Buckley held a couple axioms from which his arguments stemmed, and which are somewhat obscured by the changing currents of history: the inherent evil of Communism vs the freedom of the individual in a capitalist society was one. The other was modern Catholic dogma. He was sincere in both, damn the consequences, but the one thing I respect him for is that he did not reason backwards to justify power and authority.

Those axioms Buckley held only coincidentally align with the "values" of contemporary, intellect-free conservatism, whioh involve positing any principle to justify a Republican one-party state. Contrast him to William Kristol, whose arguments shift to rationalize Republican control, or any number of right-wingers who are incapable of making a sustained and intelligent case for any position. It's no wonder that he was constantly involved in debate-- acrimonious sometimes, but real-- with liberal interlocutors. He was high-handed, maybe an elitist, though in "God and Man at Yale," as a Catholic conservative at a Protestant institution, clearly he felt himself to be a bit of an underdog.

Few figures on the right nowardays have the intellectual integrity that Buckley offered, and his loss is a loss to a liberal society.

Posted at February 27, 2008 1:15 PM in response to William F. Buckley, Jr. Open Thread