Buckley the Dissident

Comment on The Huffington Post, 3/12/08, Reply to "Ira Glasser Remembers William F. Buckley, Jr." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ira-glasser/ira-glasser-remembers-wil_b_91175.html

As Ira Glasser attests, William F. Buckley, Jr., was the kind of conservative who liberals could like -- not only because he was personally gracious, but because unlike many on the right, he actually listened to those he was debating. He did that because he relished ideas, he respected democracy, and he distrusted conventional wisdom.

In the 1960s, I had read "Up From Liberalism," Buckley's book that challenged liberal orthodoxy. As a young student who had done precinct work for Republicans but probably couldn’t tell you why – other than loyalty to my family’s political roots – Buckley spoke like lightning to my fatigue with all the stereotyped arguments of the era.

Then I plunged into the intellectual crises of the ‘60s with my Baby Boomer friends. One thing I couldn’t do, however, was fall in line with the gung-ho, pro-Vietnam War enthusiasm of many conservatives. I was appalled at their cavalier disregard for the costs of that war, as I am today about the Iraq misadventure. When Republicans fell into line with Richard Nixon in ’68 – a man whose campaign that year was philosophically inert and substantively disingenuous -- I realized that the party's establishment would swallow and digest any idea or leader, so long as elections were won and the system didn’t change. By ’72 I was for McGovern, because at least he “spoke truth to power”, as Buckley had in the ‘50s. And I never looked back -- still preferring maverick outsiders like Gary Hart and Bill Bradley, because they too challenged the group-think of those who were inured to the system as it was.

I only saw Bill Buckley in person once -- at a 2003 conference and celebration of the life and work of the late Malcolm Muggeridge, the great British journalist and television host. Muggeridge had reported from Stalin's Russia, edited "Punch", and was the man who'd brought Mother Theresa to the world's attention, through the BBC. Like Buckley, Muggeridge was an entertaining raconteur, a foe of the reigning establishment of his youth -- and also a thoughtful, tolerant Christian. Like Muggeridge, who was his friend, Buckley was a bit of a rebel, a bit of a knave, and loved the friendly clash of ideas. He was a natural dissident with a dash of dry sherry, topped up with cackling good humor. He was a good man.