LOYALTY

A long and dense essay that defends the virtue of commitment. The conservative-leaning Supreme Court recently let stand its earlier ruling that burning the American flag was an act of free speech, protected under the First Amendment. Here, liberal-leaning Fletcher (Law/Columbia University; A Crime of Self-Defense, 1988) questions that high-court position. He also questions divorce, job- hopping, and whether a surrogate mother should be forced to give up the baby if she changes her mind. All of Fletcher's arguments arise in defense of reinstating loyalty—to family, to country, to religion—as a primary virtue in our moral lives. Both personal fulfillment and the ``greater good,'' Fletcher says, should make room for the commitments demanded by marriage, patriotism, and a higher power. But Fletcher drags loyalty—and readers—through such a maze of positives and negatives, of on-the-one-hands vs. on-the- other-hands, that it's hard to follow—or to care about—his discussion. But he does offer some interesting insights—e.g., about how the ``trade-up'' goals of the marketplace mentality have affected personal relationships—plus, not so interesting, an odd fixation on the Pledge of Allegiance. Provocative, but so abstruse as to turn off all but the most persevering readers.