ABSTRACT
In the January 1995 issue in a front-page article, Dr. Robert Zubrin describes with simple clarity the terrain for conservative reconstructions of the real America, though his particular application of it is a bit extreme. The adventurous cowboys stake a claim to what Michael Rogin calls "the countersubversive position at the center of American politics," its contemporary incarnation beginning with Reagan as exemplary frontier hero, a role aptly suggested by Rogin's title, Ronald Reagan, the Movie. American identity itself was remade through the encounter with successive frontiers, as diverse people remade themselves into Americans, producing sameness out of difference: "The frontier is the line of most rapid and effective Americanization”. In the Contract with America, those repressed elements are reactivated and publicly invested as objects of fear, loathing, and legitimate violence or rhetorical condemnation. Although Jacqueline Rose's discussion of radical conservatism focuses on Thatcher, it has much to say about the American version.
