COMMENTS
Conor Cruise O'Brien's new book,
On the Eve
if
the Millennium
(Free
Press), which consists of four lectures given at the University of Toronto,
is
afin de sihie,
gloomy forecast of the future . But on the road to his main
thesis, O'Brien wanders off in various directions, where he produces some
interesting and fairly original observations.
But the leading idea of the book is that of a dark future, at least for
the West. (It is interesting to note that many of the contributions to a
recent symposium in
Commentary
on the future of America also took a
pessimistic view of American prospects.) The main threat to its continu–
ing stability and prosperity is from the so-called third world, which
O'Brien thinks will try to blackmail the West into sharing its wealth . Its
main weapons are terrorism and overwhelming immigration to Western
Europe and America. But, unlike the soft liberals who advocate conces–
sions, O'Brien resolutely advocates firm resistance to pressure from
terrorists and acts of terrorism - though tempered by moderate social and
political aid. Interestingly, O'Brien calls not only for toughness, but also
for a certain amount of hypocrisy mixed with some self-awareness on the
part of the West.
O'Brien also believes that the monarchy in England will be abolished,
and with its end, British democracy is bound to break down. In fact,
O'Brien thinks that Western democracy is a fragile institution and perhaps
a temporary political form in the long history of humanity.
Culturally, O'Brien deplores the invasion of the academy by post–
modern political correctness, which he insists corrupts intellectual and
political thinking. He thinks, somewhat optimjstically in this case, that the
corrosive influence might disappear sometime in the next century. But his
forecast in this area, unlike his other glimpses into the future, is quite ten–
tative.
To my knowledge, O'Brien makes a fairly original comment on the
irony of Jefferson's liberal reputation, which is regarded as a political leg–
end. O 'Brien notes that Jefferson owned one hundred and fifty slaves, that
he only partly condemned the institution of slavery, and even then most–
ly later in his life. Yet Jefferson has become an icon of liberalism for
contemporary progressives - perhaps mainly because Jefferson wrote the
American Constitution .
Another observation that, so far as I know, is somewhat original is
O'Brien's argument about the advocacy of democracy in South America
and elsewhere. O'Brien insists that the United States is not so much inter–
ested in democracy as in the limitation of immigration into America.
