The Spring CRB is online and in the mail. Dear Subscriber: “The decrees of mayors, governors, and public health officers are being treated as laws, though no legislatures have enacted them, nor courts reviewed them. And the longer this emergency goes on, the larger the question of its enforcement will loom. How much personal liberty, due process of law, freedom of association and movement, and constitutional restraint on government are Americans prepared to renounce, or defer, in this moment?” Claremont Review of Books Editor, Charles Kesler raises this poignant question in his letter from the editor’s desk for the Spring Issue, which subscribers can expect in their mailboxes soon! Released on Monday – and free online for the first time – Charles Kesler and Mark Helprin each address different troubling aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a complement to these pieces, David Goldman outlines the challenges China poses to American greatness and asks: “Can America remain the world’s most powerful, productive, and innovative country?” In other essays, William Voegeli shows how multiculturalism is incompatible with republican government, Christopher Caldwell looks at the way dual citizenship undermines our constitutional rights, David Azerrad explains what social justice warriors are really up to, and Angelo Codevilla explores what fascism meant before it was an overused political epithet. Our reviews in this issue feature discussions by Amy Wax on meritocracy and its discontents, Joseph Bessette on presidential rhetoric in the Age of Trump, Martha Bayles on a superb new Clarence Thomas documentary, and much more. As you know, to celebrate our 20th anniversary of publishing, we have launched a new fully redesigned and updated CRB website. Subscribers can create a new online account at claremontreviewofbooks.com/register. If you experience any issues, please contact our dedicated support team for assistance at 833-964-0076 or [email protected]. Not a subscriber? Consider signing up here today to start receiving all future issues in the mail and online! We hope you find the Claremont Review of Books to be one of the most intelligent and engaging periodicals in America. We intend it to be an indispensable resource in the battle of ideas shaping our politics. On behalf of the editors, enjoy. Yours cordially, Editor Claremont Review of Books An Abundance of Caution How much liberty are Americans prepared to renounce, or defer, in this moment? By: Charles Kesler "Of all our pandemic clichés, the most insidious is “out of an abundance of caution.” This is the excuse for everything from journalists “reporting” from their living room, to state and local governments shutting down the “non-essential” private economy. Funny how so many government jobs turn out to be essential. A modicum of caution doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s abundance or nothing." Read More The Original Fascist From movement to epithet By: Angelo M. Codevilla "This essay looks behind fighting words to fascism’s reality. Although Benito Mussolini, fascism’s artificer and personifier, died discredited in 1945, fascism’s socio-political paradigm, the administrative state, is well-nigh universal in our time. And as the European and American ruling class adopted Communism’s intellectual categories and political language, the adjective “fascist” became a weapon in its arsenal." Read More The Mind of the Moralist Samuel Johnson, first among equals. By: Algis Valiunas "In his day Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) was renowned as the most distinguished English writer of the time, and in our day the 18th century in English literature is customarily spoken of as the Age of Johnson. Yet when one considers the literary forms most esteemed today—novels, poems, plays—his achievement is notably underwhelming. He wrote only one novella, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia—basically a moralizing tract that takes a dim view of the human condition, with stick figures advancing the argument." Read More Pledging Allegiance Dual citizenship, dual loyalty, and inequality. By: Christopher Caldwell "Almost every weekday in school auditoriums, city office buildings, and county courthouses across the land, thousands of recent immigrants—hailing from every nation, belonging to every race and creed, happily waving little American flags—perform their first act as citizens of the United States by perjuring themselves in front of its authorities. 'I hereby declare, on oath,' they recite, 'that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.'" Read More The Legacy of Wounded Knee Burying the myth of the noble savage. By: Christopher Flannery "What’s in a name? Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, published 50 years ago, is still a widely read book on the American Indians. The title of the book comes from the last line of Stephen Vincent Benét’s poem, 'American Names,' published in the Yale Review in 1927, about someone who finds his ancestral European attachments fading as his native American attachments grow." Read More The Social Justice Endgame What do social justice warriors want? By: David Azerrad "To the casual observer, the professed goals of contemporary identity politics appear unassailably virtuous. Who, after all, wouldn’t want to build a more inclusive democracy? How could anyone oppose granting rights to the oppressed, the marginalized, and the stigmatized? As a student once asked me incredulously, 'Isn’t it better to love than to hate?' The appeal of identity politics is further reinforced by its powerful morality tale. After confronting us with the injustices visited upon women, black people, homosexuals, and any number of other victimized groups, social justice arbiters then claim for themselves..." Read More The Chinese Challenge America has never faced such an adversary. By: David Goldman "Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Over the past decade America has been in denial about China’s emergence as a global power. We couldn’t believe a country that for generations was a byword for poverty could compete with us. With Donald Trump’s election in 2016 we’ve transitioned to anger. As matters stand, we’ll be bargaining before long." Read More War for the West What if the Persians had defeated the Greeks? By: Joseph Epstein "Of all the many counterfactuals, those “what-ifs” posed by history, perhaps the most arresting, if only because the most sweeping, asks: what if the Persians had defeated the Greeks in the Greco-Persian War of 490–479 B.C.? Had this happened, there might have been no Plato, no Aristotle, no Roman Empire, no Christianity, no Western Civilization. A Great King, a lineal descendant of Darius, might still rule the world. All might worship the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda, with men going about in turbans, women remaining at home or in harems. But that, as every counterfactual invariably ends—generally accompanied by a sigh of relief—didn’t happen." Read More Republics, Extended and Multicultural Not all majorities are created equal. By: William Voegeli "At the height of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which he had played a crucial but involuntary role, Rodney King asked, '[C]an we all get along?' Taken at face value, King’s question is about society: can it—can we—evince the respect and cohesion that preclude police brutality, looting, and street violence? But it’s also a political question, particularly urgent for republics, where governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Although self-government can flourish among a populace showing the restraint King pleaded for, it has little chance to succeed in its absence." Read More About___Magazine___Fellowships___CCJ___Events___Donate The mission of the Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. ‌ ‌ ‌ The Claremont Institute | 1317 W Foothill Blvd #120, Upland, CA 91786 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!