William F. Buckley, Jr. passed away last night, and along with Reagan, and Friedman will join the pantheon of almost mythic figures of conservatism. He represented the intellectual side of conservatism and founded National Review Magazine. The sad thing is that with his passing, the right is loses another of its idea men. While poking fun at Hillary and Ted Kennedy can be great fun, that alone is not going influence much.It is especially tragic that Buckley died at time when so-called conservatives have abandoned many of his core principles.
I'll miss him.
3 comments:
I use to watch Firing Line. He was a fascinating speaker. It was like watching a cobra.
Everything comes in waves and yes it is a time of winter for conservatives in America. But it is also an exciting time in that the core values have been so badly decimated over the past 8 years that they will have to be re-built almost from the ground up. So it is also a time of fresh ideas, opportunity and revitalization.
What I hope to see more than anything else is a departure from the shrill, even silly, discourse of the day and a return to reason, measure and class. And I mean that for both sides of the aisle.
Buckley was a class act and for a while some years back I subscribed to National Review. Like Tim, I also watched Firing Line. Buckley was never a hate-filled type like so many of the current conservative movement leaders and he always respected the rule of law and the separation of religion and civil laws. Would that there were more like him - I might still be a Republican were that the case.
He proposed that people with AIDS should be tattooed so that other people would know their medical status.
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