VMI WINS ONE FOR GOOD SENSE OVER THE FORCES OF MODERNITY

In tomorrow's edition, our Out of the Past column features the following interesting morsel.

"75 Years Ago

"June 24, 1916 (Saturday)

"Rush H. Limbaugh, former student in Normal School, from which he graduated several years ago with highest honors in his class, has moved to Cape Girardeau and will take up practice of law; he will enter law firm of Davis & Hardesty in First National Bank building."

Indeed, it was not until later that year (in September) that the recent University of Missouri School of Law grad would celebrate his 25th birthday.

* * * * *

The spirit of resistance to federal power and militant feminism won an all-too-rare victory this past week for the right to be let alone. A federal judge ruled that federal law does not require famed Virginia Military Institute to admit women to the corps of cadets.

Back in February, 1990, I wrote a column that expressed my feelings on this subject that bears repeating here. I've since learned that it was the Bush Justice Department that filed the suit. Shame on them.

I could understand such a suit being brought by a Department of Justice serving under President Michael Dukakis, or Walter Mondale or Teddy Kennedy. Such a department would be staffed with the eagerest of American Civil Liberties Union beavers, and the most radical law professors from the Ivy League. But why is a Republican administration arguing such a case? Say it ain't so, George!

Anyway, here goes a reprise of "Virginia Military Institute and a right to be let alone".

The impetuousity of the first Federal attack (at Bull Run) brought some confusion into the Confederate ranks, and in a crisis of the battle a neighboring brigadier, Gen. Bee, rode up to Jackson with the cry, "General, they are beating us back." "Then sir" came the quick reply, "we shall give them the bayonnet." Encouraged by this answer, Bee galloped back to his men shouting, "Look, there is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians." The Federal attack was utterly repulsed, the nickname Stonewall rang through Virginia and was thenceforth and forever attached to Jackson's name.

From the Encyclopedia Britannica

Ever been to Lexington, Virginia? A lovely, small, rather isolated town nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains in the western portion of Virginia, this charming community is one of the real jewels of the Old Dominion. Redolent of history and genuine Virginia hospitality, it is home to two of America's finest and best-known institutions of higher learning.

There's the famed Washington and Lee University, where generations of southern aristocrats sent their sons; where, on most recent report, navy blazers and neckties were still mandatory classroom attire; and where the legendary Robert E. Lee finished out his life of service to the state he loved, as president of the institution. Lee lies entombed in the chapel of the University that bears his name, added after his death in equal billing with the father of our country. The tomb of Robert E. Lee is a shrine to those old virtues of the southern gentleman that he embodied so faithfully, so vividly: the sense of Duty, Honor and Country, together with that distinctive sense of courtly manners.

Did I say redolent of history?

Yes, Lexington's other priceless institution, which has turned out world-renowned military commanders since its founding in 1839, is famous for its initials: VMI. The Virginia Military Institute boasts General Stonewall Jackson and countless other great leaders among its distinguished alumni. World War II Generals George Patton and George Marshall both studied there.

And now, the forces of modernity that VMI has resisted so stoutly for so long are slamming their battering rams against its hallowed walls, against one of the very last bastions of a single-sex institution. VMI finds itself a defendant in a lawsuit. A lawsuit that seeks to force VMI to admit women, for the first time ever, to the corps of cadets.

And so, it's where everything else in our society ends up these days: in the hands of the lawyers and judges. ...

It's possible to support many of the advances made on behalf of women in recent years and still not see the need to stamp out every last vestige of male-only institutions. Recent years have seen women admitted to West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy, where more than a few have distinguished themselves. Fair enough. But might we let VMI maintain its cherished traditions?

The Goddess of Militant Feminist Equality is a harridan, a sterile creature. She is an ugly, shrill and jealous deity, before which the spirit of our age commands us to bow down. She is as crabbed, as dreadfully serious and as narrow as the leveling spirit that animates her desire to control literally every institution in our society. Even ones that do no harm and don't need changing. It sometimes seems that in the service of this grim ideology, all other considerations must be thrust aside, be they of nature or history, culture or tradition, plain good sense or the quite understandable desire of some people and private institutions that they be let alone.

George Patton, meet Congresswoman Pat Schroeder. Stonewall Jackson, meet Bella Abzug. George Marshall, meet Molly Yard and her storm troopers at the National Organization for Women. It's enough to drive a man to drink.