Buckley

1925-2008

"I don't think that polarization is as sharp as it was 40 years ago, in part because the socialist alternative is substantially rejected. Forty years ago, fifty years ago, the question was whether to go in the direction of a completely centripitalized society, or to preserve the free-market alternative. That fight, it seems to me, has been, in theory, won. The conservatives won that fight."

"The conservatism that I identified myself with was an anti-communist, anti-socialist. And the principle lodestone of that was National Review magazine, which I founded and served as editor. I've never found a day (where) I felt there was nothing to say because there's something always there to stimulate you. Liberals say they want to hear other opinions, but seem offended when they are challenged by different ideas."

"I will not cede more power to the state. I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday. It is certainly enough to keep conservatives busy, and liberals at bay. And the nation free."