The Citizen-Farmer
Jonathan Kay's essay on Victor Davis Hanson ("The Sage of Fresno," March 14) tells a great story. It was very interesting to read how an unpretentious man manages to see the value in respecting past virtues the way others see the chance to exploit future opportunities. Hanson reminds us that where we go in life is often not as important as where we came from. Our country could learn a lot from this simple, yet brilliant, man, if only we cared enough.
Gerard C. Renaud
Danielson, CT
I must admit to feeling a strong sense of déjà vu while reading Jonathan Kay's article on Victor Davis Hanson. Growing up in rural Illinois, I too have seen the flight from unsustainable family farms and urban metastases (such as strip malls and apartment complexes).
Hanson suffers the struggle of the idealist railing at both the relativist and the death of our great melting pot. He weathers it well and fights the good fight. Hanson longs for the simpler times when there were boundaries on cultural and moral issues. Now we need a scorecard to track the latest constitutional revision of Justice Kennedy.
Richard Eaton
Herrin, IL
The Masculine Feminist
Harvey Mansfield does a masterful job of exposing feminists' inconsistencies and questionable tactics ("Fear and Intimidation at Harvard," March 7). For some, these tactics just become automatic. I once taught a college course using a text whose author insisted on putting "they" and "their" in place of singular impersonal pronouns because he regarded the use of the masculine pronoun in impersonal contexts as "pernicious."
Accordingly, he used the plural pronoun throughout his text--even when strict grammar rules required a singular--as if all uses of the masculine pronoun in impersonal contexts were wicked, and the simple expedient of alternating "he" and "his" with "she" and "hers" did not exist.
Steven M. Sanders
Franklin, MA
The Hard Cell
Irwin M. Stelzer's "The Axis of Oil" (Feb. 7) nicely illuminates the Chinese and Russian attempts to obtain and control much of the world's petroleum supply.
But could we not out-maneuver these countries by using our native ingenuity and technical know-how? We have presently in production viable fuel-cell autos--and, according to Scientific American, some 60 DaimlerChrysler hydrogen vehicles are ready for testing worldwide. Honda, Ford, and many other carmakers are planning to have such vehicles on our highways soon. As Stelzer is aware, these vehicles use no gasoline.
If we are really serious about breaking the petroleum stranglehold other countries have on us, President Bush could create a federal Hydrogen Fuel Cell Commission. Its major purpose would be to appropriate funds to (1) assist car companies in solving remaining technical problems, and (2) simultaneously establish an adequate number of hydrogen fuel stations in the United States to service these vehicles. Most important, this commission should have the power to really push fuel-cell development. With action we would shortly be in a position to turn the tables on the oil-rich countries we have to deal with at present.
I believe the above could be accomplished within ten years. And at more than $50 per barrel of oil, isn't it time we attacked a problem that could cause great damage to our economy?
C.K. O'Meara
Green Valley, AZ
Dirty Money
What moral principle induced The Weekly Standard to run a full-page ad by NARAL Pro-Choice America (Feb. 28)? Was it the emperor Vespasian's thought, pecunia non olet, ("money doesn't stink")? The lack of available birth control cannot explain one million-plus abortions every year. Mass resort to abortion is the symptom of a widespread moral disorder--and more contraceptives will do little to correct it.
Nancy Keenan at least has the kindness to call her opponents pro-life, but her side is "pro-choice" only with respect to the choice to kill the unborn. Her proposal is on the level of proposing to end racism by sending all Americans of African ancestry back to Africa.
Not all money stinks, but NARAL money does. Shame on The Weekly Standard for taking it.
Harold O.J. Brown
Charlotte, NC