Osler's Razor

He was a rare breed..... I loved his accent.
 

Osler, I would first like to say that I agree with your sentiment. Buckley was one of the most important figures in modern conservatism. As George Will has said, before there was Reagan there was Goldwater, before there was Goldwater there was the National Review, and before there was the National Review there was William F. Buckley, Jr. He will be missed by anyone that appreciates rigorous debate and intellectual inquiry. However, in the great tradition of Buckley, I must take issue with a couple of things you said.

"He was one of the last of a generation of a certain kind of conservative: Erudite, wealthy, well-read, sharp-witted, and ready to laugh." So, I assume the modern generation of conservatives is poorly read, dull, humorless, and poor?? I actually think Buckley was the first in a generation of conservative thought that began with him, continued with people like George Will, and continues today with the writings of a number of conservatives (and no I don't include Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter in that group).

"While Buckley certainly did not represent a large group of Americans in his background, beliefs, or outlook." I will agree, his background was certainly not shared by many, but I think his beliefs and outlook are shared by a very large group of Americans. These are the Americans that elected Reagan in two landslide elections and voted in a conservative congress in 1994. Those two political moments can be directly traced to Buckley, and certainly indicate that a fairly large group of Americans share, or are at least sympathetic to, some of his beliefs and his outlook.
 

RRL--

Actually, yeah, I do think that unfortunately most of the leading media conservatives of our time are poorly read, dull, and humorless except in a mean-spirited way (they ARE rich, of course). You can't except Coulter and Hannity and Levine and Limbaugh from that group because, unfortunately, conservatives have pretty much let that group do their talking for the past decade or so.

Your second point is probably right-- my explanation was incomplete. Buckley was not a populist. Rather, he portrayed himself as part of an intellectual elite, and was unashamed of that. It's that aspect of him that you don't see much anymore. Many people would think, too, that it's a good thing you don't see it much anymore.
 

Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh etc. don't speak for me, nor do they speak for many conservatives.

People I know who are conservatives are just that, conservative. They keep to themselves and don't get all agitated nor do they feel the need to listen to agitators.

These loudmouthed media stars are well known because they have to be obnoxious in order to "feed the beast" that is modern day media. A thoughtful and slow moving show like "Firing Line" would never make it today.
 

The other thing is that conservatives like Buckley and Reagan were actually conservative. They didn't believe in government. Today, conservatives love government! They can't get enough of it! Their answer to everything is more government. How do you fix Iraq? Government spending! How do you deal with almost any problem? Government spending! The really really funny part is when they think it is conservative to give big stacks of tax money to corporations-- because then it becomes "private sector spending."

The Reagan legacy died in Bush's second term and nobody cared. It's probably not surprising that this is the same time that Buckley withdrew from public life.
 

Mort, as IPLG knows, you stole my usual rant. After working in government, I finally got what Reagan was talking about, and I really do believe in small government. The problem is that Republicans don't, from everything I've seen. And these days, "conservative" means being a Republican, so the word conservative has been unmoored from its true meaning. I don't think it is conservative to start wars, or to pollute, or to federalize perogatives formerly reserved to the states, but that's where we are at, and it is sad. Buckley did have some things right, and one was insisting on a consistent meaning to words. Liberals misuse words, too-- ie, "economic rape." But they don't destroy the words that define themselves, which is an affliction particular to "conservatives."
 

So, I basically have to be defined by the worst elements of the people that I share some beliefs with? Then I can basically lump all liberals/progressives in with Che and Stalin?

And this quote fascinates me, "I don't think it is conservative to start wars, or to pollute, or to federalize perogatives formerly reserved to the states." I agree that pollution is not uniquely conservative, but Buckley and those like him would not find massive government regulation to be a particularly good solution. And I agree, on issues from stem cell research to gay marriage that conservatives have gotten far too comfortable with using the strong arm of the federal government. But it is not as if liberals/progressives aren't still committed to using the government in the exact same manner. Sure, two wrongs don't make a right, but liberals sure were quick to start talking about federalism and states rights when they the found out that after 50 years of using the federal government to advance their social agenda it really sucks when the shoe is on the other foot.

And finally, I agree that being conservative is not wrapped up in starting wars. Certainly this was true for liberalism after Kennedy attempted to invade Cuba and did invade Vietnam. A number of politicians at various times have engaged in unnecessary conflict, and that doesn't mean their ideology necessarily becomes tied to warfare. However, Buckley used to get attacked for being a war loving crypto Nazi, so it is not surprising those same insults are being hurled at conservatives today.
 

RRL-- Well, I do think it is fair to define Republicans by what a Republican president, Republican House, and Republican Senate chose to do from 2000-2006. And what they chose to do was spend and spend and spend government money to achieve goals through government action. That may be a liberal value, but it is not a conservative one, and it bugs me that they claim to be conservatives and co-opted that term.

Actually, we mostly agree, now that I read your post again.

Anyways, my point might as well be that Buckley was lucky, maybe, to be part of that group of conservatives who weren't saddled by power for most of their careers; they could be idealists and uncorrupted for all those 40 years that Democrats ruled Congress. In the end, Reagan really did buy into some of their ideas, and really believed and articulated them, but then he got elected and it all got muddied up.
 

Buckley is one of the last of a breed of civil yet rigorous and intellectual honest politcal advocacy. There's not a whole lot of people like Buckley on either side of the intellectual divide these days it seems.

I'm not sure when politics turned so partisan and mean, but it didn't seem this way when I was a kid. You could disagree with someone's politcal beliefs without wanting to destroy them. Heck, read how shrill the National Review has become, which is a tragedy.

It's not that there aren't honest and civil voices in today's politcal debate, but they get drowned out in the cacophony of screeching heads. Conseravtism didn't suffer a great loss, all of America did when Buckley's voice was quieted. I'll miss his words.
 

WFB columns were like a trip into the past, into a more genteel age. Having grown up with the populist, racuous party bosses of my urban northern homeland, I could not imagine that there exsisted political commentators who could defend their positions with such grace and culture. IPLawGuy, I agree with your statement as to WFB's impact on the conservative movemant. I do not know who will be able to replace him, in influence as well as charm- it seems the modern conservative movement is far too fragmented- the type of East-Coast conservative that he is the epitome of seem to be swifty vanishing.

- Chicago
 

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