THE SPEECH MAUREEN DOWD HATED Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a bracing lecture last week at the annual American Enterprise Institute dinner. The recipient of the think tank’s prestigious Francis Boyer award, Thomas delighted conservative Washington with his remarks and appalled Maureen Dowd, who called the address “self-pitying,” “self-aggrandizing,” and “bellicose” in her New York Times column the next day. From the paper that thinks the only good conservatives are the ones who lose graciously, that counts as high praise, so here are some excerpts: *** It goes without saying that we must participate in the affairs of our country if we think they are important and have an impact on our lives. But how are we to do that? In what manner should we participate? Today, there is much talk about moderation….I do not believe that one should fight over things that don’t really matter. But what about those things that do matter? It is not comforting to think that the natural tendency inside us is to settle for the bottom, or even the middle of the stream. This tendency, in large part, results from an overemphasis on civility. None of us should be uncivil in our manner as we debate issues of consequence. No matter how difficult it is, good manners should be routine. However, in the effort to be civil in conduct, many who know better actually dilute firmly held views to avoid appearing “judgmental.” They curb their tongues not only in form but also in substance. The insistence on civility in the form of our debates has the perverse effect of cannibalizing our principles, the very essence of a civil society. That is why civility cannot be the governing principle of citizenship or leadership. As Gertrude Himmelfarb observed in her book One Nation, Two Cultures, “To reduce citizenship to the modern idea of civility, the good-neighbor idea, is to belittle not only the political role of the citizen but also the virtues expected of the citizen — the ‘civic virtues,’ as they were known in antiquity and in early republican thought.” These are the virtues that Aristotle thought were necessary to govern oneself like a “freeman”; that Montesquieu referred to as the “spring which sets the republican government in motion”; and that the Founding Fathers thought provided the dynamic combination of conviction and self-discipline necessary for self-government. Gertrude Himmelfarb refers to two kinds of virtues. The first are the “caring” virtues. They include “respect, trustworthiness, compassion, fairness, decency.” These are the virtues that make daily life pleasant with our families and those with whom we come in contact. The second are the vigorous virtues. These heroic virtues “transcend family and community and may even, on occasion, violate the conventions of civility. These are the virtues that characterize great leaders, although not necessarily good friends.” She notes that the vigorous virtues have been supplanted by the caring ones. Though they are not mutually exclusive or necessarily incompatible, active citizens and leaders must be governed by the vigorous rather than the caring virtues. We must not allow our desire to be decent and well-mannered people to overwhelm the substance of our principles or our determination to fight for their success. Ultimately, we should seek both caring and vigorous virtues — but above all, we must not allow the former to dominate the latter. Again, by yielding to a false form of “civility,” we sometimes allow our critics to intimidate us. As I have said, active citizens are often subjected to truly vile attacks; they are branded as mean-spirited, racist, Uncle Tom, homophobic, sexist, etc. To this we often respond (if not succumb), so as not to be constantly fighting, by trying to be tolerant and nonjudgmental — i.e., we censor ourselves. This is not civility. It is cowardice, or well-intentioned self-deception at best…. Pope John Paul II has traveled the entire world challenging tyrants and murderers of all sorts, speaking to millions of people, bringing them a single, simple message: “Be Not Afraid.” He preached this message to people living under Communist tyranny in Poland, in Czechoslovakia, in Nicaragua, and in China — “Be not afraid.” He preached it to Africans facing death from marauding tribes and murderous disease — “Be not afraid.” And he preached it to us, warning us how easy it is to be trapped in a “culture of death” even in our comfortable and luxurious country — “Be not afraid.” Listen to the truths that lie within your hearts, and be not afraid to follow them wherever they may lead you. Those three little words hold the power to transform individuals and change the world. They can supply the quiet resolve and unvoiced courage necessary to endure the inevitable intimidation…. The Founders warned us that freedom requires constant vigilance, and repeated action. It is said that, when asked what sort of government the Founders had created, Benjamin Franklin replied that they had given us “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Today, as in the past, we will need a brave “civic virtue,” not a timid civility, to keep our republic. So, this evening, I leave you with the simple exhortation: “Be not afraid.” HORRIFIC DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN You heard it here first. Andrew Ferguson predicted a month ago in these pages that the return of Republicans to the White House would mean “the reemergence of all kinds of things we haven’t seen since — well, since the old President Bush was in the White House. Avarice and selfishness are just the beginning. Say hello to homelessness, for instance: We are about to see a horrifying deterioration in the plight of our nation’s street people. We haven’t heard much — anything, really — about the homeless since, oh, roughly January 20, 1993. As it happens, the number of people living on steam grates has remained pretty much constant from the middle 1980s, when they filled the airwaves and graced the cover of countless magazines, to the present day, when they are all but forgotten. They are about to be remembered.” As if on schedule, the Washington Post ran a front-page story on February 16, “Indicators Show D.C. Homelessness Getting Worse.” The two photos accompanying the article showed Nancy Hill, “who said she…has been homeless for three years” and James Johnson, “homeless for five years.” Now they tell us. MARY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE We were under the impression, mistaken it turns out, that Mary Matalin, former host of Crossfire and now a top adviser to Vice President Cheney, is a squish on abortion. Usually identified as a GOP “moderate,” which is code for pro-choice, Matalin says it ain’t so and never has been. “I’ve always been pro-life,” she tells THE SCRAPBOOK. She strongly rejects the feminist notion that having the right to choose “validates your womanhood.” How, she asks, can “being able to abort a baby validate your womanhood?” Matalin not only says the Roe v. Wade decision was “bad law,” she argues that women should be required to have a sonogram before having an abortion. “That’s better than ‘informed consent.’ Even before babies are shaped, you see that little heart. It’s a baby, not a blob.” Matalin insists she’s “not a moderate. The only thing I’m libertarian on is gays. On everything else, I’m to the right of Attila the Hun.” GEOGRAPHY FOR ANCHORS Talking about Bill Clinton’s post-presidential office dilemma, Dan Rather said on the CBS Evening News the other night that the choice came down to “Manhattan or Harlem.” Good thing a Republican didn’t say that; it would have been hate speech. It’s probably presumptuous of a Washingtonian like THE SCRAPBOOK to point this out, Dan, but that island you live on stretches a bit farther north than you realize. Next time you’re headed uptown, tell your driver to keep going. A couple of miles past where your friends live, you’ll reach Harlem. And you’ll still be in Manhattan! Next week’s lesson: The Bronx is up and the Battery is down.
