Posted on 09/26/2002 2:36:29 PM PDT by jstone78
I have long disagreed with what I considered to be Bill Buckley's sanctimonious distancing himself from those Conservatives who were not considered intellectually respectable in some eastern circles, where Buckley was accepted as the Conservative you could invite, to make your gathering more interesting. But it is not fair nor right to suggest that he is a "neo-Conservative." He wrote "God and Man At Yale," half a Century ago, and started his Conservative Magazine shortly thereafter.
While he could have been more helpful to other Conservatives, had he not been so quick to find fault with their approaches, he has basically fought for traditional American values. Since I have not read National Review for some years, I cannot vouch that he has not strayed. But if he has, that would make him a "neo-Liberal," or a "neo-moderate." It would certainly not make him a "neo- Conservative."
Even as Buckley was wrong to apply litmus tests to other Conservatives, so we would be wrong to apply litmus tests to Buckley. Taken all in all, he has helped our cause immensely. Let us not degenerate into a bunch of inquisitors, insisting upon perfection before we will associate with natural allies.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
No, it isn't simple at all, since no one can agree on what "neo-con" even means. Ergo, the term itself has been rendered meaningless through misuse.
Just look at the comments on this thread. One person thinks the term describes the McCainiacs, while another thinks it defines anti-McCainiacs. Some thinks it refers to William F. Buckley while others think it refers to any conservative who is also a Jew (I've heard that explanation on FR). To some it means hard right, to others it means religious right, to others it means leftists, or moderates or Marxists... etc., etc.
Until we all agree on a brief but accurate definition, it is impossible to say what any of us are. And I'm not holding my breath on any agreement. :-)
Do you recall the budget deficits when Reagan was obligated to play swap politics in order to get the things which were really important to him?
Reagan is one of the greatest leaders this country ever produced, but you are grossly mischaracterizing how he accomplished it. There were a number of trades which he made in order to focus on those policies most important to him.
There are plenty of liberal programs, statutes and policies which are perfectly appropriate under the documents set forth by the founding fathers, and your job is to convince people otherwise without hyperbole.
You're always just so danged reasonable! LOL!
I guess that means that in this day and age, I should be committed to an asylum run by those who aren't. But thanks. I try to help young Conservatives take a purely reasonable approach to the debate. (See Introduction--Debate Handbook.)
William Flax
Just a random comment.
When you use the word "change," you fall into the same conceptually imprecise error as those who embrace the greatly over-worked term "progress." I always used to use the example of a rat riding a bit of trash into the sewer in a thunder-storm, as an example of "progress." There is no virtue in progress, and none in change. The devil or virtue is in the details, the specifics of your direction, not the embracing of an action word.
Conservatives do not fear change as such. To the Conservative, however, change is a building on a firm foundation. To the Leftist--the Socialist egalitarian, bent upon levelling Society and collectivizing control--change is a disruption, a destruction of the foundation, not a building upon past achievement. We are the builders; they are the destroyers.
You are, of course, correct in your references to classical "Liberalism." However, in America those values are a part of our tradition; a part of our tradition springing directly out of the dynamic achievements of the original settlers, and the lessons that they learned in building a new Society from the ground up. It was not, as in Europe, a matter of sitting around and philosophizing about what might be nice. It was the tradition here. So there is no dichotomy, when American Conservatives seek to preserve their tradition, with the best of classical "Liberalism."
I make these points not to attack you, but in the interests of seeking greater clarity in a cause common to most of us at this forum.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
- Gin
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