Capitol Ideas/What a Fool Believes
Bethell, Tom
smoking, Mr. John Banzhaf (and as you may be the parent of a prospective law student be advised that he is a Pro- fessor of something called Law and Legal Activism at George Washington...
...State...
...The discussion of technical economic issues interests French socialists very little...
...Iil|lJlt ~ %'OILII|IL.~, 'l)n(, approxlrncltt, lv everv other mon!h Ear volume will be S2] 9"~" Iplus $2 7~ %hlppllll~ ,ind hdndhllg) rllld wt|l t'ome on the S,lln(~ ]:~-dav t'XLIIIIIIhI|IOI) I)a~,P, I here 15 lit) iI)inlmllm IILIIII[~iT O~ [~N,Itq ] II11.1%|[)il...
...We should remember that for the socialist the loss of faith leaves him with what one can only describe as the blank horror of day-today existence...
...And this violence is not new...
...Banzhaf did this claiming that a District of Columbia fire regulation justified him...
...Why in a Republic full of doctors and nurses to say nothing of therapists should people want to be entertained by tales of cancer and disgusting operations...
...the crisis of capitalism but the death of socialism...
...Tlu'dn,am ot pul,hshing a s,:,ru,~,!fAmerican classic.~is at last la,,:ominga reality...
...Now if you will bear with me, here are a few more quotations, these rather closer to the mark...
...Often we hear of how many minutes a cigarette slices from the lives of the smoker and his neighbors, but the innocent passengers on this plane lost hours from their lives and could have lost their lives altogether...
...John Banzhaf (and as you may be the parent of a prospective law student be advised that he is a Professor of something called Law and Legal Activism at George Washington University's National Law Center...
...It is a supreme hope of mine that Harvard will one day fight free of the secular humanist and socialist murk...
...We must not let the obsessions of the few depress us...
...achof these compact, elegant books contains from 1,000 to 1,600pages and includes a number of M.~RKT~.;MN works by the same author...
...Wall Street Journal editorial, October 31, 1983...
...What they are driven by is moral ambition: they want to create a new man in a new society...
...VO|J l|ldollolch(x~selokeeptl~efit~,lvolume, iwnll rl,|Ulnli[l~ lbda~% my subM'rtpllOn ~dl|x~r and I~ [ will be ulldt'r lit) hlrthr o~ll~d|lolt Name...
...THE LI BRARY OF AMERICA The collected works of America ~ .torem,)st a u thors in unih~rm hardcover editions ,'~.ilOlll)rr i',l [ll'~,hlll...
...The persistence of the socialist faith in the twentieth century, despite its manifold failures, is a testament to the power of faith and to the very human dread of its loss...
...Quality bindingssewn and glued-assure that these books will last for generations...
...Thefinest-looking, longest-lastingeditions of American literature ever made...
...only a more geographically varied practice of it...
...Surely the law does not authorize a citizen to assault another, and could a solitary cigar in a well-ventilated studio really impair Mr...
...To Gilder et al...
...Only a religious revival on a scale that does not at present seem in the cards can ultimately shake the socialist faith and weaken its grip on us...
...Now comes Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute and the author (most recently) of Freedom With Justice.' In the August 1983 issue of Catholicism in Crisis he wrote: "The socialist idea, as an idea, is dead...
...have, I believe, gone wrong...
...I (-it...
...Thereafter, you will receive additional volumes, one approximately every other month for your examination...
...It does not get much more specific than that, although from time to time socialist writers will describe more precisely their fictional Utopias...
...Do you recall when one of these anti-cigarette hypochondriacs became so violent on a commercial jet that its pilot had to land the plane far from its destination...
...The main point that I want to stress, however, is that the material failure of socialism in no way discourages those who believe in it...
...Gloria Steinem reiterated her belief that feminism is an integral part of THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1985 work in unison to get things done...
...This first complete collection of his Tales and Sketches also includes his remarkable stories for children...
...I Chargemy LJVIsa ~"]MaslerCard I (lard No...
...im,~lam -ul,l~Ol It,d L~ ~hl, NllhOll,l...
...Dreams always die when they come true...
...But not only did Hollander not invent these accounts, he could today furnish us with an addendum that would disclose no diminution of the socialist faith...
...by Tom Bethell Finally, "We've been watching the French busily debate culture and politics for some months, and we can now report the result...
...The Library of America brings them to you in a miform series of handomely printed and bound tardcover volumes...
...though his victim, the distinguished professor of jurisprudence at Fordham University, Dr...
...l| "r ,llTIJdl.|V ]ll|Vt' pLlrl}lcl~*l.~r Ol1r~or |no.~ ~I.l|)tary o| Amenta volumes or l'l?Celvl~d llh,m ,Is ~11|'~ vou t',~in I sldlsuh~crib~,and ar plonl~ Iheln~*ksvou ~,ant "l~ru'esublt~'ttochan)~,' AIIorder~ubtetttoappro~ J THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1985 II...
...As indeed it is...
...lld~ E,I{'III lot II1{' I [~:'II,~I'II~P~ ~lllCI ih(, bord I'~tlHId,l~h)ll m-niD~ The Library of America I :~Norden Lane 9| hmtmgt( n Stahon, New *York117.16 | Yv', I ~ould like io subscrlL., h! Ihe I.iblarV oi .~.Tlll'rl('ct J'h'a',e ~end I11rb|ht* |ll%l ~ohlms, h!r d [5-da% fTt,t, ('XdnllihlllOn per[t~l ] will pa~ thl~ spi~r .~ubscrIptlon prlcIt ol 5.1 95 plus sluppmg and handhng I ~fll o, then it+{tq~,l...
...At about the same time Robert Nisbet, another AE1 fellow and the author of Prejudices, wrote in a review of Paul Johnson's Modern Times that the author "is correct in taking comfort in the death of any serious belief in socialism.., in the West at the present time" (New York Times Book Review, June 26, 1983...
...In furthering his views of public health, IDEAS he endangered rational and orderly inquiry, personal freedom, civility, law and order, plus Professor van den Haag's cigar and clothes...
...In towering modern high rises, built by the Portuguese before independence and now owned by the state, live another group of westerners," Glenn Frankel wrote...
...Well, there you have Kristol, Gilder, Novak, Johnson, Nisbet, and (I presume) Robert Bartley...
...For thefirst time in our history, you can own and enjoy all of elville, all of Hawthorne, wain, Emerson, Whitman, ames, Poe, Thoreau-and the collected writings of many other notable American novelists, historians, poets, philosophers, essayists and statesmen...
...I Address...
...But it also happens to be true...
...Most came for ideological reasons, because they saw in Mozambique, with its revolutionary fervor, the kind of society they believed in...
...Having preached for years about the vitality of socialism, they now stand helpless before its corpse...
...I had to rub my eyes myself the other day when I opened the Washington Post only to find the top half of the front page filled with encomia to Fidel, implicitly exhorting us to believe what he says...
...France has abandoned itself quite legally to a kind of lay Puritanism, moderate in its first steps but extreme in its ultimate objectives" (Jean-Francois Revel, Commentary, June 1982...
...For a certitude, smokers should respect nonsmokers' wishes, but so hysterical is this man over a cigar's danger to his health that he was induced to breach the peace...
...Mitterrand's objective is not primarily economic...
...Begin your Library NATHANIEL of America collection HAWTHORNE with Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales and Sketches An acknowledged master of the short story, Hawthorne illuminates the unexpected consequences of human transgression and sinful conscience...
...Only its displacement by a transcendental faith will do that, and the same applies to those socialist clergymen that Gilder is rightly concerned about...
...For we are indeed in its grip, as our inability to do anything about the grave Communist threat in Central America today tells us...
...His stories demonstrate why the world considers him a great artist and an astonishingly contemporary one...
...ll~,d l ITld~ tantel i1tiv ~,llb%('D|'~|lOll cl{ ,i11'~ !1nit 1%imp!'," b~, 11011i%I1...
...who still believe in Castro, and now the Sandinista "vision," must seem utterly fantastic...
...It's so much more comforting to go on believing and blame everything on America...
...the fact that there are people in the U.S...
...Join The Library of America and enjoy our nation's great literature at significant savings As a subscriber toThe Library ofAmerica, you can begin your own personal collection of works by America's most important authors-volume by volume, direct from the publisher, at savings of up to 27% off the retail price...
...George Gilder, Harvard Year Book, 1981...
...They ridicule western relief workers who speak no Portuguese and speculate on how many are CIA agents...
...The cooperantes are the thousands of westerners who have come to help the government...
...But the fact is that they can, and the proof is that they do...
...Banzhaf appeared proud of assaulting a man thirty years his senior, he is somewhat portly, and would caution him against overexcitement...
...But just as I was preparing to set forth, notepad at the ready, Investigative Reporter at your service, I was struck down by the flu and now find myself reduced to composing one more Think Piece, which 1 know you were looking forward to...
...They just can't imagine that people will go on believing in an idea that fails a practical test...
...They have taken to driving their Volvos and Saabs down Massachusetts Avenue, parking by the side of the road, lighting up their candles and protesting injustice, fully prepared to take the consequences in terms of social ostracism, maybe even a police record...
...Why in a televised debate would a man who claims adherence to the higher humanCAPITOL itarianism throw a full mug of water at an opponent...
...Enjoy the first volume for 15 days--free Simply examine your first book for 15days...
...Best of all, this series provides authoritative texts...
...Ifit meets your expectation.,, in both editorial WALl W! II FMA~ ;WEEK content and craftsmanship-keep it and pay only $21.95 for you-r _fkst volume, plus shipping and handling...
...Though Mr...
...Paul Hollander's book Political Pilgrims is an almost incredible treasury of this abiding faith...
...Harper & Row, $17.95...
...THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK-PUBLISHING PROJECTIN THE NATION'S HISTORY" In an unprecedented publishing event, The Library of America brings you the first national edition of our country's literature: the collected works of America's foremost authors in an authoritative, uniform series...
...You might say that this is the "A" team of conservatism, all saying the same thing, and, 1 believe, all whistling in the dark...
...Ernest van den Haag, had been duly assured that his cigar was permissible-especially as he believed it would demonstrate his opponent's violent side...
...Now you can obtain the most distinguished editions of America's literature ever produced and discover-or rediscover -the splendors of the American imagination...
...There was an intriguing story the other day in the Washington Post about Mozambique, a country with a Communist government that is now receiving U.S...
...Possibly his lungs were saved, but at what cost to his cardiovascular system...
...Time if you already have purchased one or more Library of America volumes--or received them as gifts-you can still subscribe and accept only the books you want...
...Th ; Nru, York "limes Authoritative editions based on superb scholarship The Library of America offers you scrupulously accurate unabridged texts, the product of thorough research by distinguished scholars...
...It was originally published in this magazine in 1976 [then The Alternative...
...Banzhaf's health...
...Anyway, this is a Think Piece I have been thinking about for ages, and it starts off with a collection of quotes from writers I admire greatly, and usually agree with, but this time I am not so sure that I do...
...military aid...
...What is striking about these accounts is the high degree of similarity between them: no private property, no churches, stateowned granaries, and so on...
...I still may try the embassy later, but I'm afraid I already missed Preppy Night, when the protestors were wearing skiing gear and their skis were strapped to their Volvo tops in readiness for the long weekend in Vermont...
...Clearly his fears are excessive...
...The idea called socialism is dead...
...Let us put aside their morbid absorptions, and remember too that some of these hypochondriacs are not concerned with health but with imposing their obsessions on others...
...New Republic Books that will last for generations These superbly constructed books, are printed on acid-free paper, handsomely bound in cloth, and come in attractive protective slipcases...
...So at night many of them huddle in their apartments--resorting to black market candles when the power goes off, drinking European beer...
...This is the opening sentence of an essay, "Socialism: An Obituary for an Idea," that is reprinted in his Reflections of a Neoconservative...
...WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES This month I was planning to go down the road to the South African embassy, which has been the scene of tremendous displays of candlelit courage by the American nobility...
...This is where Kristol, Gilder & Co...
...Irving, George, Michael, do you think these people have lost the socialist faith, or do you think they believe it hasn't yet been tried...
...dale...
...Few socialists are so disillusioned that they can face that blank horror...
...It is above all to build the good society as he sees it-to reform man, avenge the poor, punish the rich (or at least riches...
...Next George Gilder, and here we have the opening sentence of Wealth and Poverty: "The most important event in the recent history of ideas is the demise of the socialist dream...
...First of all Irving Kristol, who needs no introduction: "The most important political event of the 20th century is not Tom Bethell is The American Spectator's Washington correspondent...
...o~176176176...
...It is, in fact, absurdly easy for the socialist faithful to explain away these failures: True socialism has never really been tried, America obstructs progressive societies, and so forth...
...Yet, these magnificent new editions are priced within reach of every American reader...
...What is ironic about the enthusiasm of our hypochondriacs is not only that their fears come at a time when our lives are growing longer and freer of affliction, but that they are making our lives needlessly grim...
...Karen DeYoung and James Hoagland, the authors of these journalistic prayers, are true believers in the socialist faith, and no evidence of material collapse in Cuba--in the unlikely event that their nocturnal host Fidel would draw it to their attention, or that they would independently ascertain it--is going to shake that faith...
Vol. 18 • April 1985 • No. 4
