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June 19, 2003, 9:10 a.m. Two Pulls Questions Iran raises.

vents in Iran raise, for the manyeth time, a tension in fundamental conservative attitudes towards freedom struggles around the world. As a conservative, I feel two pulls.

One is Tory (often, though not exclusively, English), which might be summed up as "bloody natives." The classic 20th-century expressions were Evelyn Waugh's African novels, Scoop and the far meaner Black Mischief. The Tory attitude colors many of the ethnic observations in the 11th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (Circassians are brave, but thievish — that kind of thing). The Tory believes that the world is full of colorful and fascinating peoples who are, however, mostly incapable of good government and self-rule.

Nowadays we dismiss this view as racist, though it was earlier applied to the French Revolution and, yes, to the American. See Dickens's American chapters in Martin Chuzzlewit, especially the scene at the newspaper where a reporter, Mr. Jefferson Brick, and the editor, Col. Somebody, are trading whiskey shots and praising the free press and "nigger slavery." It is Waugh avant la letter. Thus the Tories.

Simultaneously, and as Americans, we believe "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them" (Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British North America). This is what our Founders believe. If they were wrong, the country sucks.

Toryism can lead to nihilism, and acquiescence in tyranny (the tyrant's plea, necessity). Americanism can lead to childish enthusiasm, and painful surprises. My friends at Claremont try to find a logical path through these dilemmas, and their efforts are always instructive. I can never agree with them 100 percent because they always play Prudence as their right bower when in logical difficulties (which is getting out of the difficulties by illogic).

I am deeply moved by the Iranian students, as I was by Walesa, Havel, and the Chinese man who played chicken with the tank after Tiananmen Square. My sympathies were also engaged, however, for political reasons, the enemy of my enemy being my friend. On other occasions, the Tory takes hold.

Much to think of. But hey, we're not risking our lives.