Basic Buckley   

I write to lament the passing of William F. Buckley.

For hundreds of thousands of young as well as older Americans during the difficult years of the cold war and neo-liberalism, Bill Buckley showed everyone what conservatism is.  He not only demonstrated its intellectual basis but also built practical outlets to the philosophy itself, first via his book God and Man at Yale, then by the magazine National Review and then the hit series, Firing Line on television.  As a fourteen year old I knew there just had to be more to "politics" than the evening news.  One night I discovered Firing Line.  I was mesmerized and never missed the program for perhaps a decade.  I would often order the transcript of the shows to study the point-counterpoint exchanges.  Soon I discovered that the strange speaking Yankee who was so very, very logical also had a magazine.  In college, whenever National Review arrived, I would immediately spend the next two hours intently analyzing it.

Buckley founded Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).  During the Vietnam War, I became a chapter chairman while a student at UNC Charlotte.  One of my life's highlights was attending the tenth anniversary of YAF at Buckley's home in Sharon, Connecticut.

Because of Bill Buckley, most of the conservative movement is conscious of the distinction between traditional conservatism and libertarianism.  Buckley was basically a fusionist who understood the Burkian foundations of contemporary conservatism.

There are hundreds of Buckley quotes.  One, where I think he quotes another in defining conservatism, is: "Conservatism is the paradigm of essences towards which the phenomenology of the world is in continuing approximation."  It is humorous but expresses the traditionalist view of conservatism's basic grasp of Truth and how Truth will triumph ultimately.

Every time I am fortunate enough to speak to groups of young people I emphasize a Buckley truth: You must develop an understanding of your own political philosophy.  Conservatism correctly understood, emphasizes individual human freedom while balancing the cultural norms of family, faith and governmental structures in tension with that freedom.  The emasculation of freedom in an effort to "help" everyone is Federalism gone awry and is the error of liberalism.  The emasculation of the cultural norms is an effort to deify freedom and is the error of libertarianism.  To hold the balance as the "essence" which will prevail is a belief that God will direct the course of human endeavor to a righteous conclusion and is the conservative merger of philosophy into faith, thus eschatological in its outcome.

Basic Buckley.

He, himself, said we stand on the shoulders of giants.  Now that he is gone, it will be ever more clear that William Buckley is one of the greatest of the giants.
David L. Thomas

03/02 07:10 PM