Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Latin Lover Pushed to his limit, Nixon confronted Among the ten tenets of cultural con- The extent to which equality is to shape Saluto R. Emmett, Eisenhower and said, "General, . ....
...By far the largest share remains in the U.S., where it is spent with American defense contractors...
...And I'm sure Louis Farrakhan would agree...
...The great trouble here is the three and last two tenets deal with hierarchy of values against which inNew York City indecision...
...Vice-Presidential nominee Nixon...
...troops are stationed with NATO-30,000 U.S...
...Brown's letter is a fine example of the terrible damage Kesey and Co...
...Plato, Aristotle, and Thucydides...
...It is just this sort of "courage born of faith" which confers spiritual invincibility and justifies "righteous" acts, like driving a car bomb into a Marine compound...
...Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and arena within which elites battle for the pears Tom Bethell's gloating over the principles or body of doctrine to which Bach...
...I'm sure Rev...
...340,000 U.S...
...What are the facts...
...It was a theme of James 1986...
...Conservative standards create a —Madonna the pot...
...In short, if Mr...
...Brown's perception of Kesey and mine will never be bridged...
...Judge for yourself...
...Thomas Aquin- democracy merely defines the political In light of more recent events, it ap- He also correctly calls for "a set of as...
...Several times, while ploughing through it, I asked myself if such toil was worth a reviewer's fee...
...William R. Hawkins The South Foundation Knoxville, Tennessee Chester E. Finn, Jr...
...Brown seems incapable of understanding how obvious the flaws of Kesey's book are, and how bathetic his claims to greatness for it sound today...
...And for me the conundrum of the "demon" in the "box," as a symbol of the mind, is simply inane...
...I certainly did read the book, and must say I am little the better for it...
...all societies, including those called should fall squarely on the weary ing this pile of pompous pamphleteer- franchise was maintained...
...His ten candidates for core tenets are ment with the indirect election of Presi- political thinking took deeper and Furthermore, it hurts me to say that an incomprehensible amalgam of bu- dent and Senate, a written Constitution more serious forms) that "no societies I think the brunt of responsibility (and reaucratic cliches...
...Is Saudi Arabia more stable...
...tion in government was something to Jose Ortega y Gasset argued that a well in Iceland...
...That he sees himself in the mirror as well is an act of artistic courage and, integrity: if the book stopped there, it would still be of considerable literary value...
...I'll take the farmer...
...fidence that legislation could establish ly ingrained that they will guide the thought of a more appropriate summa- These "tenets" would give conserva- universal happiness, the insurrection- majority in a responsible exercise of its rizing quotation from Richard Nixon...
...Box 590381 ^ San Francisco, CA 94159-0381 CAMERA is a tax-deductible, non-profit educational organization, headquartered in Washington, DC...
...I found Demon Box almost entirely lacking in a satirical sense, and certainly without the humility and contrition that is, I think, appropriate in Kesey's case, given the extent of his sociopathic activities...
...Israel, however, paid $1.1 billion in 1985 to the U.S., leaving a net balance of $1.9 billion...
...Schwartz got little from the book, it is because he put little effort into it...
...naval, air, and land forces totally shield Japan...
...Aid to Israel: Does the American taxpayer get his money's worth...
...There is much danger that any military aid to Arab countries, and military equipment given or sold to them, will suffer the fate as the untold billions of dollars and priceless military secrets that were lost to our enemies in the debacle of Iran...
...Kesey's only problem remains, as his father told him, that he "keeps on trying to unscrew the unscrutable...
...military analysts estimate that the U.S...
...Russell Democracy is not a necessary constanding article ("SDI and History," omy...
...Brown accuses me first of not reading the book I reviewed, and then of not understanding it...
...cies, but the "gay rights" movement is ment are perfectly understandable, but Conservative Trends For better than ninety percent of this another example of trading votes for an I shun the outdoors...
...II Israel's dominant military and political position in the Middle East protects that entire area, including the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, from the inroads of the Soviet Union...
...It's short, triumph of democracy as "Paine and On the contrary, democracy can only display the courage to act strongly in easily remembered, and embodies the Rousseau, a cheap press, general con- work if conservative values are so deep-regard to the deployment of SDI, I essence of the conservative viewpoint...
...Steve Brown Manchester Center, Vermont Stephen Schwartz replies: Mr...
...Please make your check payable to CAMERA and mail to the above address...
...And the duties of citizenship it is aristocratic, and ceases to be such Bangor, Maine vatives could agree on and even non- meant more than self-interest...
...The point to remember is that since the values embodied in conservatism are worth fighting for under any particular form of government, they must be considered more importantthan any particular form of government...
...Your tax-deductible contributions are welcome...
...Jordan...
...Compared to the $1.8 billion military aid to Israel, the U.S...
...Only a fraction of the aid given stays in Israel...
...Certainly, in his frothing frenzy to debunk Kesey and all he (purportedly) stands for, Schwartz shows no evidence of having thought seriously about what he read...
...Not one single U.S...
...continued on page 48) THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR FEBRUARY 1987 9 CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 9) Just because some tenets of liberalism are not currently popular should not suddenly convert conservatives into populists or democrats...
...Tyrrell...
...This has opened a Pandora's box that has plagued the execution of both domestic and foreign policies...
...This ad has been published and paid for by Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America P.O...
...Is that a good deal for the American taxpayer...
...These The democratic ideology has its question is which elite, embodying Decide Now principles are individual freedom, roots in leftist politics and has been what set of values, will rule...
...In the end, Mr...
...Yet, it is the craziest of characters in his new book who addresses this question...
...Schwartz implies that Kesey can no longer cope with mentally ill people...
...I found Demon Box to be a wonderful portrayal, commentary, and satire on the sixties remnants who travel to all corners of the earth in search of "enlightenment," but forget to look in their own back yard...
...This is the mistake of the New Right, while the neoconservatives have carried "democratic values" with them from their former careers as liberals...
...As I write this reply, Kesey is appearing in San Francisco, at museums, libraries, and rock clubs, as well as bookstores, reenacting his drug-bus adventures and once again celebrating a chemical oblivion...
...Aid to Israel is America's greatest defense bargain...
...Finn traces the values of a conserva- all other areas...
...And these activities have hardly ended...
...At the event, the writer Lionel Abel is said to have risen and declared, "No, Leslie, you know you're in favor of drugs because they're bad for the mind...
...replies: Anyone who doesn't start with a deep and abiding affection for and belief in democracy has no standing, in my view, to participate in the conversations about "cultural conservatism"—or about much else...
...and less than 1% in Japan...
...Its purpose is to combat media inaccuracies, through public education and publicity...
...Hollis M Greenlaw tive culture from Greece and Rome marily of economic redistribution, Your longing for excitement and for Fairfield, Maine through the history of Western civiliza- which abounds today in all democraboth moral and intellectual improve- tion and the Judeo-Christian tradition...
...Kunkel's letter...
...tions and fractions and internal interest of aristocratic and republican oligarch- The U.S...
...The for which conservatives enter the arena ("Cross Currents," TAS, December ciples must be short, concise, and easily American Founding Fathers favored a to contend...
...Our overhead is minimal...
...I will leave readers to discover the process through which this happens, for it is a joy worth digging for...
...Of that, $1.8 billion was for military aid, and $1.2 billion was for economic aid...
...It is the Nixon's words hold great value to- numbers five through eight with restric- essence of civilization...
...sessed throughout the nineteenth cen- really aiming at...
...Eisen- narrow self-interests, or we will forever nomic, and social equality of all per- tions have not been so protected in the hower's inability to commit himself one remain in the minority...
...American aid to Israel is a two-way street...
...sons as autonomous individuals, the past explains why our national culture way or the other became too much for —Dave Kunkel moral equality of all actions, the artis- is in the sad shape that it is...
...Israel has one of the best armies in the world...
...The made their contributions without the mocracy is not itself one of the values Cannon" was just a bit premature point he misses is that this set of prin- "benefit" of a democratic culture...
...There is no other country in the Middle East except Israel that can be considered to have a stable government or populace friendly to the United States...
...The equality of moral "respect...
...Is the demon box we call life going anywhere...
...is correct when he period, democracy played no part...
...is a democracy and consergroups" ("Giving Shape to Cultural ies...
...Israel's navy and air force are the major deterrent forces in the eastern Mediterranean against Soviet intrusion...
...Fossedal for point- tions on government...
...Finn's first left...
...After reading Gregory Fossedal's out- a strong defense, and a sound econ- associated with cultural decline...
...has so far contributed $130 billion in the support of Western Europe through NATO, and $30 billion for the security of Japan, Korea, and the Far East...
...Democracy is R. Elmer Tyrrell, Jr...
...Kudos to Mr...
...But it is obvious that the gap between Mr...
...The principle of a limited ity...
...who seek to find cosmic meaning in monsters hidden in their subconscious minds, but encounter only rusty 50-gallon drums in farm ponds, etc., etc...
...as it ceases to be aristocratic...
...tives a real chance at the much needed ary power which urban masses pos- power...
...The title of the book, through the metaphor it embodies, is the common thread linking all the anecdotes, poems, and essays...
...mixed system of representative govern- Burnham (back in the days when have the last gloat...
...Certainly, insights as to "where the human mind is going" cannot be taken seriously from those whose whole mode of existence is based on the abolition of the mind...
...The Great Blueprint I found Bryan F Griffin's cynical essay, "The Great Fear of 1986" (TAS, December 1986), a possible blueprint for extremism...
...That seems to be what Finn is In 1952, when General Eisenhower political realignment of our country...
...Bodin, Hobbes, and Burke all power to advance their agendas...
...The eyes of a normal difficult to alter, and a non-elected are governed by the people, by a major-blame) for this awful turn of events person quickly glaze over while read- judiciary...
...It is quite true that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S...
...Kirk listed the factors that contributed dition for cultural conservatism, nor TAS, December 1986), which rather A slogan like that has all the ingre- to the sudden "generally catastrophic" will it by nature advance conservatism...
...However, modern based on a contradictory premise that Doubtless had you in your youth the ing out the immediate need for Reagan democracy with its one-person, one- leads to leveling and anarchy...
...benefit of a competent Latin instruc- to assemble a cohesive body of SDI ad- vote popular sovereignty is powerfully Aristotle warned that those who attor you would not now be displaying visers...
...equipment, are instantly at hand in Israel...
...shoulders of the man who served us so ing...
...A demo-somewhat a hypochondriac and today's says that the conservative movement is authoritarian rule of monarchs, crat has no reason to object to this, but headlines only confirm me in my sense in danger of disintegrating "into fac- emperors, and theocrats vied with that a conservative does...
...Participa- democratic, are ruled by a minority...
...Cannon, quite probably, will understood...
...vatives must work within it...
...CORRESPONDENCE Latin Lover Pushed to his limit, Nixon confronted Among the ten tenets of cultural con- The extent to which equality is to shape Saluto R. Emmett, Eisenhower and said, "General, . . . servatism presented by Chester E. Finn, society, culture, and the state is the Scortaris te...
...Egypt...
...soldier needs to be stationed and put at risk in Israel...
...use their numbers to attain equality in pears in your otherwise admirably con- definitely needed in this policy area...
...Israel effectively secures NATO's southeastern flank, without having a single American soldier stationed in its territory...
...dividual for community feeling...
...The mote his tenets will have to be placed Senator Nixon resign from the 1952 When forced to choose, we must common factor in all of these is the outside the reach of democratic tam-Republican ticket, he did not advocate always choose principle over our own concept of equality: the political, eco- pering...
...Still, the superb military installations, the air and sea lift capabilities, the advanced medical facilities, the equipment and food storage capacity, and the trained manpower to maintain and repair sophisticated U.S...
...Peter McPherson, administrator of the Agency for International Development, estimates that every billion dollars of aid to Israel creates 60,000 to 70,000 jobs in the United States...
...It is the only country in the area that makes itself available to the United States, in any contingency...
...No conservative worth his salt could or should depend on the opinion polls or the division of congressional seats to tell him right from wrong, wisdom from folly...
...A stronger voice from the top inclined to undermine all such restric- tam political equality will attempt to difficulty with that intransitive that ap- and a greater perception of unity is tions...
...If there has been a lack of understanding here, I really believe it is on his side, not mine...
...They enable us to pursue these goals and to publish these messages...
...Do we get our money's worth...
...have wrought in the American intelligentsia...
...De-effects of Reykjavik on "poor old Lou most conservatives can subscribe...
...However, Getting Lou's Gloat Conservatism," TAS, November 1986...
...This is the same question Kesey asked in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion, and asked once again with marvelous artistry here...
...Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work and for these messages...
...Many years ago, I am told, the American critic Leslie Fiedler gave a lecture in New York where he defended drugs as harmless, if not "good for the mind...
...We need artists such as him, or we shall all remain trapped in the demon box of intellectual and academic cynicism...
...In one vignette after another, Kesey holds a mirror for those of us, now middle-aged, who celebrated or endured the sixties, so we can see how ridiculous we were, and occasionally still are...
...would have to spend the equivalent of $150 billion a year in the Middle East to maintain a force equivalent to Israel's...
...there comes a time in matters like this Jr., his fourth tenet glorifying democ- decisive criterion between right and Vale, when you've either got to shit or get off racy should be dropped...
...Irwin Chusid Montclair, New Jersey You deserve a factual look at...
...Twenty-five to 30% of its budget goes for defense—as against 7% in the U.S...
...Or is it just running down...
...The bureaucrats could understand...
...Santa Clara, California tic equality of all forms of expression...
...It is a most reliable partner in the promotion of Western interests and in the stabilization of the Middle East...
...48 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR FEBRUARY 1987...
...Let us hope he never loses this tendency...
...replies: day...
...It is all really quite appalling...
...President Reagan said it well: "The fall of Iran increased Israel's value as perhaps the only remaining strategic asset in the region on which the United States can fully rely...
...Augustine and St...
...In fiscal 1985, the amount was $3 billion...
...In contrast, U.S...
...But for this condition had been bogged down with the "rec- Success, however, would require that tury, loss of social ascendancy by the to hold over time, most of the instituommendations" of advisers in regard the various factions stop equivocating old superior classes, substitution of in- tions upon which Finn depends to proto whether he should request that and live up to their beliefs...
...He was speaking pricise note...
...of alarm...
...What makes the book exceptional, however, is the way in which Kesey integrates all the stories, shapes all these characters from his life and imagination, to address the same question that has haunted his work since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Does life have meaning...
...I would like to suggest three basic be earned by doing more than just society "is a society in the measure that —Ken Bashford principles that I think most conser- breathing...
...There is, however, some truth to Mr...
...I finished the task out of a sense of duty to TAS and the eminent Mr...
...Richard Girnt Butler, who preaches white supremacy, believes in "a faith in the value of tribulation itself, a faith in the propriety of the ultimate unseen outcome, a common understanding that, in the long run, suffering [is] a good thing for all concerned...
...Next to Kesey, Fiedler looks like a real giant of our intellectual life...
...restrictions on individual behavior, dividual behavior is measured...
...The fact that conservative bas-a strong position either way...
...Is God (and the Demon in the box) subject to the Second Law of Thermodynamics...
...convincingly urges President Reagan to dients for political success...
...troops in the Far East...
...Furthermore I am Chester E. Finn, Jr...
...Unscrewing the Unscrutable After reading Stephen Schwartz's review of Ken Kesey's Demon Box (TAS, November 1986), I found myself wondering if he had actually read the book...
Vol. 20 • February 1987 • No. 2
