THE FOUNDATION

“Eloquence has been defined to be the art of persuasion. If it included persuasion by convincing, [he] was the most eloquent man I ever heard.” —Patrick Henry

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

In honor of the life and work of William F. Buckley Jr., today’s Patriot Brief will be in part dedicated to this giant of conservatism and mentor to our key staff. He was one of two individuals who helped take The Patriot Post from concept to reality. He provided promotion for our publication during our first year of operation, a year in which we expected to gain 5,000 readers, but which, with Mr. Buckley’s help and advice, resulted in more than 25,000 subscribers.

At age 29, Buckley launched National Review with this founding statement: “It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” Buckley edited National Review for 35 years, writing more than 800 articles and editorials. He also published 55 books and 5,600 opinion columns, gave some 70 speeches a year and taped more than 1,400 “Firing Line” TV shows. Whether or not one agrees with all of his ideas, his impact on the conservative movement can hardly be overstated.

INSIGHT

“I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the CIO. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power, as I see fit. I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth. That is a program of sorts, is it not? It is certainly program enough to keep conservatives busy, and Liberals at bay. And the nation free.” —William F. Buckley Jr.

CULTURE

“Buckley was a one-man refutation of Hollywood’s idea of a conservative. He was rising in the 1950s and early ‘60s, and Hollywood’s idea of a conservative was still Mr. Potter, the nasty old man of 'It’s a Wonderful Life,’ who would make a world of grubby Pottersvilles if he could, who cared only about money and the joy of bullying idealists. Bill Buckley’s persona, as the first famous conservative of the modern media age, said no to all that. Conservatives are brilliant, capacious, full of delight at the world and full of mischief, too. That’s what he was. He upended old clichés… I share here a fear. It is not that the conservative movement is ending, that Bill’s death is the period on a long chapter… Conservatism will endure if it is rooted in truth, and in the truths of life. It is. It is rather that with the loss of Bill Buckley we are, as a nation, losing not only a great man…[W]e are losing his kind—people who were deeply, broadly educated in great universities when they taught deeply and broadly, who held deep views of life and the world and art and all the things that make life more delicious and more meaningful. We have work to do as a culture in bringing up future generations that are so well rounded, so full and so inspiring. Bill Buckley lived a great American life. His heroism was very American—the individualist at work in the world, the defender of great creeds and great beliefs going forth with spirit, style and joy. May we not lose his kind. For now, ‘Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels take thee to thy rest’.” —Peggy Noonan

THE GIPPER

“You didn’t just part the Red Sea—you rolled it back, dried it up and left exposed, for all the world to see, the naked desert that is statism. And then, as if that weren’t enough, you gave the world something different, something in its weariness it desperately needed, the sound of laughter and the sight of the rich, green uplands of freedom.” —President Ronald Reagan to William F. Buckley Jr., on the occasion of National Review’s 30th anniversary in 1985

“I want to say just a word or two about… Bill Buckley. And unlike Bill, I’ll try to keep my words to single syllables, or at the worst, only two. You know, I’ve often thought when I’ve been faced with memorandums from deep in the bowels of the bureaucracy what I wouldn’t give to have Bill as an interpreter…I think you know that National Review is my favorite magazine… NR isn’t a favorite only because it’s fought the good fight so long and so well, although that would be reason enough. It’s my favorite because it’s splendidly written, brilliantly edited, and a pleasure to read. In fact, I honestly believe even if I were to suffer from mental illness or convert to liberalism for some other reason—NR would still be my favorite magazine because of its wit and its charm and intellectual quality of its contents… Let me just close by saying a heartfelt thank you to National Review for all you’ve done for the values we share.” —Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Today’s America has quite a different political climate from the one into which William Frank Buckley was born November 24, 1925, mainly because he made the difference. It was an America in which the conservative philosophy could scarcely be called a philosophy; it was more like a relic under glass, its skeletal remains rolled out now and then for an occasional autopsy by Walter Lippmann or a funeral mass under the direction of George Santayana. Any distinction between conservative thought and right-wing nuttism, the holy and profane, had long ago blurred into inconsequentiality… It’s not that Bill Buckley was present at the creation of the conservative revival; he pretty much created it, beginning at Yale… If you seek his monument today, just look around. Conservatism is now the dominant American political philosophy, and liberalism the series of irritable mental gestures. But nothing disorganizes an army or cause like victory. Conservatism’s intellectual dominance now shows in its smug self-satisfaction, its various cracks and fault lines, its slow subsidence from fighting idea to just reflex, its progression from courage to hubris. And there is no new Buckley in sight, someone who could both mobilize and re-invigorate the old true ideas, even while entertaining us all. But the sea change in American ideas that he presided over is unmistakable… Something tells me we have only begun to miss William F. Buckley Jr.” —Paul Greenberg

RE: THE LEFT

“As everyone knows, Bill Buckley almost single-handedly created the modern conservative movement in America. Before Buckley, conservatives were scorned as ‘the stupid party’ in John Stuart Mill’s memorable formulation. Lionel Trilling argued in the late 1940s that conservatives didn’t have ideas so much as ‘irritable mental gestures.’ What could they say of Bill Buckley, a polymath whose wit could be withering, whose prose was pellucid, and whose energy was seemingly inexhaustible? Bill’s talents were so galvanic that they energized an entire movement, first among those who joined him at National Review—James Burnham, Priscilla Buckley (Bill’s sister and the magazine’s managing editor), Frank Meyer, Wilmoore Kendall and Whittaker Chambers—and then in concentric circles to include, I think it safe to assert, every important conservative thinker today. All owe Bill a huge intellectual debt, and many benefited from his generosity personally… Now that we see his life in full, we have even more reason to marvel and to honor him for what he was: a great man—a once-in-a-century figure.” —Mona Charen

FOR THE RECORD

“Whenever Bill Buckley was profiled in the media, he was usually pinned firmly to words such as ‘impish’ and ‘gadfly.’ It is easy to understand why. He was a wit—and a reckless wit at that. Asked what he would first do if elected mayor of New York in 1965, he replied: ‘Demand a recount.’ Bores cling to the consoling thought that such a sharp wit must also be frivolous and ineffectual, but Bill was one of the most effectual men of our time… First… he established the National Review. By reconciling brilliant but quarrelsome and more senior talents, he shaped a new philosophy for conservatives wandering disconsolately in New Deal America. Second, he used the magazine to reconcile the quarrelsome factions of conservatism—economic libertarians, moral traditionalists, foreign policy hawks—around this philosophy. Third, he used his own celebrity and ‘Firing Line’ to give confidence to conservatives nationwide by taking on eminent liberals in debate and dispatching them with better arguments and better jokes. When conservatives saw Bill jab the air with the point of his pencil or devastate a guest with some witty epigram, they would feel, perhaps for the first time: ‘They can never win.’ And as long as Bill was alive, they never could… He was a great man and a figure of great historical significance.” —John O'Sullivan

CAMPAIGN WATCH

“Republicans owe Hillary our gratitude. She has road-tested several versions of attacks on Obama that don’t work… The overall lesson to take away from the Democratic primary season so far is that big charges against Obama backfire on the accuser… If Obama can be defeated, it will not be with a meat cleaver but with a surgeon’s scalpel. This is difficult in a national campaign in which the public, almost of necessity, must be communicated with by slogans. But Obama is the master [of] responding to blustery charges with wry, dry irony. The Republicans must systematically make a hundred tightly argued, irrefutable critiques of very specific examples of Obama’s policy being wrong for at least 60 percent of America.” —Tony Blankley

POLITICAL FUTURES

“[I would] caution Republicans against overlearning the lessons of Mrs. Clinton’s defeat. A general election differs from a primary in various ways. The electorate is broader, including Republicans and lots more independents. They’re actually choosing the president, so they may pay closer attention and be more inclined to skepticism of Obama’s airy rhetoric and messianic self-presentation. And the candidates are wholly unrestrained by concerns for party unity. McCain also is not a Clinton, with all the baggage that goes along with that name. None of which is to say that Obama would not be a formidable foe, only that he will face a different set of challenges in a general election, and his success in the primaries is no guarantee of success in the general election. Here is a statistic for Obama to ponder: Roughly 50% of all major-party nominees go on to lose the general election.” —James Taranto

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“Mark Alexander’s article, ‘What Dogs Hear,’ was excellent. I am still wondering what the American people are hearing because I, like you, do not get what he is going to do. He reminds me of the Pied Piper and folks are mesmerized by his tune. He offers ‘change,’ but it will not be what people want in the end.” —Lucas, Texas

“After reading Mark Alexander’s essay, ‘What Dogs Hear,’ first I laughed, then I cried, then I growled.” —New Paltz, New York

“The trouble is that people aren’t really hearing anything that’s being said. If they were truly listening they would realize that is all double speak! And a lot of hype and promises that no one can keep. To me it’s all blah blah blah! The man will fool them and when they realize what’s happened they won’t understand how it happened! They will have been hoodwinked.” —Columbus, Ohio

“Barack Obama scares me. The fact that so many in our country are so willing to allow him to be their ‘savior’ is a commentary on the level of their understanding and comprehension of the way things are and the way things are supposed to be. Obama’s ‘rock star’ influence may very well lead to an entire country having to face, at the very least, four years of his inability to say anything, while saying so many words. Heaven— please help us!” —Midlothian, Texas

THE LAST WORD

“In 1999, Buckley was interviewed for ‘Nightline’ by Ted Koppel. ‘Mr. Buckley, we have 10 seconds left,’ Koppel said at the end. ‘Could you sum up in 10 seconds?’ Buckley replied, simply: ‘No.’ In the days ahead, no one will find it easy to sum up Bill Buckley’s extraordinary legacy. His output was so prodigious and his range so immense that he routinely made the rest of us ‘feel like hopeless underachievers,’ as I wrote in a column four years ago. Today Buckley’s astonishing, history-changing output comes to an end. His life and his life’s work will resonate for many years to come.” —Jeff Jacoby

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)