
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995                   TAG: 9508110077
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JOHN M. LEVY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ATTILA WAS NO MAN OF THE RIGHT

SEVERAL MONTHS ago, I was reviewing local political wars with a politician friend. Reaching for an image to describe the utter primitiveness of an opponent, he finally blurted out, "Why, he's to the right of Attila the Hun."

I did not give much thought to this expression until a saw an old flick, the movie "Ten." In it, a beautiful young woman, Bo Derek I believe, explains to her lover of the moment that she married her previous lover only because her dentist father could not be expected to understand more modern and enlightened arrangements.

And why couldn't he? Because - you guessed it - he was "to the right of Attila the Hun." No doubt it is a sign of advancing years, but at that instant I ceased to contemplate her figure and, instead, began to contemplate the ideology of Attila the Hun.

Was he, indeed, a man of the right? Did he ride into battle with Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" in his saddlebags? Did he believe that market forces are superior to collective decision-making? Was he concerned that too large a percentage of the ghp (gross Hunnish product) was being spent in the public sector? Did he believe that the business affairs of Huns were best guided by "the invisible hand?" Was he concerned that social programs were sapping the will of the average Hun in the saddle so that he would no longer loot and pillage with suitable ferocity?

I believe that we can safely answer "no" to all of these questions. He was no more a man of the right than he was a man of the left. We could just as well define him as a liberal with excessive feelings of anger and inadequate impulse controls. Why then the expression "to the right of Attila the Hun?" It's simple. He was brutal and depraved. So of course we associate him with the right.

Despite all the evidence from Lenin to Pol Pot, we still think of the left as being morally superior. When evil emanates from the left, we see it as an aberration. If it emanates from the right, we see it as part of the system. If we can't give the left points for results, we at least credit it with sincerity.

Ladies and gentlemen of the right, when it comes to image-making the left has been wiping up the floor with you.

What is to be done? I myself would offer to lead a crusade to restore the moral reputation of the right. But, alas, I am allergic to crusades. As one who tilts just a trifle to the right, I simply cannot stand that much collective action. To you on the right I can only say "do not as I do, but do as I say."

Though I will not crusade, I will offer my services. I will observe and I will let you know when the tide has turned. I will be here at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, in the foothills of the Appalachians and the heart of America, listening. The first time I hear a student say "to the left of Attila the Hun" I will know that the counterattack is succeeding.

John M. Levy is a professor of urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech.

by CNB