Like William F. Buckley, Jr., Dwight Macdonald attended Yale and the men shared a common concern regarding the state of popular culture and the dumbing down of American education and letters. But Macdonald considered National Review glib, non-traditional and anti-intellectual, and he clashed with Buckley over the Vietnam War and the role of civil disobedience.
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In the 1960s and 70s, William F. Buckley, Jr. squared off against James Baldwin and his view of American society as hopelesly irredeemable. According to Buckley, the idea of "Freedom Now" was an invitation to frustration, and true empowerment could not be achieved through political gestures or symbolism alone. William F. Buckley, Jr. not only appeared on the top liberal and political talk shows of his time with devastating wit and effectiveness, he debated the top liberal and leftist minds of our time and with remarkable skill helped reshape the issues of his time. Reflections. Those who pile remorseless fact on remorseless fact in the name of rational science usually wind up constructing another idol, only one that is lifeless; that is their right and choice, but why should it surprise them that the rest of us refuse to bow down and worship with them? Conservatism is a big enough tent to include many differing views on specific issues, but there are overriding principles that bind conservatism as a political force. Elections are about issues and about serious solutions to the problems our nation confronts, but the networks have focused almost exclusively on speculating about who is up, who is down, who is out, who is in. Why settle, when we have a full-fledged, tough and experienced conservative to turn to? According to Paul Krugman, Republicans win elections only because of their exploitation of southern bigotry, evangelical mobilization, media influence, and exploitation of security issues. A review of The Conscience of a Liberal. In his collection of correspondence from his Notes and Asides column, William F. Buckley, Jr. reminds us that one can be sharp and relevant without being boorish. A review of Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription. A leader must touch the heart of the nation and a great leader never fails to do so. Another lion says good night: Norman Mailer, RIP. Many believe that the newspaper is going the way of the horse and buggy. The tragedy of Iraq is that it has not been handled with the kind of care that Mark Daily and tens of thousands of other precious souls who have lost their lives deserved. Strictly Right adds texture to the Buckley/National Review story, which is, after all, the story of modern conservatism. Many on the Right seem more interested in punishing desperate people who have fled here looking for work than in fixing the system. Listening to Douglas Brinkley record his surprise about how thoughtful and engaged Reagan was confirmed our conviction that liberals are trapped in their own prejudices more than the conservatives they so often malign. Last week's debate between Robert Kuttner and Bill Kristol debate wasn't quite vintage Buckley or Hitchens, but it was nevertheless a cut above most of what passes for discussion these days. Postmodernism detaches human beings from tradition, communities, and place and reduces human existence to a series of meaningless sexual, material and psychological transactions that have no deeper meaning. Don Imus does not deserve to be hung in effigy by the likes of Al Sharpton and Keith Olbermann, who are black belts when it comes to drive-by attacks. If Republicans want star power, street smarts and likeability rolled into one, they could do a good deal worse than the former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. Anyone who makes Keith Olbermann and his ilk uncomfortable can’t be all bad. For lessons on morality, ethics and how to conduct one’s life, the Sermon on the Mount, not Atlas Shrugged, is the first place to turn. Almost a decade after he tried to mobilize a thoughtful left, Richard Rorty is feeling hopeless: in his view structural economic problems are unmanageable, the religious right is likely to usher in an era of fascism, and the working class left doesn’t comprehend Rorty’s political agenda. These films lift the human spirit rather than crushing us with the realities of our politically correct age. |
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