 1.3 won’t do the trick. Are the arguments Schubert who taught me to write songs,” received a large envelope in the mail. here really that powerful? he told me. And he said this of Richard Hoiby had sent me a new song—and it He has a point. If you’re hesitant to Strauss: “He was the one, in Capriccio was dedicated to me. It’s a very good have more kids for a variety of reasons— [an opera], who gave me the courage to song, too. Called “Winter Hubris,” it is the expense; the damage to the mother’s write simple lyricism.” brief, shrewdly crafted, and moving. In body; the lack of privacy; the difficulty of Why did he need courage? Hoiby grew my thank-you note to the composer, I going on vacation or even out for the up in a strange time for music. To put it referred to it as a “B-minor beauty.” And night; the worry, however irrational, that a briefly, tonality was out, atonality was in; that’s how Lee would refer to the song, child will be hurt; the potential that a child beauty was out, severity was in; the idea when speaking about it to me: “your B- could be born with a severe disability, or of inspiration was out, formalism was in. minor beauty.” even just a real penchant for troublemak- And the enforcers of the new order were It sets a poem by a friend of his, who ing—does it really make that much of a merciless. Hoiby often said, “I wanted to works for George Soros. Think of that: difference to hear that you can loosen up grow heirloom roses, but they allowed The text is by a lieutenant to Soros, great on supervision, hire a maid if you can you nothing but cactuses.” He paid a benefactor of the American and world- afford it, and cut a few activities from the price for his nonconformity: a price in wide Left; the dedication is to an editor of schedule? commissions, prizes, fame. But it was a a stalwart conservative magazine. Funny Probably not. But even if Selfish Rea - price he gladly paid, for he felt free: free old world, and a fun one, too, sometimes. sons to Have More Kids won’t actually to write the music he wanted to write, the In several ways, Lee and I were quite convince people to have more kids, it music that was in him. And plenty of different. He was 1960s-ish, gay, and serves as both a brief and remarkably people liked it, a lot. pot-smoking. (“Mary Jane has always well-written introduction to genetic re - A few years ago, a young composer been good to me,” he said, as he lay in a search, and a guide book for easier par- referred to Hoiby as a “maverick.” He medical facility toward the end. I’m not enting. The Tiger Mothers of the world got a kick out of this, Hoiby did. entirely sure about that.) Was he on the would be well served by reading it. He wrote all sorts of music, including left? Presumably, but, you know? He

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never breathed a political word to me. were written, how they should be per- Mainly, he wrote in his e-mails about Never. And I never breathed one to him, formed. You can’t do that with, say, the joys and challenges of composing— of course. I also think of this fact: He Schubert. with the emphasis on the joys. “Today I was damned as a “conservative”—a Lee sent me a steady stream of CDs, got one of those ideas that are immediate, musical conservative—by his critics all scores, and e-mails, with various ob - which the French call trouvailles [find- his career. servations and reports. Almost always, ings, or discoveries]. (Doesn’t sound very We talked about religion once, and there was an eagerness, a kid-like ex - modest, but you know I never brag.)” He more than once. He said he had never citement about his life and work. “On did—brag, that is. But usually in a charm - really considered himself a religious per- the homefront, great happenings!” one ing and forgivable way. son. “Spiritual,” sure, but not religious. e-mail began. Another said, “I am quasi- Here was a note out of the blue, as so One day, he had an inspiration, as he was trembling, on the verge of really digging many of his were: composing. Some compositional prob- into the next text I shall set, an Emerson lem was solved for him. “And, much to Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I my surprise, I found myself kneeling, in had some thoughts about music which gratitude.” He went on to say, “When it’s recur to me today. In tonality, the tonic is really good, it doesn’t come from you.” Home. You can leave, go many places, have many adventures, stray where you Far from Manhattan, where composers like, but you can always come home. do their politicking, get their commis- Without tonality, you set out, you may sions, and keep their names and faces have a lot of fun and do a lot of things, about, Hoiby lived in Long Eddy, N.Y. but you have no map, you can never He lived with his partner and collabora- come home. You are lost. tor, the writer Mark Shulgasser. They lived on a ramshackle estate with a water- I can’t tell you how grateful he was to fall. (Lee, were he reading this, would be a composer. But he can: “I have this chuckle over that word “estate.”) I visited lovely awareness of having been pos- a few times. And we talked about every- sessed by one thing, all my life, and lov- thing: composers, composing, perform- ing it.” He also wrote, “Bach didn’t grind ers, performing, life experiences, good out all those pages in the Gesellschaft just and bad. Everything, pretty much. because it was his job. He couldn’t help He would tell me what Petri said, about himself, just as I have to try, again and how to close a particular Schumann piece, again, to write something, even if it’s not for example. And he would tell me what a commission.” Barber said. Here is one of those morsels: One of Hoiby’s most beloved songs is “When you learn a Beethoven sonata, you “Where the Music Comes From,” for must play the notes on the page. Anything which he wrote the lyrics, too. He wrote else is wrong. Writing music is the same. it at a quite down time of his life: when You have to find the right notes.” Lee plum, which Mark found after long he was really searching. It’s kind of a was always on the hunt for these “right searching. It’s for the Vassar sesquicen- New Age hymn, a hippie hymn, or notes.” tennial commission.” prayer. Many singers have sung it, One composer who came up in our dis- One day, he might forward a spoof including Price. But no one sang it as cussions was Ned Rorem. He was, and is, on Elliott Carter (the apostle of mod- well as Lee. We did a Q&A once at the not unlike Lee: American, tonal (to use ernism—whom, by the way, I interviewed Cosmos Club in Washington. At the end, the shortest of shorthands), a celebrated in 2008, just before his hundredth birth- I asked him to play and sing “Where the writer of art songs. They should have day. He’s still going). Another day, he Music Comes From.” He needed no arm- been allies and brothers; they were not. might write something like this: “Last twisting. He croaked it out in his won- Lee recounted something terrible that night, probably owing to our recent ex - derful old-man’s voice. The performance Rorem had said about his music. I can see changes about her, I got a little scotch was stunningly personal, and heartfelt, the look on Lee’s face, full of disgust and under my belt, took a big breath, and and moving. The room was kind of in pain. He then said that, years after the called Leontyne.” He and the great sopra- suspension. offending remark, Rorem wrote him a no had not communicated in a while. “To He always said he would live a very note, saying, in effect, “We’re old now. my delight, she was delighted.” long time, coming from a long-lived fam- Can we see each other and make up?” Money was often tight—this despite a ily. An aunt of his died at 108. She bowled Lee never answered. I wish he had. “Madame von Meck,” as we referred to almost to the last. Lee died at 85. On We did a lot of talking, yes. But the her, who helped him out from time to meeting him, the pianist and accompanist best thing about being at Lee’s place time. (Nadezhda von Meck was Tchai kov - Dalton Baldwin paid him this compli- was the music: going into his studio and sky’s patroness.) Lee wrote, for example, ment: “Your songs are for the ages.” I singing through his songs. I would sing, “Dreading extreme cold leading to ex - suspect that’s true. Some of Lee Hoiby’s and he would play. Or he would sing, or tremely expensive heat.” And, “Another songs are among my favorite songs—by we would both sing. All the while, he day at the dentist, the bill rising another anybody, in any age. I count him one of would comment on his songs: how they $800. They live well.” my favorite people, too.

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BOOKS, ARTS & MANNERS etor on trial for her alleged role in plotting a courtly, steely martyr, and by the end Film the assassination. (Her boardinghouse the movie has all but fitted her for a halo: still sits in Washington, D.C.’s China - Our Lady of Habeas Corpus. (There are town, as it happens, just blocks from echoes here of an earlier era’s pro- Preacher where I saw the movie.) Aiken does so Confederate historiography, in which reluctantly at first, and then with mount- the Reconstruction-era travails of white Feature ing ardor, as it becomes clear just how southerners were the Civil War’s chief ambiguous the evidence is, and how com- tragedy.) ROSS DOUTHAT pletely the government has stacked the Too much complexity is death to deck. drama, of course. But this is where the T’S fitting, in a sense, that Robert That government is embodied by War contrast with Lumet’s oeuvre seems ap - Redford’s courtroom drama The Secretary Edwin M. Stanton (Kevin propriate. Think of 12 Angry Men—like Conspirator is gracing theaters the Kline), a fascinating figure here reduced The Conspirator a legal drama, and like I month that Sidney Lumet passed to caricature. His jaw juts with Rumsfeld - Redford’s film a story that wears its liber- away. For more than a generation, Lumet ian certainty as he railroads Surratt to al politics on its sleeve. The trial depicted was perhaps America’s greatest director of the gallows, trampling the courts and in that movie was a failure but not a message movies—the talky civics lessons the Constitution in the process. The farce, and the audience was allowed to see of 12 Angry Men, the corruption-in-high- War on Terror analogies come fast and why every juror but one was initially will- places melodrama of Serpico, and of furious—hooded prisoners and hunger ing to convict. The story’s connection to course the anti-television, anti-corporate strikes, military tribunals and presiden - contemporary issues—race, crime, pover- fulminations of Network. Redford came tial power grabs. (That would be Pres. ty—was clear without being overly bela- bored. And the recalcitrant jurors standing in the way of Henry Fonda’s quest for jus- tice (particularly Lee J. Cobb’s law-and- order conservative) were human beings, and not just strutting martinets: 12 Angry Men condescended to its antagonists, cer- tainly, but it sympathized with them as well. Such nuances do not intrude on Red- ford’s message-movie style. Here there are only white hats and black hats, crusading idealists and hissable proto-Cheneys, the noble Constitution and its paranoid ene- mies. The dialogue is by turns pompous and anachronistic, and the cinematogra- phy is a daguerreotype haze, all floating dust motes and burnished brass. The best that can be said of The Conspirator is that it’s an improvement on Lions for Lambs, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) and Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) the preachy, ludicrous War on Terror of age as an actor when Lumet was in Andrew Johnson: In a movie that takes drama (complete with Tom Cruise as a his prime, and now, late in life, he seems Lincoln’s sanctity for granted, there’s no neoconservative senator) that Redford determined to carry on the director’s mention of the Great Emancipator’s simi- inflicted on audiences three years ago. message-movie legacy. Instead, his work larly dismissive attitude toward wartime But that isn’t saying much at all. illustrates the genre’s near-terminal de - civil liberties.) The movie ends with a typical flour- cline. The real story, not surprisingly, seems ish. Just before the closing credits, we’re The Conspirator begins with a bang: to have been a bit less black-and-white. informed that Frederick Aiken left the the history-altering shot fired by John Surratt’s trial was hardly a model of law shortly after Surratt’s trial, and went Wilkes Booth, whose assassination of dispassionate justice, but neither was it on to become city editor of the Washing - Abraham Lincoln sets the plot’s wheels conducted with quite the egregious one- ton Post—the paper, of course, that later creaking into motion. We’re in the im - sidedness that The Conspirator suggests. provided Robert Redford with one of mediate aftermath of the Civil War, the The circumstantial case was a bit stronger his most famous roles, as the crusading weeks between the surrender at Appo - than Redford’s film allows, and the de - Bob Woodward in All the President’s mattox Courthouse and the final capi - fense was far more active. (The script Men. tulation of the Confederacy’s scattered has Aiken call just two witnesses, for What Redford does not deign to tell us armies, and a former Union officer named instance, where the real Aiken called 31.) is why Aiken’s legal career ended: He Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) is dra- Even the most generous reading of the was caught forging his law partner’s sig- gooned into defending Mary Surratt historical record makes Surratt a deeply nature on checks. History does not yield

THE AMERICAN FILM(Robin COMPANY Wright), a boardinghouse propri- ambiguous figure, but Wright plays her as so easily to moralism.

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(including the ones that planes and automo- for his bath on Saturdays. Seeing his visi- The Straggler biles depend on), and cripple communica- tors arrive, “wearied with their journey and tions from cell phones to the internet. voyage . . . he refused to bathe, until first nor need we depend on nature for such a the strangers, more worthy of bathing, Tumbled the result. in William Forstchen’s 2009 novel had entered the bath.” One Second After, unknown hostiles ex - this charitable gent must have been one Towers plode nuclear weapons in space above of the last to keep up roman ways. two rus sia, Japan, and the U.S. (Detonations hun dred years later there were only incom- out side the atmosphere are invisible, unless prehensible ruins to stir an Anglo-Saxon you happen to be looking in just the right poet to melancholy: “Splendid is this wall- place at the right moment.) the electro- stone; fate broke it. / Shattered is the manor- magnetic pulses that accompany these house, crumbled is the work of giants. / nuclear explosions act as localized Carring - Fall en are the roofs, tumbled the towers . . .” ton events: two hundred million Amer - that this will be the fate of our civiliza- icans die in the subsequent disruptions. tion too, there is no reason to doubt. the People have been worrying about this end may indeed come very soon, by na - JOHN DERBYSHIRE kind of thing since the first power stations ture’s hand or our own. British scientist were built in the 1880s. What if our infra- Sir Martin rees, who is no crank—he is a inter conducted a fighting structure, instead of being within arm’s professor at Cambridge University and retreat this year, one last reach, were all managed by machinery in Britain’s Astronomer royal—has written a storm bringing down our some remote place out of sight? in 1909, book explaining why humanity is unlikely W cable service. that left us e. M. Forster wrote a short story, “the Ma - to survive the present century. that’s not without tV, internet, or house phones. chine Stops,” set in a future world. Humans merely American civilization, nor even civ- When we signed up for this threefold pack- have abandoned earth’s surface to live in ilization at large, but Homo sapiens. age a couple of years ago, Mrs. Straggler underground cells with all utilities and the particular case of the U.S. is surely observed that we should soon be getting entertainment cabled in, communicating not encouraging. the signs of exhaustion our food and water from the cable-service with something that sounds like an iPhone, are all around. the monstrous swelling debt provider. With some advances in the tech- all being managed by the Machine. then, and deficits we fret about are only aspects nology of molecular-level matter synthe- of course, the Machine breaks down and of a larger, more comprehensive falling- sis, my lady’s prediction may yet come to universal destruction ensues: “For a mo - off—a civilizational deficit. We seem old. pass; but on this occasion we were only ment they saw the nations of the dead, and, Our ability to survive any great shock must inconvenienced, not starved. before they joined them, scraps of the be doubted. Ne mæg werig mod wyrde wið- At such times one’s thoughts turn na - untainted sky.” standan, remarked another Anglo-Saxon turally to the fragility of civilization, and taking the long view of civilizational poet: “A weary heart cannot withstand to speculations about whether our current collapse, and setting aside the manifold fate.” the space shuttles are to be retired civilization is more fragile than most. it new opportunities for it that our technolo- this year; after that there will be no more used to take an invading barbarian army gies have brought us, the event itself has great national adventures. the Health De - to turn comfortable urbanites into subsis- been commonplace enough. Pre-industrial partment of my state recently tried to out- tence far mers or corpse-piles. nowadays civilizations rose and fell with the rhythm law dodgeball and freeze tag in summer potential agents of civilizational destruc- of some great organism breathing. camps because these pastimes pose “a sig- tion are more numerous. For us of the West the archetypal horror nificant risk of injury.” Perhaps the kids there is, for example, the coronal mass here is the fall of rome. Some years ago in should play shuffleboard instead. ejection (CMe). Our sun, in its more active england i had a friend who was a keen We can no longer do those things a phases, burps out great blobs of electrically amateur archeologist specializing in young civilization can do—win wars, write charged matter. One such struck the earth’s the very dark period following the end of memorable poems, expel intruders, live magnetic field a glancing blow on March ro man authority in Britain around A.D. within our means, execute great feats of 10 this year, bringing auroras—the nor - 400–410. He had lurid tales of mass graves engineering. Once, in the first fine careless thern Lights—as far south as Wisconsin. filled with skeletons deformed by hunger, rapture of civilizational youth, we could do A direct hit from a big CMe would be then hacked to death with swords; of fine anything. now we can do nothing. Once we catastrophic. the last time this happened old roman mosaic floors on which camp- civilized wild expanses and humbled great was in early September of 1859. named for fires had been lit; of buried coin-hoards military empires. now we insult our richard Carrington, the British astronomer whose owners had not survived to claim an cestors, wrestle with codes of tax and who observed the originating solar storm, them. reg ulation three inches thick, and dicker in - the Carrington event caused auroras all the roman Britain actually took some ef fectu ally with barbarian chieftains. the way down to Venezuela and blew out the decades to die completely. in about A.D. 500 Anglo-Saxon poet again: “the north sends world’s primitive telegraph systems, setting an irish scholar, the future St. tatheus, was rough hailstorms / in malice against men. / some telegraph offices on fire. A CMe on entertained by a rich man in southeast All is distressful / in the earthly realm.” the Carrington scale nowadays would Wales who was still living in a villa (proba- He should complain: At least the hail- shut down power-generation and water- bly the one excavated near present-day storms didn’t knock out his cable ser- purification equipment, disable computers Portskewett) and who still heated water vice.

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Happy Warrior BY MARK STEYN Entitlement Sense

LIKE to think that upon arrival in this great republic I true Congress can wipe out a lot of our debts—or at any rate assimilated pretty quickly. Within four or five months, I our debtors—by nuking Beijing. But is either likely to happen was saying “zee” and driving on the right more often than under any scenario this side of total societal meltdown? In - I not. But it took me longer to get the hang of the word deed, I find it easier to imagine economic collapse, secession, “entitlement.” You don’t hear it in political discussions in civil war, Mad Max on I-95, cannibal gangs of the undocu- most of the rest of the West, even in Canada. There’s talk of mented preying on gated communities of upscale gays, etc., “social programs” and “benefits” and “welfare,” but not of than any combination of House, Senate, and president “re - “entitlements.” I knew the term only in its psychological pealing Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.” use—“sense of entitlement”—in discussions of narcissistic Which is where we came in. Whether or not government personality disorder and whatnot. “entitlements” are debts, they very quickly become a psycho- Once I’d been apprised of its political definition, I liked logical disorder—and a “sense of entitlement” is harder to dis- it even less. “Entitlements” are unrepublican: They are con- lodge than almost anything else. Government entitlement temptuous of the most basic principle of responsible govern- breeds psychological entitlement breeds a utopia of myopia. I ment—that a parliament cannot bind its successor. Which is don’t mean merely in the sense that polls show an overwhelm- what entitlements do, to catastrophic effect. Recently, in the ing majority of Americans still feel entitled to their entitle- London Telegraph, Liam Halligan bemoaned the way com- ments, but in a more profound way. I was interested to discover mentators focus on America’s $14 trillion of debt—i.e., the recently that Nathan DeWall of the University of Kentucky has “debt ceiling” debt—without factoring in the entitlement conducted a survey of “linguistic markers of psychological liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. That traits and emotions” in popular music from 1980 to 2007, and makes America’s real debt some $75 trillion, or five times concluded that we are in (to use the book title of two of his co- GDP. Our own Kevin D. Williamson puts the FDR/LBJ enti- authors) a narcissism epidemic. Once upon a time, love songs tlement liabilities a little north of $100 trillion. Once you were about other people: “Me, Myself, and I (Are All in Love add in state and municipal debt, you need to add a zero to with You)”—Billie Holiday, 1937. Seventy-odd years later, that reassuringly familiar $14 trillion hole. The real hole goes Fergie sings in unconscious echo that she needs more time to ten times deeper: $140 trillion—or about twice as much as be with herself; Beyonce sings about how hot she looks when America’s total “worth.” she’s dancing; and, on the increasingly rare occasions when a Million, billion, trillion . . . and now we’re going to need vocalist directs her attention to an object of her affection other a word for the unit that comes after “trillion”? Oh, wait, how than herself, it sounds more like self-esteem boosterism than about “abyss”? I was struck by reader Dolores Proctor’s a love ballad. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Pink’s current observation that, until spendaholic government showed blockbuster hit, “F**kin’ Perfect”: up, 140,000,000,000,000 was the kind of number one would find only in a book about astronomy, and even then it would Pretty, pretty please Don’t you ever, ever feel be pretty cosmic. In other words, our spending has literally Like you’re less than burst the bounds of the planet. Ms. Proctor says that if you F**kin’ Perfect. take $140 trillion and spend a thousand bucks every second from right now going backwards through time, you’ll run Is that really a big problem? Au contraire, large numbers out of money in 2400 B.C., just in time for the invention of of utter mediocrities seem to regard themselves as f**kin’ the abacus, which as a bankrupt time-traveler you happily perfect—or, at any rate, f**kin’ entitled. Other scolds will won’t require. In other other words, we have outspent hu - deplore the profanity and cheerless hypersexualization of man history. today’s pop ditties, but for me what alarms is the palpable It’s certainly true that, if a company were to attempt to complacency—the indestructible assumption from Pink, keep the bulk of its liabilities off the books the way the Kesha, et al. that, simply by virtue of being born in America, United States government does, some showboating jackass this is how life is, and always will be. “Entitlement” is an prosecutor would have its key execs behind bars in nothing ingenious word, a brilliant coinage for both a pampering flat, and they’d be legislating another round of Sarbanes- state’s generosity and the debilitating consequences thereof. Oxley in Washington. Against that argument is the reassur- The president, a man of whom it can be confidently said ance that that $75–100 trillion isn’t a “liability” in the sense that he’s never never felt like he’s less than f**kin’ perfect, that your car lease or mortgage is. “Entitlement commit- and whose response to record-busting debt levels is to ments are not debts,” wrote John Hinderaker of the blog assure high-rolling donors never to forget the thrill of Powerline. “Congress can wipe them out simply by repeal- electing “a guy named Barack Hussein Obama,” is the ideal ing Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.” sovereign for a State of Entitlement. That’s technically true in the same sense that it’s tech nically John Hinderaker is right. We can, in theory, repeal the entitlements. Repealing the sense of entitlement is the Mr. Steyn blogs at SteynOnline. (www.steynonline.com). tricky part.

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