As Ed Feulner notes in his
piece in the Washington Times, it has been ten years since author, columnist,
editor and TV host William F. Buckley died.
I began reading Mr. Buckley and
watching his TV show Firing Line when I was 12-years-old.
Like so many, many others, Mr. Buckley
was a huge influence in my life.
I’m thankful that I was able
to review favorably two of his books for the Philadelphia Inquirer – one was a
political book on President Reagan and the other was his last spy thriller.
He died before my review of his The Reagan I Knew appeared in the Inquirer, but as he was alive and still an avid reader when my review of Last Call for Blackford Oakes appeared in the Inquirer, I hope
he read my review.
William F. Buckley may have passed, but his influence lives on.
William F. Buckley may have passed, but his influence lives on.
Ed Feulner looks back at the life and work of Mr. Buckley in the Washington Times.
It’s been exactly a decade
since William F. Buckley Jr. died. Yet, surveying the ideological landscape, it
feels more like a century.
Watch an episode of his
program “Firing Line,” and you’ll see what I mean. There, Mr. Buckley — in his
uniquely aristocratic way — would debate guests on the issues of the day. Not
try to shout each other down, or trot out a quick sound bite before three or
four different people cross-talked over you, but actually debate.
That may sound like a recipe
for boredom, and perhaps by the cage-match mentality prevailing today, it was.
But we’re talking about a program that racked up more than 1,500 episodes over nearly
35 years. People were watching, listening and engaging in debates of their own
across the country.
Mr. Buckley, of course, was
no mere host, but an intellect of the first order who preached undiluted
conservatism. Author, publisher, commentator, he bucked the liberal order by
revealing the emptiness of its utopian promises.
… “Though liberals do a great
deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to
learn that there are other points of view,” he wrote in “Up From Liberalism.”
Another classic zinger: “Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other
people’s money, except when it comes to questions of national survival, when
they prefer to be generous with other people’s freedom and security.”
You can read the rest of the
piece via the below link:
And you can read my Philadelphia Inquirer reviews
of Mr. Buckley’s books below:
And
you can watch an episode of Firing Line in which Groucho Marx appears with William
F. Buckley via the below link:
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