William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead at 82

From the New York Times:

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 82.

Mr. Buckley suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said.

William Buckley, with his winningly capricious personality, his use of ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare to an anteater’s, was the popular host of one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine “National Review.”

And

Mr. Buckley’s greatest achievement was making conservatism — not just electoral Republicanism but conservatism as a system of ideas — respectable in liberal post-World War II America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Barry Goldwater in 1964 and saw his dreams fulfilled when Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office.

More here.

As longtime Real Art readers know, I used to be a conservative. Even though I am now far to the left in terms of my political thinking, I continue to have a very soft spot in my heart for William F. Buckley. Yeah, I know, this whole fucking conservative mess we're in today can, to some extent, be traced directly back to him, but I don't think it's fair to lay all this shit at his feet. That is, the one thing I always deeply admired about Buckley was his commitment to thought and debate, eloquent civilized debate. If the Conservative Movement had followed his example on this, I strongly believe that the harshest and most psychotic elements of Republican rule would have been greatly muted--instead, we must endure right-wing radio bastards who love to say "Barack Hussein Obama" in order to make us think he's Saddam Hussein, crazy cunts like Ann Coulter who want to forcefully convert the Middle East to Christianity, and an idiot-boy President, a regular guy with whom we can have a beer. This is not William F. Buckley's conservative America.

Buckley really was a pretty brilliant guy. I used to think he was the gold standard for all conservative argumentation, even well into my liberal period: it wasn't until a couple of years ago when I saw some video of him floundering against Noam Chomsky back in the 60s, falling into Hannity-like demagoguery, talking over him and cutting him off, that I realized Buckley had kinks in his armor, but hey, nobody's perfect. For the most part, the old Yalie regularly presented challenges to liberalism that simply couldn't be ignored. As a conservative I loved him because he so well articulated my point of view; as a liberal I continued to love him because he kept me on my toes.

Now he's gone and conservatism is in total disarray. I sincerely hope that the right will take this opportunity to re-tool itself along the lines of Buckley's model. Liberals need conservatives, if, like I said, only to keep us on our toes. In the grand scheme, and ideally, the two sides of the American political spectrum balance each other. Don't get me wrong; I'm not hailing the mushy middle as some wonderful place to be. But liberalism, like conservatism, is easily prone to zeal and excess. Smart conservatives like Buckley give liberals the periodic crotch-kicks needed to keep them honest, and vice versa. Unfortunately, the most prominent conservative spokesmen today are not at all smart, or at least, not smart like Buckley. Certainly not civilized like Buckley.

Here's Buckley giving one of those fabulous crotch-kicks to professional liberal asshole Gore Vidal back in 1968, the year I was born--of course, I love Vidal, too, but he really is an asshole.



Farewell, William F. Buckley. I may have disagreed with you on most everything, but you disagreed with me so damned well.

More on Buckley here.

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