-Caveat Lector- : : ----- Original Message ----- : Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 3:48 PM : Subject: Claremont Institute Precepts: Forgetting the Lesson of the Cold : War? : : : : : : : : The Claremont Institute--PRECEPTS | : | April 27, 1999 : : Visit <http://www.claremont.org> | : | No. 160 : : : : This weekend the United States hosted a celebration of the : : 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. : : There is plenty to celebrate in NATO's history, above all : : its successful 40-year showdown with the Soviet Union. But : : even as the dignitaries and their entourages traversed : : Washington in their limousines and enjoyed their cocktails, : : there were ominous signs, rendered manifest by the war in : : Yugoslavia, that NATO's and the free world's leader has : : forgotten the chief lesson of the Cold War. To wit: an : : overwhelming defense is the surest means to peace. : : : : The extreme cuts in America's defense spending over the six : : years of the Clinton administration were not made in : : secret. Yet many Americans seem surprised that we are : : having to pull aircraft carriers out of strategically : : important areas of the world to conduct an air war against : : a country the size of a medium state, and that in the first : : weeks of that war we nearly depleted our supply of cruise : : missiles and have no more currently in production. : : : : Nor is the problem confined to liberals. Last week, former : : Senator Bob Dole--who unlike President Bill Clinton, : : Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and National : : Security Advisor Sandy Berger, is not a veteran of the : : radical anti-defense spending McGovern campaign of 1972-- : : questioned the consistency of congressional leaders who : : want to beef up America's defense budget, and yet who are : : less than enthusiastic about the war in Yugoslavia. : : "What do they want more defense funding for," Dole asked, : : "if they don't want to use it?" : : : : The fact that even this old Cold War patriot has forgotten : : the common sense answer to his own question--namely, : : "Defense"--calls to mind Winston Churchill's semi-serious : : dictum: "Unteachable from infancy to tomb--there is the : : first and main characteristic of mankind." : : : : Many of our closest friends, good people with whom we have : : been closely allied on similar issues in the past, are : : "whole-hog" supporters of the current war. They make two : : arguments. The first is that we must see this war through : : at all costs, so that our adversaries will respect us. This : : would make more sense if we were fighting with clear : : objectives, in a mood of assertiveness, and from a real : : condition of strength. As it is, we are fighting in half : : steps, our ends unclear, and running out of weapons. Even : : if we see this through, if that is still possible given how : : we began, the spectacle is not likely to impress Russia, : : China, North Korea, or Iraq. : : : : The second argument for the war is humanitarian. In this : : regard, I recommend a fine article in the May 8 issue of : : _National Review_ by Mark Helprin, entitled "A Fog That : : Descends From Above." It makes a strong case that the : : forced and murderous mass emigration of Kosovar Albanians : : over the last month has been at least as much a result of, : : as a justification for, the war. : : : : This much seems clear: Our priority today should be to arm : : the United States to an awesome level, and to build a : : national missile defense. We should do these things : : primarily to make sure that the people of this country, and : : others to whom we have given our pledge, may be safe and : : secure in their lives and liberty. Then, and only then, : : should we use our strength to spread the American message : : of freedom and justice. : : : : Sincerely, : : Larry P. Arnn : : President, The Claremont Institute : : : : : : ------------------------------------------------------------------------- : : Copyright (c) 1999 The Claremont Institute : : : : To subscribe to Precepts, go to: http://www.claremont.org/subscrib.cfm , : or e-mail us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . : : To be removed from this list, go to : : http://www.claremont.org/remove_public.cfm , or e-mail us at : [EMAIL PROTECTED] . : : For general correspondence or additional information about the Claremont : Institute, e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] , or visit our website at : : http://www.claremont.org . : : Changing your e-mail address? Please let us know at : [EMAIL PROTECTED] . : : For press inquiries, contact Nazalee Topalian at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (909) : 621-6825. : : : : The mission of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship : : and Political Philosophy is to restore the principles of the American : : Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. : : : : The Claremont Institute | 250 West First Street | Suite 330 | Claremont, : : CA 91711 | Phone (909) 621-6825 | Fax (909) 626-8724 : : : ~~~~~~~~~~~~ : : From SalonMagazine.CoM : http://www.salon1999.com/weekly/interview960715.html : : M A R K H E L P R I N : -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- : ---- : REWRITING BOB DOLE : : Novelist Mark Helprin talks about his fascination with war and death, his : exile from the liberal literary establishment, and his greatest writing : challenge -- making flatlander Bob into a figure of mythical stature. : By MARK SCHAPIRO : : Illustration by : Zach Trenholm : : Mark Helprin is more than just an accomplished novelist and sometime : conservative commentator. He's also a would-be kingmaker. The novelist has : been besieged by the press ever since it was revealed that he authored Bob : Dole's Senate retirement speech -- an unusually lyrical oration by the : Kansas solon's dry standards. Helprin's soaring words were widely credited : with at least temporarily recharging Dole's languishing presidential : campaign. : : After laboring unsuccessfully for an interview with the feted speechwriter, : one recent afternoon I received a mysterious phone call. The caller : challenged me to guess his identity, providing me with a series of obscure : clues: he was calling from "the state with the second largest park service, : after Alaska;" he lived in "the north of that state;" he was sitting at a : "polished wooden desk with a clutter of papers in an office with rosewood : panels;" he was "looking out the window onto a farm field of alfalfa." I : finally realized that I was talking to none other than the elusive Mark : Helprin himself. My acumen was rewarded with a nearly hour-long interview, : as the novelist sat in his rosewood-paneled office in the farmhouse in : upstate New York where he lives with his wife and two children. : : Helprin's participation in the Dole campaign did not come as a political : shock. He has been a conservative contributor to the Wall Street Journal's : opinion page for more than a decade. It was one such column published in : February -- in which he argued that Dole's leadership in the Senate was : hampered by the Republican bomb-throwers in the House -- that brought him to : Dole's attention. : : As a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute, a right-wing think tank based in : Indianapolis, Helprin promotes an almost aesthetic ideal of rugged : individualism and a high-minded aversion to the sloppy realities of the : welfare state. He will continue to sound these themes in a new online : conservative magazine being launched by former Delaware Governor Pierre : ("Pete") du Pont. : : Helprin is also the author of what some critics regard as among the most : magical works in contemporary fiction -- which he acknowledges Dole has not : read ("Elizabeth maybe, but not Dole"). "Ellis Island and other Stories" was : nominated for a National Book Award. His three subsequent novels, "A : Winter's Tale," "A Soldier of the Great War" and "Memoir from Antproof : Case," are books of ambitious sweep and complicated entanglements worthy of : Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His outsized characters retain a bizarrely mystical, : purist perspective, willing to throw everything overboard in pursuit of : their beliefs. Sound familiar? : : Helprin hankers for the rough-and-tumble of political campaigning; he : suggested that I consult "A Winter's Tale" for the type of "campaign that I : would love to run." That book conjures up a mayoral campaign in New York : City in which an eccentric Praeger de Pinto wages a challenge against the : machine candidate, referred to simply as the Ermine Mayor. Helprin writes: : "Where most politicians, including the Ermine Mayor, were quick to promise : things they would never deliver, such as clean streets or the absence of : crime, Praeger's approach was different... He never talked about garbage, : electricity or police. He only talked about winter, horses and the : countryside. He spoke almost hypnotically about love, loyalty and : esthetics... He promised them love affairs and sleigh races, cross-country : skiiing on the main thoroughfares, and the transfixing blizzards that howled : outside and made the heart dance." : : Helprin concludes the passage with an observation as applicable to current : American politics as it was to his literary invention: "They thought, or so : it was generally stated at the time, that if they were going to be lied to, : they might as well pick the liar who did it best." : : Though in real life Helprin's preferred candidate, not unlike his opponent, : already sounds more like the promise-a minute Ermine Mayor than the quixotic : Praeger, Helprin has every intention of continuing his unpaid work for the : Dole campaign. In fact, he revealed that he has already sent a draft : acceptance speech for Dole to deliver at his Republican coronation next : month -- perhaps the candidate's last chance to narrow the double-digit gap : between himself and President Clinton. Helprin refused to provide any : details of the speech, saying that it could be changed, or rejected : altogether -- an unlikely prospect given the success of his previous foray : into speechwriting. : : In our conversation, Helprin was alternately playful and resentful of being : "misunderstood" -- and at times reviled -- by the "liberal" literary : establishment. Claiming that his phone has been ringing 12 hours a day since : Dole let slip who authored his resignation opus, Helprin insisted that I : would be permitted only five questions, which he ticked off one by one as we : spoke. : -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- : ---- : In "Memoir from Antproof Case" and "A Soldier of the Great War," your : protagonists undergo dramatic wartime experiences that shape the course of : their lives. In the speech you wrote for Dole, you elevated his wartime : experience into an almost religious metaphor of transcendence and : redemption. Why does war have such literary and political resonance for you? : : I write about war heroes because they are ever at risk of their lives. The : interest of the group comes ahead of your own personal experience. This is : important to politics, as well as in literature. If you think too much of : yourself, and about preserving yourself, you don't have the spark of life. : It is the same thing from a literary point of view. The liveliness of : character and personality comes from one's commitment to the world. : Something that puts you at the door of death can do that. : : I once had that experience. I was cross-country skiing down a glacier on Mt. : Rainier, jumping crevasses. I was sailing over those crevasses one after : another. I was perhaps a little out of it, maybe there was not enough oxygen : in my blood cells. I sailed over one patch of snow and fell into a deep : crevasse. I tumbled in, and was showered with snow and ice crystals. I can : still feel the taste of them as they touched my lips. It looked to be 600 : feet down. I thought I was going to die. I was in ecstasy. It was a : wonderful feeling. Fortunately I caught myself on my ski poles, and I didn't : die. It was also a wonderful feeling to survive. That is the stuff of life. : Everyone faces death. In literature, you just shorten the time. When we : exaggerate that, in literature as in politics, we make a metaphor of it, it : has great power. : : Is this idea of facing down death the root of your support for Dole? : : The best way to encapsulate my attraction to Dole is that I admire the man's : courage, his fortitude, though I may not agree with all his political : positions. When we vote for president, we're not just voting on his : political positions. Something could happen you cannot foresee to change : those. The only way to judge is on the character of the man. We must know : what the man is. : : There's a far stronger tradition of literary engagement in politics in Latin : America and Europe than there is in the United States. Where do you see : yourself in that tradition? : : There is a long and honorable tradition of writers' involvement in politics : and political speechwriting. Look at history: Melville was awarded with a : position as Customs House inspector; Hawthorne was American consul to : Liverpool; Washington Irving was U.S. ambassador to Spain. They did : political scutwork, and were rewarded. Walt Whitman -- do you know why he : wrote "Leaves of Grass"? He was working as an editor at the Brooklyn Eagle : and was fired for writing an editorial in support of Martin van Buren for : President. He wrote "Leaves of Grass" because he was out of a job and had to : earn some money. : : Many people over the past few months have accused me of stooping to : politics. But their objection is that it is the the "wrong" politics. They : lionize Vaclav Havel, Mario Vargas Llosa -- they're okay as long as their : politics are okay. : : You're suggesting that you've suffered in this regard because you are a : conservative. Has it had any effect on how people now perceive your fiction? : : Though I can't prove them, I hear anecdotal reports. I spoke to someone in a : reading group who told me that someone said they wouldn't stay in the group : if they read me. She allegedly called me a "right-wing twerp." I don't mind : the "right-wing," but "twerp," I don't like that. I've heard reports of : bookstores that won't sell my books. Look at the history of my books. I : wrote "Ellis Island" in the early 1980s. It received the Penn-Faulkner : Award, was awarded a Guggenheim, the Prix de Rome, nominated for a National : Book Award. Then Christopher Buckley wrote a piece in the Sunday New York : Times saying that the Right now has its own reputable writer of belle : lettres. There's not been a single nomination since. I'm not saying that's : the reason, but it may have something to do with it. Whatever happens, I : don't give a damn. : : According to your official biography, you served in the Israeli Air Force; : you did a stint in the British merchant marine; you grew up in Jamaica. But : you've been accused, in the New York Times Magazine and most recently in The : New Republic, of blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction in : describing your own life. : : I cannot tell a lie. Except once or twice in my life. There was a character : assassination piece about me in the New York Times Magazine (by the novelist : Paul Alexander), in which they tried to show I wasn't straight with : interviewers. This guy, he came to my house, I spent hours with him. He : didn't believe I was in the British merchant marine; that I was almost : killed in Jamaica by a Pakistani immigrant. He was such an idiot. I was in : the British merchant Navy in 1967. Because I couldn't show him crew records, : he said I was making it up. Later I found the crew records in a warehouse in : Newfoundland, and published them in the Paris Review. : : And the truth is that I was in the Israeli Air Force in the late 1970s. I : became an Israeli citizen, served in a combat unit, I went on dozens of : patrols at the Lebanese border. Counter-infiltration it was called. But I : never ran into anybody, I never said I did. I was never in combat, but I was : at the risk of it. One of the stories in "Ellis Island" came out of that : experience: 'The Jew of Persia," based on a guy I met when we were stuck on : the top of a mountain in a snowstorm. : : I'll admit to making up two stories. On a college radio station I made up a : story that I was a millionaire, an assistant to an African dictator who : stole diamonds. But it was a good story. And I made up a story once about my : family, growing up. I said we'd all sit around the dinner table, and my : father would command us to tell him a good story. My father saw that and got : angry. : : I keep a foot in both boats, truth and fiction. And you know what they say : about keeping a foot in both boats... : : -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- : ---- : : Mark Schapiro is a New York-based writer and is a regular contributor to : Salon. : : ~~~~~~~~~~~~ : A<>E<>R : : The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking : new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled : one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, : German Writer (1759-1805) : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material : is distributed without charge or profit to those who have : expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information : for non-profit research and educational purposes only. : DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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