Culture Watch: Be Prepared. Very Prepared.

Anyone of a conservative inclination must occasionally have been struck by the impression that he has, while sleeping, passed over into a parallel universe, to awaken in a sort of looking-glass Orwellian world where peace is war, freedom is slavery, and so on. Thus it has been recently, as we have opened our daily newspapers to discover that, in the opinion of our ruling elites, one of the most dangerous and antisocial forces in this nation is . . . the Boy Scouts. A blistering editorial in the New York Times-responding to the paper's error-ridden report on the matter-praised those donors, municipalities, and federal agencies thought to have withdrawn support from the Scouts. Wagging a magisterial finger, the Grey Lady warned that: "The extended Boy Scout family needs to save the organization from its present self-destructive and discriminatory course."

In June this year, the Supreme Court confirmed the right of the Scouts to exclude homosexuals as scoutmasters. In so doing, the Court cited First Amendment rights of free expression and association. Thus thwarted, the homosexual lobby now seeks to destroy the venerable organization by leaning on those public agencies and corporations that assist it. There have already been white flags shown: United Way, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the State of Connecticut have all withdrawn support from the Scouts. Americans who believe that the Scouts ought to be free to determine their own, perfectly respectable way should vote with their feet and their pocketbooks, shunning such capitulationist organizations where they can.

Meanwhile, where is the party of social conservatism? Gov. Bush issued a forthright statement supporting the Scouts' right of access to federal lands, but the Republicans are not making the hay they should with the issue. The Democrats are backing off from it as fast as they can. Al Gore had to promise that if he is elected, the Boy Scouts "will be able to use federal lands." Janet Reno has ruled that the Interior Department need not cut ties with the Scouts. For all their driveling cant about "discrimination" and "inclusiveness," liberal politicians understand perfectly well just how keen American parents are to send their pre-teen boys off into the woods on a camping trip with a homosexual scoutmaster. Yet these pronouncements by Gore and Reno override a presidential executive order issued in June this year, prohibiting government agencies from cooperating with groups that discriminate against homosexuals. Neither Gore nor Reno nor any other Democratic politician objected to that order at the time. Is it beyond the wit-or courage-of Republicans to point this out?