Bradley Awards: John Bolton Blasts Bureaucracy

WASHINGTON -- Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton lashed out at a frustrating bureaucracy and other inscrutable enemies during his acceptance speech for the prestigious Bradley Foundation award Thursday evening at the Kennedy Center.

After thanking the Foundation for his nomination and award, the courageous former ambassador to the world body went on to facetiously thank "Senators Lincoln Chafee and Chris Dodd, who did so much to make me eligible for this project."

Bolton, tongue-in-cheek, also thanked, among others, "the prominent citizens of Damascus and Tehran, who also pitched-in - simply by being themselves."

Bolton decried the notion that an opponent of arms control and a critic of the United Nations should be summarily labeled as someone who should not be the U.S. representative to the U.N.

He compared his situation to a hypothetical appointee during the administration of Abraham Lincoln:

"Following their logic, President Lincoln – if he had had a Department of Slavery Affairs – should have appointed someone who was pro-slavery."

Bolton admitted that when all was said and done, he was guilty of only "committing acts of conservatism," adding unabashedly, "I enjoyed every minute of it."

He said that, unfortunately, too many appointees in a conservative administrative "may be conservative before they serve and after they serve, but during, they are just filling chairs."

Bolton also noted his distaste for those appointees who are so "seduced by the bureaucracy" that they are conned into thinking that they are carrying out the president's policies."

He advised that, regardless of his own experience, future conservative appointees should be on guard against being "absorbed into the wallpaper." And, furthermore, the next conservative president "must avoid bureaucratic turf fights."

Bolton was but one of five honorees at the glitzy fete at the Center's Terrance Theatre where the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation awarded the Fourth Annual Bradley Prizes for outstanding achievement to prominent intellectuals and public servants. In addition to Bolton, the 2007 Bradley Prize recipients were Martin S. Feldstein, George F. Baker professor of Economics, Harvard University; Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom, senior fellows at the Manhattan Institute; and James Q. Wilson, Ronald Reagan professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University.

Each award carries a stipend of $250,000.

Fox News Channel host Brit Hume served as master of ceremonies for the evening event.

"These outstanding individuals are being recognized for achievements that are consistent with the mission statement of the Foundation, including the promotion of liberal democracy, democratic capitalism, and a vigorous defense of American institutions," said Michael W. Grebe, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bradley Foundation.

Abigail Thernstrom, who was honored along with her husband and co-author, Stephan Thernstrom - like Bolton - took the awards occasion to lash out at "distributing burdens and benefits on the basis of race."

She added that she and her husband, the co-author of such remarkable tomes as "America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible," "never left the civil rights movement – it left us . . ."

Award recipient Martin Feldstein, the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, also received the plaudits of the audience for his remarks that current enlightened economic policies have without question resulted in better economic performance and a higher standard of living for Americans.

He chided those who would "turn back the economic clock" and return to old ideas of simply redistributing income.

James Q. Wilson, the Ronald Reagan professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, eschewed the strangling effects of political correctness. He noted that the end of political correctness in the academic community was rapidly approaching as the new generations of Ph.Ds filtered into academia.

The selection was based on nominations solicited from more than 100 prominent individuals and chosen by a selection committee, which included: Thomas L. "Dusty" Rhodes, Michael W. Grebe, Hon. Robert H. Bork, Pierre S. du Pont, Heather Mac Donald, Charles Krauthammer, Br. Bob Smith, George F. Will, and Dianne Sehler.

Founded in 1985, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation advises that it is devoted to strengthening American democratic capitalism and the institutions, principles and values that sustain and nurture it.

Its programs support limited, competent government; a dynamic marketplace for economic, cultural activity; and a vigorous defense, at home and abroad, of American ideas and institutions. Recognizing that responsible self-government "depends on enlightened citizens and informed public opinion, the Foundation supports scholarly studies and academic achievement."