Waiting for the Libertarian WFB,Jr.

A new play by William Beckett: fractious and zealous thinkers fight each other like Monty Python's "Judean People's Front vs. People's Front of Judea" while collectivists accrue more money, power, and influence.

In the shadow of the New Deal, Godot did show. The WSJ Ed Page remembers "When liberalism was dominant but hidebound in the second half of the last century, [William F. Buckley] pioneered a new direction that transformed American politics."

These achievements might not have happened without Buckley, who was uniquely suited to preside over the often-feuding factions of the early political right. He liked arguments over principle, but he also had an uncommon talent for adjudicating disputes and building coalitions. And though Buckley had bedrock beliefs, he had a conservative's distrust for systems and grand theories; his politics were pragmatic. His thinking and prose were governed by a critical-deliberative style that emphasized contingency and complexity. More than anything else, Buckley wanted to promulgate what he often referred to as "a thoughtful conservatism."

Waiting...

Philosophy Posted by jk at February 28, 2008 10:43 AM