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THE LIGHTHOUSE
"Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..."
Vol. 6, Issue 14
April 5, 2004
Welcome to THE LIGHTHOUSE, the weekly e-mail newsletter of the
Independent Institute, the non-politicized public-policy research
organization. Edited by Carl P. Close, THE LIGHTHOUSE provides you
with updates of the Institute's current research, publications,
events and media programs, plus commentary on current affairs.
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IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
1. Failure to Avert 9/11 Terrorism Merits More Apologies
2. The Pledge of Allegiance's Hidden History
3. THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW -- Spring 2004 Issue Now Available
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FAILURE TO AVERT 9/11 TERRORISM MERITS MORE APOLOGIES
Former counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke's recent public
apology for the government's failure to avert the September 11th
terrorist attacks was as surprising as it was dramatic. Not
surprisingly, although Clark's mea culpa won him a sympathetic
audience for his tales of bureaucratic in-fighting and White House
paralysis, few officials seem eager to follow his lead.
For example, when asked if he had failed in the lead-up to the 9/11
attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's response was "the
rambling bureaucratic defense that his department was concerned with
only combating external threats, not terrorists who infiltrate the
country and attack it from within," writes Ivan Eland, director of
the Independent Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty, in his latest
op-ed.
"However, published reports indicate that prior to September 11, the
Department of Defense intercepted message traffic that would have
provided some warning of the attacks if it had been translated
promptly. That episode is one of the most damning indictments of
government failure prior to September 11."
Similarly, the White House has failed to explain (and take
responsibility for) the U.S.'s Middle East policies that have created
a climate conducive to the recruitment of anti-American terrorists,
Eland argues.
Notwithstanding President Bush's statements to contrary, "Osama bin
Laden, in his writings and media statements, does not fulminate
against the decadent American culture, high technology or political
and economic freedoms. He is primarily angry at U.S. support for
corrupt dictators in Islamic nations and U.S. meddling in the Middle
East," writes Eland.
"In the short-term, Al Qaeda's methods are heinous, and it must be
neutralized. In the long-term, the U.S. government should engage in
quiet introspection about whether its policies overseas -- that is,
unnecessary military interventions, such as the invasion of Iraq --
are fanning the flaming anti-U.S. hatred in much of the Islamic world
that ultimately endangers U.S. citizens."
See "Being the Government Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry," by
Ivan Eland (3/30/04)
http://www.independent.org/tii/news/040330Eland.html
Center on Peace & Liberty
http://www.independent.org/copal/
OnPower.org -- U. S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East
http://www.onpower.org/foreign_regional_Mideast.html
PUTTING "DEFENSE" BACK INTO U.S. DEFENSE POLICY: Rethinking U.S.
Security in the Post-Cold War World, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/tii/catalog/cat_putting_defense.html
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THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE'S HIDDEN HISTORY
The United States -- perhaps the country best known for upholding the
right of free speech and freedom of conscience -- is one of only two
countries to have a pledge of allegiance. (The other is a former U.S.
possession, conquered during the Spanish-American War in 1902, the
Philippines.)
This little-known fact, and several others, have helped cloud some of
the issues surrounding debate about the place of the Pledge of
Allegiance in America's public schools, according to William Watkins,
research fellow at the Independent Institute and author of the new
book, RECLAIMING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: The Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions and Their Legacy.
"Few Americans know that Francis Bellamy, a Christian socialist and
extreme Nationalist, drafted the Pledge of Allegiance," writes
Watkins in a new op-ed. "Francis was the cousin of Edward Bellamy,
author of the futuristic novel LOOKING BACKWARD, which depicted a
utopian, socialist Boston in the year 2000. The book gave rise to a
Bostonian socialist movement known as 'Nationalism.' A main
objective of the Bostonian Nationalists was for the federal
government to seize the means of production of the American economy."
The plot thickens.
"[Francis] Bellamy went on to work for YOUTH'S COMPANION, a national
magazine with a circulation of approximately 500,000. The magazine
launched a campaign to sell American flags to the public schools, and
by 1892 had sold 26,000. In a brilliant marketing ploy, the
magazine's editors concocted a plan to sell even more flags in
connection with the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus'
discovery of the New World.... In the program for the celebration,
Bellamy included a pledge: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the
Republic for which it stands -- one nation indivisible -- with
liberty and justice for all."
Later, the pledge was changed to reflect concerns over immigration in
the 1920s and "godless communism" in the 1950s.
Although no solution to the Pledge debate will satisfy everyone,
Watkins proposes an idea that might come close.
"If we want to teach children about this country's principles, why
not teach them about the American Revolution, the Constitution, and
the Bill of Rights? Instead, each day they mindlessly pledge
obedience to a flag -- the most visible symbol of governmental
authority. Thomas Jefferson once reminded his countrymen that such
blind confidence in government "is every where the parent of
despotism; free government is founded on jealousy and not in
confidence."
"The ritual of schoolchildren saying the Pledge is unbecoming for a
nation of free people. Jealousy of liberty -- in the face of
government claims to power -- is a civic virtue, and one that our
nation's founders urged us not to forget. After 112 years, it is time
that we rethink our use of Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance," Watkins
concludes.
See "Rethinking the Pledge of Allegiance," by William J. Watkins
(4/5/04)
http://www.independent.org/tii/news/040405Watkins.html
For a summary of RECLAIMING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: The Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy, by William J. Watkins Jr., see
http://www.independent.org/books/brief_reclaiming.html
To order a copy, see
http://www.independent.org/tii/catalog/cat_reclaiming.html
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THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW -- Spring 2004 Issue Now Available
We are pleased to announce the publication of the Spring 2004 issue
of THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW: A Journal of Political Economy (edited by
Robert Higgs), the peer-reviewed, 160-page quarterly from The
Independent Institute.
This issue addresses such questions as:
* Is there really a fatherhood crisis?
* How far-sighted was Senator Robert Taft's non-interventionist
foreign-policy vision?
* How can private-property rights resolve conflicts over offshore land use?
* How does the news media's reliance on government officials affect
the growth of government?
* What advantages would individual unemployment accounts have over
the current system of unemployment insurance?
* How did Sovietologists' misunderstanding of Marx contribute to
their misunderstanding of the Soviet economy?
* How would market mechanisms deal with problems resulting from global warming?
* What was the greatest contribution of Robert Nozick's ANARCHY,
STATE, AND UTOPIA?
* How does the enforcement power of the Environmental Protection
Agency undermine the rule of law?
* What error is shared by regulations requiring "open access" in
electricity, telephony, broadband, cable television, and computer
software?
* What are the most common misconceptions about illicit drugs?
* What can economic sociology teach us about capitalist societies?
Books reviewed:
* ON NOZICK, by Edward Feser
* OUT OF BOUNDS, OUT OF CONTROL: Regulatory Enforcement at the EPA,
by James V. DeLong
* WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE: Open Access and the Rise of Infrastructure
Socialism, by Adam Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.
* SAYING YES: In Defense of Drug Use, by Jacob Sullum
* THE ARCHITECTURE OF MARKETS: An Economic Sociology of
Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies, by Neil Fligstein
Contributors:
Stephen Baskerville, Michael T. Hayes, John Brätland, Daniel Sutter,
Lawrence Brunner, Stephen M. Colarelli, Paul Craig Roberts, J. R.
Clark, Dwight R. Lee, Eric Mack, Richard L. Stroup, Stan Liebowitz,
Richard Glen Boire, and Thomas Voss
For a summary and links to selected articles and to all book reviews, see
http://www.independent.org/tii/content/pubs/review/tir84.html
For back issues (entire contents posted after two issues), see
http://www.independent.org/tii/content/pubs/review/back.html
For subscription information, see
http://www.independent.org/tii/content/pubs/review/subs.html
For our Library Subscription Recommendation Form, see
http://independent.org/tii/content/pubs/review/library.html
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THE LIGHTHOUSE, edited by Carl P. Close, is made possible by the
generous contributions of supporters of the Independent Institute. If
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mail to: The Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA
94621-1428. All contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you!
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For previous issues of THE LIGHTHOUSE, see
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/Lighthouse.html.
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Institute, see
http://www.independent.org/tii/pubs.html.
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
ISSN 1526-173X
Copyright © 2004 The Independent Institute
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Oakland, CA 94621-1428
(510) 632-1366 phone
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