Posted on 07/04/2009 4:24:17 AM PDT by iowamark
The most important lesson of his career is that there are limits to accommodation.
In times of perplexity evangelical Christians ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?" Conservatives trying to regroup in the age of Obama might ask themselves, "What would William F. Buckley Jr. do?" ...
The most important lesson of his career is that there are limits to accommodation. Buckley came to fame in the early 1950s after two decades of liberal Democratic dominance, the Fair Deal of Harry Truman having followed the New Deal of FDR. When Republicans finally recaptured Congress and the White House in 1952, it was a case of new men and old measures. The new president, Dwight Eisenhower, despite his conservative instincts, was unwilling to pick ideological fights. On the sidelines of politics, the poet Peter Viereck called for a New Conservatism dedicated to managing change gracefully and recognizing liberal Democrats like Adlai Stevenson as its natural leaders. Germany, Japan and (it seemed) the Depression had been beaten by great collective efforts. The world had moved into a new era, and conservatives should recognize the fact....
For all his feistiness, Buckley knew that counsels of perfection are not for this world. The journalist, poet and ex-Communist spy Whittaker Chambers was one of Buckley's most-admired colleagues. "To live is to maneuver," Chambers told him, and Buckley quoted the line often. It was important for a political movement to establish paradigms -- he called it "keeping the tablets" -- but then one had to make choices.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
An excellent little essay. Please read the entire piece at the link.
See Richard Brookhiser speak of his WFB book (CSPAN on demand video) at:
Bears repeating.
If conservatives, and all “non-leftists” in general, can’t find actual ways of successfully “fixing” all of the past, present, and future “leftist damage” that’s happening to the entire U.S. as well as happening to the entire world with pro-conservative solutions, pro-free market solutions, and pro-capitalistic solutions to all present issues instead and to all future issues instead, then the actual future of conservatism is non-existence. Non-leftists still need serious equal footing when it comes to: the worldwide MSM, government controlled schools worldwide and at every level, moving towards actually ending all political correctness worldwide, increasing the number of non-leftist judges worldwide and at every judicial level, the worldwide entertainment field, decent and fair campaign finance reforms, the actual shrinking and actual privatization of all at every level, better increasing of all non-leftist activities on all issues worldwide,...
...the actual shrinking and actual privatization of all at every level,...My computer is omitting words every now and then. Something is wrong. I see that it’s continuing.
...world government...
This has actually been another Republican backed boondoggle. We need to privatize those things that are private sector business, but the growth of Washington DC if fueled by the so-called "privatization" of what are very public functions. They get done a lot worse, if you can believe that, at higher costs- that is the point of the exercise- and your so-called constitutional rights swirl down the drain as someone now earns a hefty fee for every transaction that takes your rights away.
That way lies madness and it is time that conservatives woke up to that ripoff boondoggle of taxpayer bilking Republican cronyism as well.
The brutal facts of the matter are that Uncle need competent technical persons doing in-house work for him. Think NASA, one the Worlds technical leader, now a group of COTRs incapable of doing any significant in house technical work. DOD also needs many competent technical persons and research labs. Think NRL etc. We have Nixon and the Republicans to thank for most of the privatization mess which we find ourselves at the present time.
There is another important bit of information implied by this article. One can find conservative Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. The liberals may be running a party, but it is possible to appear to persons across political boundaries. A good conservative candidate will win. It may take work, but they will prevail if they TRY. They must be supported and encouraged to run.
Some very thoughtful conservative intellectuals, such as Lawrence Auster of the View from the Right website, feel that Buckley completely lost his way as he got older and was of little value or negative value to the conservative movement.
For instance National Review was tepid in supporting the anti-immigration and anti-illegal postions that many here on FR hold. Indeed, at some point in the early 1990s they purged the magazine of Peter Brimlow and others who had advanced these positions previously.
I certainly don’t think “what would Buckley do” when faced with perplexing political issues. Sadly the answer to that would always be “have another gin and tonic” from what I saw of him (having been a bit to young to enjoy him before his long decline and dotage.)
When Conservatism is separated from solution advocacy what remains is what is best for American citizens at a particular time. Sometimes this can be more government, sometimes less. Sometimes more taxes, sometimes less. Sometimes more war, sometimes less. Every solution is a moving target aimed at from the viewpoint of the American family. This is a political democracy. This means voting. This means advocating the greatest good for the greatest number. Conservative is to conserve what is good for the American family. This conservatism is a winner.
Some of that is OK. It is fine with me if the idiots doing surveillance of law abiding citizens can't do their jobs because their dunderheads are buying overpriced junk from crooks. The taxpayer money was misspent the moment we decided to go down this road. But in places like energy, defense, infrastructure protection, emergency management and legitimate intelligence where there are important roles for the government, we need stuff that is better than anybody else's.
BTW so far as I can see, Obama is doing a lot better at appointing folks to some of these positions that have a clue than the pubbies ever did. Bush II was an absolute disaster in this respect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.