PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Timothy L. Knapp
www.susvalleypolicy.org
www.voiceofpa.net
The intellectual and spiritual godfather of the American conservative movement,
William F. Buckley, Jr., died at his Connecticut home on Wednesday at the age of 82.
His quiet end stands in stark contrast to a full life lived with high purpose and high achievement. He was found in his study working on yet another book - a man of action and intellectual dynamism to the end.
With his passing we have lost another giant of the conservative movement. Russell Kirk died in 1994; Barry Goldwater in 1998; Ronald Reagan in 2004. But even more than those men, William F. Buckley stands at the forefront of a political movement that has transformed American politics. He was the indispensable man of American conservatism.
In the 1950's, before Barry Goldwater wrestled the Republican presidential
nomination from the Eastern Establishment and before Ronald Reagan took that
conservative mantle all the way to the White House, no cohesive conservative
intellectual or political movement existed in America. Men like Robert Taft were pillars of the right, but did not together take part in a larger philosophical debate. Liberalism as a governing doctrine stood transcendent.
Even the election of a Republican President after twenty years of Democratic
ownership of the White House offered little real opposition to the prevailing
liberal hegemony. William F. Buckley changed all that. President Reagan never
failed to give Buckley credit for creating the intellectual underpinnings that
caused a sea change in American politics.
Conservatives like me who were born in the 1960's, inherited a political landscape made possible in large measure by the force of Buckley's intelligence and world view. It is hard for members of my generation to imagine a time when conservatism was not in the forefront of political discourse. But it was not always so. When Buckley's National Review debuted in 1955, his task was simple yet extraordinary - he proclaimed the journal's mission "to stand athwart history, yelling Stop."
He was always more of a combatant than a commentator. When he skewered our shared alma mater with his first book, God and Man at Yale, he critiqued modern academia and found it tragically lacking any sense of the seminal western tradition. Rather than inculcating permanent values, he found the academy accepting all values and favoring none except that of "academic freedom." In 1954, at the height of the anti-McCarthy fever, he authored a sympathetic treatise on the Wisconsin Senator dispelling much of the conventional wisdom surrounding McCarthy's alleged witch hunts.
In 1965, he even ran for mayor of New York, opposing Republican John Lindsay and Democrat Abraham Beame on the Conservative Party ticket. He was not in to win - famously responding to a questioner who asked what he would do if victorious - "demand a recount." He campaigned to make a point and to draw attention to his cause - the cause of conservatism.
Over the years, his National Review brought together intellectuals of all stripes: former Communists who had seen the light; traditionalists, both secular and clerical; classic liberals and libertarians all found refuge and succor in his pages. Mr. Buckley himself was a devout Catholic and saw the West engaged in a death struggle with worldwide communism. He believed in free markets and understood the synergy between freedom and virtue.
Many of the men and women Buckley first brought together at National Review would never have considered themselves "conservatives." He more than any other individual coalesced seemingly incompatible, discordant factions to form a quilt of intellectual force that eventually became the dominant thought in American politics.
Buckley's pursuits both transcended and absorbed politics. His television program, Firing Line, gave viewers a first hand glance of the wit and grace of the man as he interviewed or debated the leading political, literary and academic lights.
He was an avid sailor - many times sailing around the world in a series of sail
boats. Many of his journeys were captured in print and allow wonderful insights into his philosophy of life. He was an avid mystery writer, penning the Blackford Oakes series conjuring images from his early and brief stint in the CIA. He delighted in playing the harpsichord - Bach was a particular favorite.
In all things, his tastes were old world, yet he was also uniquely American,
reaching out and befriending people of all political backgrounds and persuasions.
He became a celebrity outside the political world for his glorious use of the
English language, his ability to speak on a seemingly endless array of topics and his general role as a bon vivant. Interesting and intelligent and witty, he frustrated his rivals on the left who were used to dismissing the right as anything but interesting and intelligent and witty.
I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Buckley on several occasions in front of groups large and small. He had ceased to be the young lion then, but age did not lessen his presence or his message. He retained all his personal charms mixed with age and wisdom and I am certain a good deal of satisfaction. He had gone from political agitator to learned sage; from political anomaly to presidential counselor. He had fought the good fight and lived to see the glorious spring.
Mr. Buckley's passing has the mark of symbolism, now. It is the end of an era. It is a poignant reminder and should serve us as an inspiration to stay the course. Today, we conservatives are at war from within. There is a great deal of commentary about the end of the Reagan coalition - it could just as easily be called the Buckley coalition - and what comes next.
The fragile, embryonic coalition Mr. Buckley nurtured for over five decades looks longingly for its next leader. Not just a political leader, but the captain of our vessel - one who will chart the course.
In the past we have had our internecine battles and while bloodied emerged stronger and more coherent - but then, William F. Buckley was there to coach and cajole and inspire us. His passing causes us to reflect on his singular voice and his rare gifts - oh, that we had another just like him.
Timothy L. Knapp is a guest essayist for The Susquehanna Valley Center for Public Policy, a non-partisan, non-profit policy research organization based in Hershey, PA.
