THE FITZGERALD GRIFFIN FOUNDATION E-PACKAGE
                   Lamb amongst Wolves
                     March 11, 2008


WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. IN PERSPECTIVE
by Kevin Lamb

     William F. Buckley's death two weeks ago generated the usual 
avalanche of glowing tributes and commentary. Every major 
newspaper repeated the usual stale anecdotes of the suave and 
sophisticated NATIONAL REVIEW founder and raconteur. NEWSWEEK 
featured Buckley on the magazine's cover. The day after Buckley's 
death the WASHINGTON POST published four separate items on him: a 
front-page obituary, Henry Allen's appreciation in the "Style" 
section, an op-ed by Mona Charen, and a newspaper editorial that 
credited him for turning a movement that lacked "intellectual 
respectability" into an "influential conservative intellectual 
establishment."

     According to legend, Buckley defined the modern conservative 
movement. He served as the guiding force in consolidating 
articulate conservative intellectuals with the launch of NATIONAL 
REVIEW in the mid 1950s. In essence, he redefined the Flynn-Taft 
isolationist Old Right -- the post-New Deal Right -- that over the 
years morphed into a politically correct form of conservatism. The 
gist of recently published commentary suggests that had Buckley 
not arrived on the scene, the post-New Deal Right would be 
dominated by bumbling, unsophisticated misfits and deranged kooks!

     Buckley's launch of NATIONAL REVIEW admittedly was a pivotal 
event for providing an early outlet for the views of an eclectic 
group of conservative writers. As J. David Hoeveler Jr. notes in 
AMERICAN CONSERVATISM: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA, "He brought a measure of 
cohesiveness to a disparate group of dissenters from the 
liberalism that dominated the American intellectual community." 
NATIONAL REVIEW became an outlet for thoughtful conservative 
writers, such as Mel Bradford, James Burnham, M. Stanton Evans, 
Sam Francis, James J. Kilpatrick, Russell Kirk, Joseph Sobran, and 
Richard Weaver.

     However, the amorphous and fluid intellectual trajectory of 
NATIONAL REVIEW over the years -- its inconsistency on civil 
rights and the immigration issue -- ultimately proved problematic 
for the publication and the larger conservative movement.

     As a political force that Buckley helped to forge, the 
transformation of conservatism from maverick to establishment 
status compromised principled positions on topics that by today's 
standards are beyond taboo for polite society. Controversial or 
provocative commentary, some of which defined the early contents 
of NATIONAL REVIEW, would gradually disappear with the rise of the 
publication's celebrity status. Any sustained analysis of racial 
differences, the impact of racial integration on American society, 
or the overreach of civil-rights legislation is now rendered 
beyond the pale. 

     Over the course of his life, Buckley had reached celebrity 
status by recasting "conservatism" in acceptable terms to the 
arch-egalitarian Left. His ultimate legacy: making "conservatism" 
chic. Buckley's embrace of the neoconservatives, the Trotskyite 
Right, ensured that the "conservative movement" would morph into 
its present-day Social Democrat status.

     Proof that Buckley attained acceptance by the establishment's 
ruling elite is the glowing tributes published in the nation's 
leading newspapers, notably the flattering front-page obituaries 
in the NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST. These appreciations 
speak volumes about him and about the fact that the deceased was 
ideologically not of the "Right" -- a "modern conservative" 
perhaps -- but center of "Right" in the traditional sense of the 
political spectrum. A "conservative" by today's standards seems to 
encompass anyone who is to the right of Che Guevara.

     For all the sentimental back-slapping of Buckley by 
conservatives, what exactly are the accomplishments of the 
conservative movement in the past half-century? A smaller federal 
government? Fiscal responsibility? The protection and advancement 
of liberty and freedom? What are the lasting achievements of the 
conservative movement? An alternative media? Stopping America's 
cultural slide to the far Left? The single most important 
beachhead for liberalism is the vice-like grip on our cultural and 
social institutions through public education and the mass media. 
Conservatives have punted to reverse what James Burnham once 
referred to as the "Suicide of the West."

     It is precisely "Chairman Bill's" thumbprint on the 
"conservative movement" that led to intellectual stagnation on a 
host of critical issues facing the West: mass immigration, 
multiculturalism, ballooning of the welfare state, racial 
preferences, and opposition to racial egalitarianism. If 
preserving one's cultural and ethnic heritage isn't a worthy goal 
of the "conservative" movement, what is? The tepid reaction from 
conservative quarters to an exploding demographic shift -- one 
that is transforming America's dominant European roots into a 
Third World culture -- is simply mind-boggling!

     Marcus Epstein rightly points out on VDARE.com that the 
"prevailing structure of taboos" has shifted considerably to the 
Left. Buckley and the modern conservative movement are largely to 
blame for not resisting this cultural climate, which has festered 
to the point where men can lose their career for speaking too 
freely.

     In the mid 1950s Richard Weaver once noted in NATIONAL 
REVIEW, "Most of us readily admit that this nation owes both its 
independence and its happiness to the principle of 
self-determination. That principle is now in danger of being 
suppressed by a blind zeal for standardization and enforced 
conformity. To oppose that trend, we do not have to become 
sectionalists. We need only grant the right of distinct groups to 
exercise some liberty of choice in the ordering of their social 
and cultural arrangements. If that liberty is denied, there will 
be no ground left on which to assert any other liberty."

     Weaver's admonition that it was a mistake for conservatives 
to drift just to the right of the Left as the country lurched ever 
leftward culturally and politically was remarkably prescient. This 
is precisely what has defined the "conservative" agenda over the 
years. The legacy of American "conservatives" has been to reassure 
liberals they aren't really that conservative; and to prove that 
they really are not bigots and racists they have no intention of 
conserving our European heritage.

     Thank you, "Chairman Bill," for this heralded achievement.

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Read this column on-line at 
"http://www.sobran.com/fgf/lamb/2008/kl080311.shtml".

Copyright (c) 2008 by Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation. All 
rights reserved. Permission has been given by the 
Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation to distribute and post this 
article.

Kevin Lamb is the managing editor of THE SOCIAL CONTRACT 
magazine, and secretary/treasurer of the Center for 
National Research. He is the founding editor of THE 
OCCIDENTAL QUARTERLY (TOQ), a magazine that addresses 
vital issues facing the survival of Western societies. He 
left TOQ in September 2007.

Previously he was managing editor of HUMAN EVENTS 
newspaper, and a library assistant at NEWSWEEK magazine.

Mr. Lamb worked with the late writer and editor Sam 
Francis in assembling and marshalling to press the book 
RACE AND THE AMERICAN PROSPECT: ESSAYS ON THE RACIAL 
REALITIES OF OUR NATION AND OUR TIME.

His writings have appeared on VDARE.com and in NATIONAL 
REVIEW; CHRONICLES; HUMAN EVENTS; MANKIND QUARTERLY; 
MIDDLE AMERICAN NEWS; CONSERVATIVE REVIEW; THE JOURNAL OF 
SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC STUDIES; THE SOCIAL 
CONTRACT; THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL; and RIGHT NOW!

Mr. Lamb has a B.A. in journalism and masters degree in 
political science from Indiana University. He is a 
graduate of the National Journalism Center.

He served in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1981 to 1986, 
receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of sergeant.

An avid reader, aficionado of classical orchestral music, 
and editor in exile, he is currently working on several 
long-range writing projects dealing with immigration, 
conservatism, race, and political correctness, including 
a major work on the sociobiology of race, character, and 
personality.

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