I'm sorry, the resentment I sense in your description of the rebirth of American conservatism seems distorted by naive expectations of human nature and the type of war we must wage in these times.
We have a government--and a commentariat--of men, not angels or gods. The ones you cite, whose writings I remember from that time, wrote the truth, and did a very good job of it when no one else seemed to know how.
But the truth belongs to God, and we men can only discover and annunciate it when we can, according to our abilities. All the characters cited in your post were crucial in their time in inspiring the larger conservative revolt against the overreach of Big Fed and the middle-class Marxism that infected the news media and multitudes of "public employees" in Washington and in the states.
The voices of the conservative commentariat were fallible. They didn't all keep their eye on the ball after that period, and at in many cases failed to appreciate newcomers to the movement whom they considered uncouth. But to quibble over that fact and deny their achievements is to have an expectation of humanity that sounds, well, a bit like a liberal.
New battles often require new generals. But I owe much to Buckley, Kilpatrick, and Will in particular for their well-reasoned and timely lessons in the true American philosophy of government and Christian culture. Where their typewriters led them after that doesn't erase the good they did, and I'll always be thankful to them for speaking up and taking the arrows.
Carry on!
Clearly they are a part of my experience but in the end I must acknowledge the deeper plan.
Nixon and Kissinger opened up China and now China has to be closed off contained according to the “Conservatives”.
It’s clear that underneath all the Conservative wordsmithing and commentating in my lifetime was government policy that “has gone both ways”.
A great disappointment is the massive uncontrolled growth in government spending that has weakened this nation.
No wonder the need to build a “Great Wall Against China”.