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The Urban Conservative
July 1, 2013
The Discarding of 3,000 Years of Tradition:
A Review of Herb London's Latest Book
by Herbert W. Stupp
fitzgerald griffin foundation
The Transformational Decade: Snapshots of a Decade from 9/11 to the Obama Presidency
by Herbert I. London (University Press of America, 2012)NEW YORK, NY — Dr. Herbert I. London has written a persuasive and insightful book, The Transformational Decade: Snapshots of a Decade from 9/11 to the Obama Presidency (University Press of America, 2012), but he is much more than a distinguished author. Yes, he has penned more than two dozen books and hundreds of scholarly articles, contributing original and sharp social commentary, rebuttals to political correctness, and reflections on the Zeitgeist.
Dr. London has sought major elective offices: candidate for Mayor of New York City in 1989; Conservative Party nominee for Governor of New York in 1990, nearly outpolling the Republican candidate; and Republican and Conservative candidate for state Comptroller in 1994, nearly upsetting the incumbent. He was a distinguished professor for decades at New York University (NYU), where a liberal friend of mine, now a news executive, volunteered the comment to me that "London was a great professor."
"Political know-nothings," estimates Dr. London, now "constitute 25 percent to 35 percent of the electorate." One of Dr. London's achievements likely to last into coming generations is one that has earned praise from across the political and philosophical spectrum. He created the "Gallatin Division" at NYU in 1972, enabling students to direct their college curricula in creative, individualized ways not previously seen in academia. London remained the Dean of Gallatin for two decades.
One of Dr. London's achievements likely to last into coming generations is one that has earned praise from across the political and philosophical spectrum. He created the "Gallatin Division" at NYU in 1972, enabling students to direct their college curricula in creative, individualized ways not previously seen in academia. London remained the Dean of Gallatin for two decades.
Political star, beloved professor, visionary dean, and president of the Hudson Institute, a national source of analysis, solutions, and scholarship. All of this would be more than enough for even the highest-energy intellectuals among us.
But there is still more to Herb London, and it grounds him in yet other surprising enterprises and in the concerns of average Americans.
He grew up in polyglot Queens, New York, heading off to Jamaica High School with thousands of other striving middle class and working class teens of immigrant stock, hoping to take full advantage of American opportunity. Aside from his fine scholarship, young Herb, at 6'5," was the center on the legendary Jamaica High basketball team, which won the New York City championship in 1955. He was drafted to play in the National Basketball Association, but injuries blocked that option for him.
He makes a strong case that 3,000 years of tradition and success have been discarded in a mere three decades.
Still more: London had musical abilities and a voice so compelling that as a solo artist, he recorded a top-30 hit, We're Not Going Steady, in 1961. He soon recorded a demo of Unchained Melody, a hit record in the 1950s, and a mega-hit as sung by The Righteous Brothers in 1965. So we can add lead singer and dominant athlete to the London resume.
All of this academic training and real-world experience has served Dr. London well in becoming the principled, readable conservative author that he is. London has written or edited 25 books, including Decade of Denial: A Snapshot of America in the 1990s, and America's Secular Challenge. He became a "righteous brother," but of the intellectual sort.
Now comes Dr. London with his latest book, The Transformational Decade, an analysis with many searing commentaries on the10-year period that began with Y2K and the September 11 attacks, and concluded during the first presidential term of Barack Obama.
He makes a strong case that 3,000 years of tradition and success have been discarded in a mere three decades. The results are not pretty. Traditional marriage is under assault, and a majority of births to women under 30 occur without the benefit of matrimony. "The liberal idea has been transmogrified into the libertine ideal," observes Dr. London.
Zeroing in on the politically correct hijinks on many American campuses, London notes that university administrators make maximum efforts to ensure that nearly every kind of physical diversity (racial, ethnic, sexual orientation) is achieved. But they care not one whit about diversity of thought on said campuses, despite the academy's clearly obsolete branding as the marketplace of ideas.
Dr. London cites an Intercollegiate Studies Institute study that concludes there is in fact "negative learning" for many students over four years of college study. "There is a trivial difference between college seniors and their freshman counterparts regarding knowledge of America's heritage. Overall, college seniors failed the civic literacy exam." London notes that university administrators ... care not one whit about diversity of thought on said campuses, despite the academy's clearly obsolete branding as the marketplace of ideas.
"Political know-nothings," estimates Dr. London, now "constitute 25 percent to 35 percent of the electorate."
London catalogues how, as the decades unfolded, negative trends of various additional kinds accelerated. An individual's right to be left alone, for example, seems to be evaporating. Dr. London focuses on Facebook's inherent appeal to narcissism, concluding that "anonymity is a dying institution," later opining that "anonymity is good." He stands athwart history, declaring, "I will not tweet."
Dr. London zeroes in on the critical conflicts of the 2000-10 decade, giving a spirited defense of the U.S. war against Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government. His writing is in line with the case made by neo-conservative intellectuals, but we must note that London qualifies as a "paleo-conservative," that is, someone who was conservative while most neo-cons were in the Democratic party or in knickers. He defends President George W. Bush against claims by European and other critics who derided "W" as a "cowboy." We learn from Dr. London that Hitler actually referred to FDR as a cowboy in the 1930s!
Reflecting on the first presidential term of Barack Obama, Dr. London is a critic of the administration's grandiose domestic spending, schemes, and deficits, along with the president's timidity and apologia for America in international arenas. The Obama administration is "weak where it should be strong, and strong where it should be weak," London observes.
Those of us who came of age in the 1960s might argue that many transforming negative forces, such as recreational drug use, environmental fanaticism, libertinism, anti-military bigotry, and radical feminism got their geneses in that decade, as did a new appetite for entitlements. Hence, were the Sixties more "transforming" than the "Aughts?" Dr. London writes that 2000-10 was the "efflorence" of the forces unleashed in the 1960s.
With a $17 trillion debt as government grows out of control domestically, traditions and time-tested institutions crumbling, and forces around the globe eager to harm American interests, what is reversible and what is not, in coming decades? Dr. London responds: "outrageous government spending" may actually be subject to change. But the "degradation of the culture" may be with us forever.
Appropriately, Dr. London quotes the great historian Toynbee in the epilogue of this fine book: "Civilizations die as a result of suicide, not murder."
An abbreviated version of this article was published by the New York Post.
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The Urban Conservative is copyright © 2013 by Herbert W. Stupp. All rights reserved.
Herbert W. Stupp served in the Reagan, Bush 41, and Giuliani administrations.
See a complete biographical sketch.
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