Bill Buckley died Wednesday at 82 at his home in Connecticut. He was the most influential public intellectual of his generation in this country, maybe the world.
More than anyone, even Goldwater or Reagan, he was the father of modern conservatism, which was as much an intellectual as a political movement from 1955, when he founded the National Review, to 2000 when, under Bush and DeLay, the movement foundered in a sea of law breaking, war mongering and greed.
I got to know Buckley a little in the 1990s, debating him on his show, Firing Line. The show, the longest running with a single host in TV history, was civil, substantive and high minded; in short, the opposite of everything political talk shows have since become.
Off camera he was witty and articulate and also gracious and warm. A couple of years after the show went off the air I was running for Governor of Connecticut and bumped into him. He put his hand gently on my arm and said, softly, "I will vote against you with the deepest affection."
Buckley evolved over time from one who insisted the constitution forbade us from ending segregation, to one who supported civil rights laws and a national holiday for Martin Luther King.
But the underlying tenets of his thought, grounded in his Roman Catholicism and equally fervent beliefs in free republics and free markets, remained consistent.
It didn't always keep him close to the leaders of his party or of the movement he had led. On the National Review website, Buckley identified himself as a "libertarian conservative," a designation that separated him, ever so slightly, from the excesses of his crowd.
He saw Viet Nam as a mistake and parted company with Bush over Iraq. He sailed to international waters to try marijuana before calling for legalization. His lovely book Nearer My God reveals a real spirituality, as opposed to the hateful, hypocritical swill peddled as religion by his party. Sam Tanenhaus, author of a much anticipated biography, says Buckley couldn't bear Ann Coulter.
I first met Buckley a decade before our Firing Line encounters at a reception for an ailing Mike Harrington, socialist and author of 'The Other America.' Harrington truly regarded Buckley as a friend. So did John Kenneth Galbraith. So did most liberals Buckley knew.
Buckley loved debate. Unlike today's cowardly conservatives, he debated the best minds he could entice on to a stage. He never used his opponents as props or punch lines for fixed fights. He liked them. Loving his own ideas, not just hating theirs, left room for liking them.
What a long sad fall from Bill Buckley to Bill O' Reilly. I'm not part of the crowd that says if we can just get along everything will be alright. But I am part of the crowd that thinks learning to get along better will help.
To get out of Iraq or into a new health care system will require some hard fighting, but also some hard thinking and most of all reasoned arguments to persuade, if not the opposition, certainly the public.
If you want to see how far we are from having that kind of debate, watch an old episode of Firing Line and then watch a random hour of live cable television. That's how far.
Bill Buckley raised an army against a liberal establishment. Like Barry Goldwater, he often dissented in later years from a conservative establishment he helped create.
The political debate Buckley launched is over, many of its old categories defunct. To shape a new debate we'll need at least a few people with the intellect, humanity, civility and great good humor of Bill Buckley. I hope we find them.
We will continue on.
At 44 it's about time I wake up and pay attention, I have a 24 yr old's future, I must seek justice for them. US late Bloomer Boomers will have to carry the water for the indulgences and excessive of our older 'Siblings' . We will not Retire, because We will not have the opportunity financial nor Communally. Whos' going to have to help the smaller later generations to support this huge and long lived generation of the 'Boomers"? US younger tail end 'boomers'.Suck It Up everyone- the Dream Is Over. We will ultimately die of cancer because we allowed so much smoke to be blown up our asses all these years, especially the last 35! Now, Green Peace, ACLU ....what have you done - nothing. Women still only make on average $0.77 to a mans $ 1.00, Rampant Global Warming, and our Constitution Sold to Corporate Multi Nationals and their sponsoring Countries.
I'd like to discuss the US economy with an Ol School Republican, I'm into the Free Market, just not Privatization of Essential Services to the Citizens, thus labor , thus GNP. Things never allowed to be Profit Drive and Traded on any Stock exchange are Food, Water, Housing, Education, Natural Resources, Health care, Defense ...essential Government Responsiblities to it's citizens.
Make a killing off I Phones, or 360 games...just not off the God or Natures gifts given to all of Us to share for our mutal existence. At the Very least we must stop betting on 'Futures', we are only enslaving our decedants further.
Note to crazy people: if you need to rant, get a blog. They're free.
They're there, and more than a few, but nobody is looking.
"""He saw Viet Nam as a mistake and parted company with Bush over Iraq. He sailed to international waters to try marijuana before calling for legalization. His lovely book Nearer My God reveals a real spirituality, as opposed to the hateful, hypocritical swill peddled as religion by his party. Sam Tanenhaus, author of a much anticipated biography, says Buckley couldn't bear Ann Coulter. """
I hate every thing that Buckley stood for, Capitalism,Libritarian Drug Use, Snobbery, etc. That being said ,I hate him a little less now that I know that he couldn't bear Ann Coulter.
I mentioned these observations to an English teacher at one time. She said that the goal of good writing is to be understood, not to impress.
I did check on some of Buckley's more recent works and he has made good progress. He's down to no more than 50 words at a time. As for Will, I'm afraid there's no hope.
Constant nagging and negative bashing is what 3/4 of their programming consists of. The country is growing tired of it and it's ratings are slipping while MSNBC's are going up.
Buckley's verbose and sometime unintelligable opinions were thought provoking at times, but all tied back to the rigid conservative movement that is falling in tatters. He did not respect Fox News and did not consider any ofb them journalists.
His agony with emphysema no doubt was central to this change,but so also was the realization that ones smoke may destroy others health. Free markets and tobacco, as we now know,do not mix,and tobacco reform will be the most cost-saving public health measure according to CDC,WHO,AMA,ACS,ALA,AHA. I'm one doc who can't wait for Buckley's conversion to affect all those congressional bribe-takers who keep the poisonous tobacco barons alive.