IDEOLOGICAL DISSONANCE Daniel Hein invites us to contemplate George Washington's slow, difficult attainment of the virtue of patience. The contemporary relevance of this virtue need hardly be stated, but we should also recall the value of biographical reflection upon the virtues of the Founding Fathers of our country. Liberal skeptics have long ridiculed, and not without some justification, the kind of biography of men like Washington and Franklin that I read as a boy because of their unrealistically idealistic portrayals. Hein's careful account hardly presents Washington as superhuman: the importance of this discussion is precisely the flaws in his character-pride, impulsiveness, ambition-that required his best efforts to overcome. We are thereby enabled to see Washington realistically while still admiring him. Finally, Thomas Lynch furnishes us with a green shoot of hope amid our contemporary political wasteland by recounting William F. Buckley Jr.'s highly effective and influential campaign for mayor of New York. This is comparatively recent history, but it again helps us see our current troubles in a broader context. Although he was not elected, Buckley's witty and engaging rhetoric dominated the debate during the campaign and proved there is an audience for intelligent conservative discourse. It is on account of this hope that we continue to publish Modern Age. -RVY 7