William F. Buckley Jr, RIP
As a liberal who thinks that much of what National Review championed in its golden years – hawkish cold war policy, segregation, reaction against the cultural openness of the 1960s, wacky Franco-worship and just generally being conservative – as extremely misguided, I shouldn’t like William F. Buckley Jr. as much as I do.
But there will always be conservatives, and as far as they go, Buckley had some special, endearing qualities. As a writer and a thinker, he shows to all of us who deign to write about politics that our ideas can be incredibly influential, if expressed articulately and forcefully. He showed us that using the English language well could elevate one’s discourse from mere commentary to something approximating literature. His show, Firing Line, was the one of the better things to be on TV, and as far as encouraging smart people to say smart things, it in many ways anticipated bloggingheads.tv. He was also, if I may say so, something of a badass. He was a spy in Mexico, had a funny patrician accent, was an unabashed elitist, spent winters skiing in Gstaad and was a model for how political commentators could actually be cool.
But of course, we must pay attention to his ideas and politics. And any liberal must be opposed to Buckley’s politics, he was after all, someone who basically defined himself in opposition to American liberalism. But when he was forming a conservative coalition in the 50s and 60s, he was good to expel the Randians and the anti-semites. And, as a Jew, I can’t help but be touched that this oil-heir, patrician, conservative Yalie was willing to hire so many Jews to write for his conservative publication. The conservative movement wasn’t always friendly to Jews, and Buckley himself realized why this was both wrong and detrimental. His 1991 essay, “In Search of Anti-Semitism” is a piercing exploration of anti-semitism in American conservatism, his own family and of his former colleague Joe Sobran. For statements like this, I can’t help but be thankful.
Conservatism as a tendency, political movement and an ideology will always be with us. And if more conservatives were like Buckley in ideology, style, manner and temperament, I can’t help but think that our country would be healthier place.
