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To: GipperGal
I'm not old enough to remember the glory days of NR under WFB's leadership, and to be honest I'm not as familiar with his earlier work as I should be. But I keep asking myself if he somehow got less conservative over the years. Is this the same guy who was a protege of Whittaker Chambers?

His earlier stuff is still interesting. Some of it is relevant, some of it is merely historical arcana. Chambers stopped writing for NR for the same reason that I stopped subscribing. Buckley who was quite capable of sublime thought seemed bewildered by Chambers' resignation. Chambers' reasoning was that Buckley was a conservative while Chambers considered himself a "man of the right". IOW, NR and Buckley would always be conservative within a liberal paradigm, while Chambers considered Christianity as essential to a true traditional stance. A difference WFB once described as a difference between the status quo and the status quo ante. Neocons are status quo hence their compromising positions with liberalism while the paleocons are principle based and often appear as take no prisoners to the middle of the road conservatives.

Still one has to ask from time to time; What exactly are you conserving?

37 posted on 07/07/2005 9:14:36 AM PDT by TradicalRC (In vino veritas.)
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To: TradicalRC
Chambers' reasoning was that Buckley was a conservative while Chambers considered himself a "man of the right". IOW, NR and Buckley would always be conservative within a liberal paradigm, while Chambers considered Christianity as essential to a true traditional stance. A difference WFB once described as a difference between the status quo and the status quo ante.

Great post! Thank you! And yes, that is something I have noticed too. You've articulated something that has had me perplexed for some time. There always seemed to be a limit to the logic of status quo conservatism as you so aptly describe it. It isn't enough to just shout "stop" if you have nothing to offer in the wake of train wreck of history.

71 posted on 07/07/2005 10:58:51 AM PDT by GipperGal
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