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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/19/2003 11:26:19 PM PST by FairOpinion
Balint Vazsonyi, a columnist for The Washington Times who survived Nazi conquest and escaped communist rule in his native Hungary to become an outspoken advocate of American liberty, died of cancer yesterday at his home. He was 66.
Mr. Vazsonyi was also an international concert pianist and the director of the Virginia-based Center for the American Founding (CAF).
"By the time I got my citizenship in 1964, I was grateful and immensely proud to be told by the judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that I would not be a Hungarian-American, nor any other hyphenated American," Mr. Vazsonyi wrote in "America's 30 Years War," his 1998 book. "While no one suggested then, or has since, that I disown or forget my upbringing, I was now simply and officially, American." ----
Another article paying homage to him: The importance of being Balint
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030120-18874588.htm
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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I never heard you're piano, but your writing uplifted me as much as any Bach string quartet I ever heard....well, maybe not that much. [I'm sure you know what I mean] Rest in peace....I'll never forget you, and neither will my kids, or their kids.....I've dutifully collected your sundry articles and bound them for my posterity.
Richard F.
The importance of being Balint
Paul Craig Roberts
CREATORS SYNDICATE
Published January 20, 2003Two hundred years after the American Founding came a defender of our Constitution's principles, Balint Vazsonyi, who toiled in the tents of revival and rededication until he passed away last Friday.
With nothing but hope and determination, Balint, a budding concert pianist, walked out of Soviet-occupied Hungary with his mother and brother in 1956, crossing on foot through the mountains to Austria.
He found his way to Florida State University in Tallahassee where he acquired both a music degree from a famous fellow Hungarian, Erno Dohnanyi, and his life's partner, Barbara, a gifted pianist in her own right.
Those who have heard the Vazsonyis perform Wolfgang Mozart's "Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos" or Dohnanyi's "Valse Symphonique for Two Pianos" have experienced the sublime.
Balint had a career as a concert pianist, recording artist, and as professor and dean of music. But as years rolled by, Balint grew increasingly concerned that American education was ceasing to pass on the principles and cultural wealth in which our success is based. Disturbed at the deracination of America, he resolved to do something about it.
Balint wrote an important book, "America's Thirty Years War," showing the source of the alien ideas that are subverting our culture and society.
He became a newspaper columnist, and he and Barbara organized a cross-country bus tour of state capitals to renew enthusiasm for the Constitution.
Balint's view was that America is his country, and he was not going to lose it because citizens neglected its principles.
In his writings and lectures, Balint stressed "the Four Points of the Compass." These are: the rule of law, equality before the law, which means individual not group rights, the security of property, and a common American identity.
Balint realized that multiculturalism, hyphenated-Americanisms, racial quotas, redistribution, and rule by unaccountable regulators are erasing American principles and turning our country into something the Founding Fathers designed the Constitution to prevent.
Balint was struck by the hostility to American principles on the part of politicians, media, academics and intellectuals. He recognized it as the same hostility to freedom that he experienced under the Nazis and communists.
The ideas that destroyed Europe are now actively at work in the U.S. To combat these ideas successfully, more of us need to rally to the defense of "the Four Points of the Compass."
America's political and educational leaders have failed our country. They have worked to disconnect us from our ideals, and they have attached themselves to alien philosophies that oppose our principles. Balint knew the enemies that most threaten us are not in Iraq but right here at home.
We require politicians, Balint said, who will Re-Elect America and actively oppose the practices and principles that are in direct contradiction to the American Founding. In the struggle ahead, celebrate and emulate the Vazsonyis.
Paul Craig Roberts is a nationaly syndicated columnist.
Washington Times
I checked the CSPAN site hoping to find a listing for Lamb's interview of Balint after ATYW was released. Nothing yet, but CSPAN is known to put the works of recently deceased authors back on the air. I emailed them encouraging them to consider including the interview soon. Until then, it is possible to watch the archived interview online in case you missed it or would like to view it again.
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