Editor & Publisher of the St. Croix Review.
The following is a summary of the August/September 2018 issue of The St. Croix Review:
Thomas Drake, in a “Letter to the Editor,” provides an example of political dysfunction in Chicago.
Barry MacDonald in, “The American Spirit,” reviews the founding of The St. Croix Review, and presents Angus MacDonald, the founder, as the embodiment of the genuine American Spirit.
Michael S. Swisher, in “Animadversions — Bugaboos of the Chattering Class — Nativism,” presents the arguments of those Americans who favor unlimited immigration into America. He answers their arguments and exposes their motives.
Allan C. Brownfeld, in “Remembering Our Long History of Misunderstanding Russia’s Goals in the World,” compares President Trump’s mistaken attitude with historical follies; in “Fueled by an Army of Lobbyists — Crony Capitalism Is Alive and Well in Washington” he explains the virtues of a free economy, and he shows how politicians are purchased; in “‘Charm City’: A Gripping Film about Violence in Baltimore and the Response of the Police and the Community,” he presents Baltimore as an example of American ingenuity coming to grips with difficult circumstances; in “New York’s Specialized High Schools Are Under Attack by Identity Politics; Asian-Americans Are the Victims,” he makes the case for returning to a goal of a “color-blind” society.
Paul Kengor, in “Today’s Progressives Have Completed the Takeover and Destruction Communists First Started Calling for More Than a Century Ago,” cites one hundred years of Communist assaults on the Boy Scouts of America; in “Fifty Years Ago: An Assassination That Shook America,” he provides overlooked details of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy; in “A Victory for Freedom and the Pro-Life Movement,” he reviews a recent Supreme Court decision that struck down a California law that forced pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise for abortion; in “With God and Richard Pipes,” he celebrates the life of Cold War warrior who opposed Soviet Communism.
Herbert London, in “The U.S.-North Korea Summit: The Devil Is in the Details,” explains the critical issues involved in the transformation of North Korea; in “Decertifying the Iran Deal,” he reveals that President Obama’s faith that Iran would limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions was mistaken; in “Traditional Liberalism Under Unprecedented Pressure,” he asks questions about whether Western democracy can adapt to present-day challenges from a historical perspective.
Mark Hendrickson, in “Trump on Trade: The Latest on the Tariff Strategy,” considers President Trump’s crazy-like-a-fox trade strategy; in “‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor,’ A Review of the Mr. Rogers Documentary,” he places emphasis on the kindness and decency of Fred Rogers.
Earl H. Tilford, in “Summit Asymmetries,” looks at three summits between American Presidents and Soviet and Russian leaders.
Judy Appel, in “Five Nights and Eighty Thousand Steps in Paris, France — Day One,” shares a letter from Red Cross nurse, written in 1918, who treated her great uncle after he was wounded in W.W. I.
Jigs Gardner, in “Letters from a Conservative Farmer: Maids,” relates childhood memories of a long-vanished America.
Jigs Gardner, in Writers for Conservatives, 71: The Wolf by the Ears — Thomas Jefferson and Slavery by J. C. Miller,” uncovers startling facts and attitudes of early American history.
Jigs Gardner, in “My Harvey Weinstein Moment,” conveys a humorous story.
1.
I am awash in waves this morning with
The windows of my car open with the
Warmth coming in and I am bombarded
With the vibrant blue and white of the sky
And I am absorbing an explosion
Of tiny green leaves on the browns of the
Trees and an exhibitionist in a
Purple shirt is walking with his dog and
There is a sprinkling of dandelions
Already and a red wing blackbird is
Flying and when I get to the office
To play with words a yellow and a red
Tulip by the garage are reminding
Me cresting waves of light are everywhere.
Waves of light rippling
in the air enveloping
me separating me
from winter are exactly
what I wanted.
2.
It is deplorable that a straw was
Discovered in the Marianas Trench
And perhaps to rescue the earth from the
Dispersal of disposable items
It may be helpful where possible to
Turn our implements of convenience
Into fashion accessories and I
Imagine a boutique establishment
Selling remarkable straws with perhaps
Titanium for a military
Gentleman with a tortoise shell case or
Elongated simulated ivory
Or tastefully bejeweled silver or gold
For a status conscious mademoiselle.
We would favor the
planet and engage
ingenuity massage
egocentricity and
boost employment.
3.
The blue sky is exceptional and the
Earth appears blue from the vantage of the
Moon and there is not another planet
With breathable blue air in the cosmos
We are aware of and we are searching
The fourteen billion light years of space and
Set among the brilliance of stars planets
Are almost impossible to find so
Given the impersonal and immense
Nature of reality there is no
Reason why the sound of the wind in the
Leaves should be reassuring and peaceful
And inspiring but year after year
There is the resurrection of sighing.
The breath of
life is visible
and audible
in the wind
in the trees.
4.
From the vantage of today the Pueblo
People who lived in the hollows of the
Cliffs who built adobe homes and worshiped
The sun seem simple and innocent as
The sun was determinate of so much
Drenching their lives with light and imagine
The contrast of the day with the night filled
With stars and the comfort of a small fire
But perhaps they shared our frailties and
Were as prone to anger and fear as we
Are and they needed to ascribe meaning
To what happened by considering the
Constellations and by retelling their
Ancestral stories about courage.
Even with our
knowledge of the
cosmos have we
outgrown needing
stories about courage?
5.
A black hole that can whirl a trillion stars
About itself is not something that can
Be safely ignored and where do the stars
Go that disappear into the hole — and
It is said that vanished stars are compiled
On themselves to a point of infinite
Density inside the hole and said that
Millions of light years is not far enough
To escape the vortex of the hole and
It is speculated even space/time
Collapses inside the hole and time is
Instantaneous and so a word is
Used to describe the inconceivable —
The black hole is a singularity.
The hole where things
go to vanish is an
organizing factor
creating motion
and direction.
Our Mission is to reawaken the genuine American Spirit of living in a good, great, and growing nation as free individuals.
We Uphold American Liberty, Prosperity, Constitutional Law, and Humble Government
Barry MacDonald — Editorial
The “we” above refers to you: the readers and writers of The St. Croix Review. Good-hearted Americans don’t believe we are better than the peoples of the world. We are lucky to have been born where it is possible to prosper through effort and industry. We are grateful to have a Constitution and Bill of Rights, the first in history, guaranteeing America liberty — if they are followed.
“The Left” indicated below means those Americans who want the Constitution and Bill of Rights undone. They want America to be fundamentally transformed. They are revolutionary in spirit, and are employing techniques that come from overseas. They are hardcore and want to benefit from the polarization of society they are busy fomenting. They are uncompromising and cannot be appeased.
They include independent groups like Media Matters and Black Lives Matter. The leadership of the Democratic Party is Leftist. There are many fellow travelers who are caught up with the fervor of the movement who are not leaders — they don’t comprehend the motives of the leaders.
The leadership understands that the effort is in furious motion, and that any single issue is only a means to an end, and the end is revolution.
The America we grew up in is not the America of today. We receive dispiriting and disparaging messages. We are presented with insoluble problems, and we are informed, subtly and boldly, that America is a guilty nation. We are told American history is a recitation of oppression, injustice, and tyranny.
The onslaught against America is overwhelming. The Statue of Liberty has fallen into disrepute. More often than not, people in positions of power today, those who have formidable platforms from which to dispense their opinions, are Leftists who are disparaging America. And they are furiously energetic.
The educational system, from elementary schools to the university, is converted. The news media, including sports news, is taken over. High art and daily entertainment are perverted. Corporate America is anti-American. Historians, philosophers, and officers of law believe the worst about America, and they want you to despise America, too. Those wearing religious garb are sometimes unreliable. Even science is tainted.
The Left has made the long march through American institutions, and is sowing devastation.
Leverage Points
The following is a listing of where the Left is on offence, and where we are defensive. This is not a complete list. Some of the assertions are established, and more people are being converted. Twenty years ago these points would have been ridiculous, but today they are serious points of contention.
The above assertions are arrogant and deceitful and yet their insidiousness is not recognized.
There is no coherent vision of an ideal society the Left wishes to create — they have no idea where they are rushing too. Hollywood movie studios produce various shades of dystopia.
The Left is marshalling furious energy and assaulting American institutions. The people of the Left — the bureaucrats, the media, business executives receiving subsidies, congressional staffers, politicians, lawyers, etc., — benefit from the spoils of political victory, but society as a whole suffers.
Working class Americans are struggling, and the middle class is burdened. The regulations imposed by bureaucracies, and the taxation of private enterprise to finance excessive government spending, are crushing the economy and frustrating the creation of new businesses and jobs.
America should have busy entrepreneurs and a thriving economy. The glory of America is that a person born poor may, through hard work and enterprise, rise to prosperity — this is the American dream. But in present-day America people are becoming discouraged as the costs of education, housing, and healthcare are rising, and fewer businesses are starting. There is less opportunity to rise. It is harder to be upwardly mobile in America — because the Left is tightening its grip and rigging the economy for its own benefit.
We who believe in the goodness of America, and who want to preserve American liberty, should recognize that there are natural disadvantages in our way. We are asking people to take on the burdens of responsibility, and to work harder than necessary just to get by. Not everyone is capable of creating a vision of the good life, and of striving to make a dream reality. It is the mission of The St. Croix Review to present our readers with inspiration for the good life. We aim to motivate those capable of inspiration, and we hope that their industry will engender a broad enough base of prosperity to lift the spirits and aspirations of less amenable Americans.
In the history of nations American ingenuity and prosperity are unique. We have been freed from the common shackles imposed by the usual forms of tyrannies. Our traditional prosperity arises because a much larger proportion of our people, regardless of class, have been free to be productive, and thereby we are prosperous. It is the mission of The St. Croix Review to perpetuate American liberty.
The Left is asking people to give up responsibility. It is inculcating the idea that politicians and bureaucrats are more informed and better able than average people. It wants people to give up the duties that come along with freedom. The Left is willing to subsidize and maintain Americans who are dispirited in a subsistent and subservient lifestyle. In the Leftist scheme of management, the productive are compelled by taxation to carry the burdens of society.
The telltale nature of the Left is obvious. It discourages enterprise with regulation. It divides people based on race and ethnicity and gender, and uses the animosity created to undermine the family, religious faith, and the rule of law.
The St. Croix Review recognizes the enormous challenge of reawakening the “genuine American spirit,” but we believe the effort is worthy. We believe that ordinary American people throughout America are energetic and capable, and will act to preserve their God-given independence. *
The following is a summary of the June/July 2018 issue of The St. Croix Review:
Barry MacDonald, in “We Uphold American Liberty, Prosperity, Constitutional Law, and Humble Government,” describes the rapacious and unrelenting nature of leftist politics, and he points to America’s uniqueness.
Paul G. Kengor, in “Marx at 200: Classical Marxism vs. Cultural Marxism,” reveals the source of the revolutionary fervor that is roiling American culture today; in “Marx’s Apologists Should Be Red in the Face,” he puts the lie to those who assert that Marx didn’t advocate force and violence; in “Remembering Barbara Bush — and Robin,” he shares a poignant story about the Bush family; in “John Kerry: Reporting for Duty . . . From Vietnam to Iran,” he exposes John Kerry’s long trail of betrayal.
Allan C. Brownfeld, in “Fifty Years Ago, Washington Was Burning; Despite Continuing Problems, Advances in Race Relations Have Been Dramatic,” provides a large and hopeful perspective on a persisting concern; in “The Strange Criticism of the Movie ‘Chappaquiddick’ — A Seeming Defense of Ted’s Kennedy’s Admittedly Bad Behavior,” he reviews an important event in American history; in “Whatever Happened to American Conservatism: Remembering Russell Kirk,” he presents the insights of a gentleman and scholar.
Herbert London, in “America Can Meet the Challenge of China with Education and Innovation,” asserts that America needs a “Sputnik moment”; in “Israel and Saudi Arabia — A Secret Middle East Alliance,” he describes an emerging strategy to oppose Iran; in “Due Process Circa 2018 Is in Dire Trouble,” he makes the case for the rule of law for those accused of sexual misconduct; in “The Russian Chessboard,” he considers the role Russia is playing in the Middle East.
Mark W. Hendrickson, in “The Passing of Two Great Americans,” marks the passing of the “greatest generation” with faithful memories; in “High-Priced College Textbooks: Uncle Sam to the Rescue,” he uses a new government program to teach an economics lesson; in “Memorial Day Reflections, 2018,” he explains the meaning of “mast-and-a-half”; in “The Big Picture: The Science, Politics, and Economics of Climate Change,” he details the crippling costs and small benefits of political solutions to climate change; in “1968: A Year of Lost Innocence,” he recalls the shattering events of a historical turning point.
Mike Swisher, in “Bugaboos of the Chattering Class — Nationalism,” presents a broader historical interpretation of nationalism to demonstrate how misguided our present views are.
Francis P. DeStefano, in “Battle of Midway,” describes the sudden change of fortune that turned the battle in America’s favor.
David Ayers, in “Advice to Orthodox Protestants and Catholics: ‘Just Stand,’” supports Christian orthodoxy.
Jigs Gardner, in “Letters from a Conservative Farmer: An Explosive Issue,” addresses an newly discovered victim group in America.
Jigs Gardner, in “Writers for Conservatives, 71: Medieval Technology and Social Change by Lynn White,” presents a writer who identifies the forgotten innovations that transformed Medieval society.
1.
It’s convenient to parcel out my life
In days and weeks because the rising and
The setting sun is easy to go by —
And if there weren’t day interspersed with night
It would be much harder to remember
What I did last week — and I am really
Grateful for my eyes to see bare branches
In a blue sky and grateful for my skin
And body so I can know what the cold
Of winter is — and also there is my
Marvelous mind that reminds me while a
Chill is rising from the snow on the ground
In several month the roses bloom again
And in summer I may wear a t-shirt.
I see the moon in
the morning and in
the afternoon too —
It’s an everyday
Presence to go by.
2.
When I understand nothing moves faster
Than light and that the light from distant stars
Traveled billions of years to reach the earth
Then I appreciate immensity
And when I understand that during the
Passage of the light the stars radiating
The light have imploded and no longer
Exist then I encounter mystery —
And when I consider that the forces
Of gravity are whirling galaxies
And everything that exists is moving
In relation to every other thing
Then I have to put my life and efforts
In context with a sobering cosmos.
I have questions
and would like
solutions but
also I love
a rising sun.
3.
The light a star generates radiates
In all directions and on earth we see
The cosmos from a limited point of
View and I believe it’s necessary
To question where we are going and to
Grasp purposes worthy of our living
Because we have the curiosity
And the wherewithal to comprehend so
Many of the facts about us and we
Know immensity and minuteness and
We understand our tininess within
The universe but no one can explain
How our molecules and electrical
Impulses create thought and emotion.
The immensity
of the cosmos is nothing
compared with the
everyday miracle of
ordinary consciousness.
4.
The iron in my body came from an
Exploding star billions of years ago
And my body is composed of atoms
And molecules and strands of DNA
That testify to an origin I
Share with every living being on Earth
And within my body there are layers
Of organization where cells behave
Independently and for the good of
The whole also so that I can sit at
My table and cut an orange into
Pieces and taste the taste of an orange
And I can speculate from this table this
Moment is moving to infinity.
There are billions
and billions of stars
in space and atoms
in my body — there is
also consciousness.
5.
Scientists uphold a prism of glass to
Separate the light into colors and
They aim spectroscopes to see the colors
Of starlight and thereby they deduce the
The age and chemical composition
Of the most distant stars and in a few
Thousand years by working together they
Have exposed the swirling cosmos and the
Inescapable fragility of
Humanity too and yet our human
Comprehension resembles a super
Nova bursting and seeding the empty
Spaces with a consciousness that will not
Be satisfied with lingering questions.
Even before the
questions could be
formulated there was
cooperation — there were
words.
Our mission is to reawaken the Genuine American Spirit of living in a good, great, and growing nation as free individuals.
Remembering What Made Us Good
Barry MacDonald — Editorial
Please look above and read the mission statement of The St. Croix Review. Usually it is presented in a shorter version: Our mission is to reawaken the Genuine American Spirit. . . .
Progressives would read the above sentence and scoff, or become sarcastic and scornful. Let them. We have work to do — to assert ourselves productively.
The Left has taken over our education system. After the Parkland shooting in Florida, how did the students so quickly organize themselves into a protest movement with a narrow focus on gun control? See the encouragement teachers and administrators gave them, allowing them a day off from schoolwork to mount a ’60s style march. Notice the full-time attention the news media gave the students. The students are children. It appears they have been trained beforehand to think and behave in a scripted direction.
Thinking gun control is the only solution to school shootings is like looking at the problem through a straw.
Suzanne Venker, of the Fox News Channel, presented a wonderful report “Missing Fathers and America’s Broken Boys — the Vast Majority of Mass Shooters Come From Broken Homes.” She based her report on a study published by Family Studies on Dec. 16, 2013, titled “Sons of Divorce, School Shooters.”
Suzanne writes that boys and girls react differently to the dissolution of their families, with girls being more likely to hurt themselves or behave promiscuously. But the girls do have the more frequent advantage of staying with mothers, while the boys are often separated from their fathers. Suzanne makes the point that boys need their fathers for nurturance and role models.
In America today, fatherhood is neglected and pundits use the term “toxic masculinity” to scorn and condemn men.
Divorce is commonplace. The ideal of a mother, and father, each of whom has an irreplaceable role in raising children, is devalued.
Apart from the few boys who become shooters, who can guess how many boys are harmed because they don’t learn healthy masculinity from their fathers? How do we promote the importance of fatherhood? Perhaps we should begin talking about the importance of fatherhood.
America is suffering because we have absorbed too many toxic progressive falsehoods. One of the most pernicious narratives is that a prosperous American economy is poisoning the earth. It speaks well of Americans that we want our economy to be as harmless as possible, and it should be noted that American emissions of CO2 have been declining year after year — more greatly than many signatories of the Paris Accord. Americans are big-hearted people and we want to live in a clean environment.
Yet Leftist politicians and intellectuals have implanted the idea that broad-based prosperity and growth is self-centered and evil. We are told that the “profit motive” is evil. We are being directed to aim for a “sustainable” economy instead of a growing economy. We are being regulated to death under the assumption that free enterprise is destructive. We are advised that living in single-family homes in the suburbs is selfish, as we are creating “sprawl.” Instead, we are told, we should be renting high-rise apartments in large cities. And it would be nice if we gave up our cars and took a train to the office.
Modern life has become difficult because the costs of higher education, housing, and healthcare are rising dramatically, while wages have stagnated or declined. Blue-collar men are losing jobs to technical innovation and are facing daunting and dispiriting challenges. The middle class is shrinking and the working class is struggling to survive.
College students are graduating with burdensome debt; they can’t find well-paying jobs, and often they settle for part-time work. Many graduates are living with their parents instead of getting married, buying homes, and starting families. And conditions are even worse for high school graduates, as their jobs are taken by frustrated college graduates.
America must be allowed to grow again. We must not heed the Leftist pressure to limit our economy. We must break the unaccountable power of bureaucrats who are strangling free enterprise. Any politician who speaks of sustainability in preference to growth should be voted out of office.
Donald Trump is absolutely correct in wanting to “make America great again.” It is remarkable how such a simple, laudable, statement sets him apart from every other politician. Any American politician who wants a hobbled America should be ashamed of her- or himself.
We must have faith that the return of broad-based prosperity, that promotes upward mobility again, will lift America up and out of the doldrums — and many of our social pathologies will dissipate.
And we should notice that the billionaires and millionaires (Tom Steyer, Leo DiCaprio, and Al Gore) who say that Americans should settle for humble circumstances, have no intention of living humbly themselves — they are already living large.
This latest $1.3 trillion spending bill, which the President mistakenly signed, takes as much money from the American people as President Obama took when the Democrats controlled the House. Shame on the Congress and President Trump! The President should have vetoed the bill.
The Republican leadership played the same trick the Democrats got away with: dumping a 2,200-page bill at the last minute, and leaving no time for the public to discover what’s in it. Who knows how many secret payoffs are in it?
Every dollar seized by a crony is unavailable to an entrepreneur who could have used it to create wealth. Every dollar borrowed and spent today is an extra burden of debt heaped on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. How can people in the middle and lower classes become upwardly mobile if the seed money they need is given to cronies? This is the first time in American history when the young face a diminished future because their parents have been dissolute.
Our mission statement asserts that we are a “good” and “great” nation. “Good” comes before “great.” Napoleon Bonaparte was great, but was he good? We could have a lively debate about the supposed “good” he did.
America is a great nation. Among other things, we put astronauts on the moon. But more importantly the American people are good people, because our freedoms allow us to blossom into enterprise and independence, which, in turn, affords us the opportunity to be compassionate.
We are also good because of our religious faith. We know that are born not only for ourselves, but also for the benefit of our families and communities. We were not born to be selfish.
We should remember what makes us good. And we should remove every selfish politician. Republicans need to primary out a good number elected Republicans. *
The following is a summary of the April//May 2018 issue of The St. Croix Review:
Barry MacDonald, in “Remembering What Made Us Good” introduces the mission of The St. Croix Review: to reawaken the Genuine American Spirit of living in a good, great, and growing nation as free individuals.
Allan C. Brownfeld, in “With Its Swift Embrace of Massive Deficits, the Republican Party We Once Knew Is Gone,” cites the differences in behavior and attitude of Republican politicians when they were not in leadership, and now that they are; in “Donald Trump Thinks “Trade Wars Are Good and Easy to Win” — He Should Think Again,” he demonstrates the risky game President Trump is playing; in “Russia Will Surely Interfere with Our 2018 Election — Will We Be Ready?” he reports on Russia’s international meddling, and questions whether the Trump administration is prepared.
Paul Kengor, in “Imagine if Stormy Daniels Were Bill Clinton’s Friend Gennifer Flowers,” writes about the double standards the media apply to friends and enemies; in “Obama’s CIA Director Would Sooner Vacation in North Korea Than at Mar-a-Lago,” he presents John Brennan’s commitment to Communism; in “Let’s Not Forget Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, and the Four-Finger Salute,” he uses the occasion of the death of Charles Manson to highlight a miscarriage of justice; in “Remembering Fidel Castro’s Death,” he details the Communist oppression of Cuba — an island without privately owned boats.
Mark Hendrickson, in “Another Budget Deal Bites the Dust,” recites the history of presidential and congressional failure to curb deficit spending, and concludes that the pressure for increasing federal spending on both parties is irresistible; in “Proposed Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum: President Trump’s First Major Economic Mistake,” he demonstrates why tariffs are counterproductive.
Herbert London, in “Reliving the Lessons of the Free Market in the Trump Era,” credits President Trump’s use of unhindered markets for America’s revival; in “Due Process Circa 2018 Is in Dire Trouble,” in the wake of multiple accusations of sexual harassment and assault, he defends the due process of law.
Michael S. Swisher, in “Bugaboos of the Chattering Class — Populism,” redeems the word “populism” by putting it within a modern contex.
Philip Vander Elst, in “Capitalist Technology Sustained the Failed Economic Experiment of Soviet Communism,” imparts the lesson that Communism and all the various forms of socialism create poverty and misery.
Thomas S. Martin, in “The Amazoning of the University,” shows “a good teacher breathes life into a student.”
Stanley Keehlwetter, in “Billy Graham: My Personal Reflections,” shares memories of the great evangelist.
Gary S. Smith, in “A Tribute to Billy Graham,” highlights Billy Graham’s life and influnce.
David Hein, in “Reinhold Niebuhr’s Irony of American History: Still Vital at 66,” examines a perceptive and enduring message from a giant American intellectual.
Gary Scott Smith, in “Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.” reminds Americans of the passage of a great civil rights leader.
Jigs Gardner, in “Letters from a Conservative Farmer: The Consequences of Class,” remarks on the ways we misunderstand each other.
Jigs Gardner, in “Writers for Conservatives, 70: Tales of Adventure,” reviews the successes and failures of several writers.
1.
It comes in the windows and even through
The walls the second the furnace takes a
Break from heating the home as we have drawn
The curtains and locked the doors but there is
No mitigation of the weight of the
Cold on a winter night in December
In Minnesota even though we passed
The solstice and daylight will get longer
Gradually we face the coldest days
Of the year so it not just tonight that
Is bearing down it’s the burden of our
Knowledge of the months coming and there is
No use in grumbling so I put on my
Thick socks and pile up the heavy blankets.
While walking around
during the daylight only
a little oval
including my mouth eyes and
nose is exposed to the cold.
2.
When I think about the people who were
Airbrushed from the photographs of Joseph
Stalin because they fell in disfavor
With the Soviet Union I wonder
Whether the brush dispersed a very fine
Spray of paint or whether in fact color
Was brushed over the person erasing
His personage and I am sure that the
Work was meticulous and demanded
Dexterity — and then I think about
The millions of people who disappeared
Who were airbrushed from the earth in brutal
Fashion erasing their existence in
The service of an ideology.
The reality
is people are capable
of such monstrous
evil while professing the
utmost benevolence.
3.
I was driving through Stillwater doing
A chore turning on familiar streets and
I noticed the sun appearing with a
Right turn and with a left turn there was
The early morning moon — and I was in my
Working mind following the streets and the
Turns of the city but the sun and moon
Kept popping up around a corner and
Seemed to follow me — the moon was looming
White but yesterday it was yellow in
The dark — and there in a window was the
Lively reflection of the sun shining
Gold and my eyes didn’t hurt in lingering
Over the sight — and then I was driving.
The sun and moon are
unearthly beauty
everyone can see —
they enliven the
sky everyday.
4.
The Accident
As winter is dragging on and darkness
Is dominating morning and evening
I became frustrated being stuck in
The little rooms within my little house
So I was blasé this morning in the
Bathroom when I opened the cabinet
And the trimmer fell out into the sink
And I didn’t care and I didn’t think
Until I trimmed off half my beard and I
Realized the fall had changed the settings
And then what could I do but shave the rest
Even though I was watching the daily
Progression of my winter beard and now
I have to begin all over again.
Or maybe not but
I will certainly
go to a barber
to get a haircut
and restore balance.
5.
I gaze at the perpetrator in the
Mirror every morning and start with the
Left side of my chin with downward strokes and
Then I go under my nose and it does
Become apparent when it’s time to change
The razor because a dull blade will drag
Above my lip were I am sensitive —
I could be thinking about politics
Or the Academy Awards — while on
My right side next to my ear I begin
Stroking down against the grain to my neck
Until I reach my chin and when finished
I like to put the razor down and with
My fingers I like to feel smoothiness.
I’ve just discovered
an oddity that’s
taken forever
to notice — my right
side is hairier.
Our Mission Is to Reawaken the Genuine American Spirit . . .
Endless Revolution
Barry MacDonald — Editorial
The Vietnam War was a turning point in American history after which it became fashionable to be unpatriotic. Today the Left has almost succeeded in aligning patriotism with racism and bigotry.
For most of our history Americans looked up to symbols of national greatness. Achievements like the Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan, the landing on the moon, were sources of pride. The Hoover Dam, the Empire State Building, and the California Aqueduct were national monuments just as much as the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and Mount Rushmore.
Evel Knievel was self-destructive, reckless, boastful, and garish, but he was also uniquely courageous in a way that evoked American heroism. Americans admired him as they might have admired the daring of the frontiersmen of the 19th century. He was wild, undaunted, and uncontrollable. Evel Knievel today would be disparaged for his “toxic masculinity” and his “whiteness.”
Perhaps Donald Trump trumps exhibits a bit of Evel Knievel’s allure.
What does a nation look like once its self-confidence and pride is lost? Once the ideal of American goodness has been trashed, what remains of its morale, and where do we find a sense of civic virtue?
Our university campuses are beginning to look like Maoist schools of fanaticism, where deviation from leftist orthodoxy is put down with violence.
America’s genius at Google, Facebook, and Twitter is allied with leftist ideology and is censoring conservative opinion. The technological magic that is doing so much in freeing people from drudgery is also being used for political advantage.
The most powerful bureaucracies in Washington D.C. — the IRS, the Justice Department, the FBI, the NSA, and the State Department — are behaving as if they are accountable to no one. They are secretive. They stonewall congressional oversight. Attorney General Eric Holder was held in Contempt of Congress to no avail.
There are questions whether the Justice Department, the FBI, and the NSA were used by the Obama Administration to spy on the Trump campaign, and after the election, to undermine the legitimacy of the Trump Administration. If the Justice Department has been turned into a political weapon, whom can we trust to uphold Justice?
The Attorney General of California, Xavier Becerra, recently threatened that if California businesses follow federal immigration law they would be prosecuted. It has been reported that the California government will give illegal immigrants drivers’ licenses, and at the same time, register them to vote.
California is rebelling against the laws of the United States. If there is an election in California in which illegal immigrants vote — as a result of California’s rebellion — then the representatives and senators from California should not be seated in Congress, and all the votes of Californians for the presidency should be thrown out.
It is important to understand what motivates the Left. As David Horowitz writes — the issue is not the issue. The Left is always aiming for a goal beyond any transitory issue. The furious energy and accusatory rhetoric of the Left is always seeking to destroy what is. The Left is a battering ram. The goal of the Left is revolution.
The Left does not really care about gay or transgender people. The Left is using gay and transgender people as tools to destroy the traditional family, because a healthy American family is a powerful transmitter of traditional American values.
Abortion is being used, in part, as a tool to minimize the traditional role of fatherhood. If only the mother may choose whether to have an abortion, then the father’s responsibility in raising children is diminished. Men need to be civilized by assuming the responsibilities of fatherhood. If men don’t become reliable husbands and fathers they lose an important part of their humanity.
Also, the Left does not really care about the impoverished people migrating to America. They pretend to be warriors for social justice, but in truth the Left needs a new base of dependant and reliable voters to replace the working class voters they have betrayed with their radical ideology.
The great apostle of Leftism, Saul Alinsky, wrote in Rules for Radicals, that his mission was to take power from the powerful and give it to the powerless. And when those who were previously powerless are comfortable and privileged, Alinsky’s enduring mission remained — to bring them down in turn. There is never an end to the revolution.
How do we combat the Left? Where is America’s strength? It is in the rule of law, and in impartial justice. It is in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is in our federal system of government, balanced with states’ rights. It is in the separation of powers. It is in the careful assimilation of immigrants. It is in the preservation of the free market, giving opportunity for enterprise and individual initiative. It is in healthy American families. And most of all, it is in our belief in God. *
The following is a summary of the February/March 2018 issue of The St. Croix Review:
Barry MacDonald, in “Endless Revolution,” exposes the evil nature of Left, and he points to the enduring strength of America.
Allan C. Brownfeld, in “The Deaths in the Washington Train Crash: Was Corporate Money in Politics the Real Culprit?” shows that campaign donations are more important than public safety to some politicians and he names the politicians involved; in “Ken Burns’ Vietnam — and the Vietnam War I Remember,” he relates how the Vietnam War taught him to embrace skepticism and constitutional safeguards; in “Constant Combat Without a Congressional Resolution — Not What the Constitution Had in Mind,” he makes a neglected conservative argument that the power to declare war properly belongs to Congress.
Herbert London, in “Trump’s National Security Strategy Shows He Is Willing to Champion American Values Around the World,” writes that President Trump’s sees China and Russia as disruptive and rival forces to the U.S., but they are not necessarily enemies; in “Congress Is Finally Pulling Funding from Palestinian ‘Pay-to-Slay’” he describes a bill in Congress that reduces funding for Palestinians until Palestinian officials stop subsidizing terrorist killings; in “Putin Seeks to Drive a Wedge Between the U.S. and Egypt,” he sees the Russians gaining influence in Egypt due to uncertain American commitment.
Mark Hendrickson, in “President Trump: His First-Year Economic Record,” gives the President a B-plus; in “The Three Most Economically Significant Stories of 2017,” he demonstrates the humanity of a society based on choice and the free market, and he points out the brutality of socialist economics; in “The Cynical, Perhaps Sinister, Side of Bitcoin,” he applies common sense, and a trained economic perspective, to the buying and selling of Bitcoin.
Paul Kengor, in “Winston Churchill’s Darkest Hour,” reviews the recent movie and a pivotal point in history.
Michael S. Swisher, in “Do Cuts in Tax Rates Cause Deficits?” looks at rates of federal taxation, deficits, and spending; in “Is Trump Really a Protectionist?” he shows how Trump is using leverage to America’s benefit; in “New York Still Above Water!” he examines the art of “apocalyptic prophecy.”
Philip Vander Elst, in “The Communist Holocaust and Its Lessons for the 21st Century,” reveals the hideous nature and the monstrous crimes of Communism.
David S. Hogsette, in “Thoughtful and Sincere Critiques of the Nashville Statement: Honoring God or Fearing Man?” comments on The Nashville Statement, which is a new doctrinal statement composed by a coalition of Christians on the subject of human sexuality.
David Hein, in “Frederic Manning’s Her Privates We: a Mystery of the Great War,” reviews a classic novel of the First World War.
Ray Sinneck, in “Racy Times at the University,” offers a facinorous perspective on current events at American universities.
Jigs Gardner, in “Letters from a Conservative Farmer: Thanksgiving Reflections,” considers the passing generations in America.
Jigs Gardner, in “Writers for Conservatives, 69: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45,” reviews a comprehensive and masterful history of the Asian half of World War II, written by Max Hastings.