Mad as Beck

Bill Buckley was a lion of the right unlike few the world has seen.  His  intellect was a force of nature and relentless in pointing out weakness in liberal thinking. So confident was Buckley he would on a weekly basis both in print and on television engage with the strongest minds of the right for a political skirmish that could only be described as must see political theater. Always polite, always respectful but devastating non the less to those arguments raised against his conservative principals . Respected and admired by friend and foe for those principled arguments, Buckley elevated the public discourse not to mention the conservative brand.

And so when Bill Buckley saw the usurpation of the conservative  brand by the craziest in society he spoke out decisively.  Buckley’s action in part prepared the way for the right to take the presidency under Regan.

Today the right faces an even great threat from the likes of Glenn Beck.  Becks access to mass media allows his voice to be injected into society in ways the Birchers of Buckley’s day could never have hoped for. Described variously as ‘crazy’, ‘delusional’, ‘dangerous’ and worse, Beck has successfully reanimated that long dead corpse of the John Birch movement. A movement that Buckley so long ago exposed and put to rest. And in the process is redefining the conservative brand.

Buckley is now sadly gone. Who now will stand up for conservative values?  Who now will protect the intellectual and principled conservative values from the mad who usurp the brand for their own profit?  And make no mistake, Beck is making a fine living reanimating the fringe right with his ‘communists everywhere’  tactic’s and his pseudo intellectual shows. Becks brand of ‘say anything do anything’ to make a buck  hate speech will continue as long as he perceives a buck to be made.  If the conservative party loses every seat Beck will be richer than ever.

Republicans seem unable to find their modern Buckley. The lack of a powerful intellectual voice on the right brings into question if the party even has an intellectual foundation any more.. Or perhaps the absence of a reaction is a case of short term tactics, an ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ approach. If the later it is a dangerous approach. With Beck attempting to redefine conservatism, remaining silent will only alienate the majority of Americans, both left and right.

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