Posted on 07/26/2023 10:15:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Buckley wasn’t who a lot of us thought he was towards the end.
He erred when he fired Sobran and Francis, in my opinion.
Buckley and the National Review have always been libertarian. Therefore, it’s no surprise that they have devolved in the manner that they have.
I remember Sobran, who was the other guy?
Some have suggested that WFB was controlled opposition. His assignment was to purge conservatism of nativists, protectionists, and isolationists. This he did.
Two words. Bill Kristol. As long as that rag gives this embedded RINO freedom-hater a voice I won’t even consider valuing it as a conservative outlet.
I was reading NR when it was a a weekly alternating with a newsletter and had my own subscription in 1964 which I kept until a year after WFB died. I could see even then that the fire was going out. WFB had his own weak spot, he reached the conclusion that the nation would be better served if private ownership were ended. That was jarring but every other part of the mag was very enlightening. I have had an ongoing sense of loss missing the humorous wordplay of his own writing.
I followed Sobran after NR in The Wanderer. I think Francis had a couple of pieces in First Things.
Ironically, in the mid 1980s, NR published Sobran's "Pensees." WFB heaped praise on it, calling it "the conservative manifesto." He predicted that Sobran would become a leading luminary of conservative philosophy.
Only five or six years later, WFB fired Sobran over the latter's criticism of Israel and its lobby.
He did separate out and wall off the John Birch Society.
just like the Republican Party, and Con Inc.
Their function is gatekeeping the right and disrupting / ostracizing any genuine resistance.
Francis “Leviathan and its Enemies” is critical to understanding where the managerial elite came from, and why they are liberal and constantly moving left.
a short review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehhWHy9pyW8
One of my fondest memories was receiving in the mail, NR, American Spectator, and The Limbaugh Letter. I’d read a few hours every night before bed. NR isn’t even worth reading any longer. The Spectator turned tech then tried to come back to its roots, but I wasn’t interested. And, I miss Rush so bad it hurts.
damn straight, kudos Kurt!
Agreed
Neocons took over to this day
(Kinder, gentler, a thousand points of light.)
Well we learned that GHWB was a Globalist at heart.
As is his son.
Sam Francis
See CHRONICLES journal.
WFB’s thesis was that Conservatives had to accept a massive military and deep state to defeat Communism.
Even if you accept that questionable premise as true, the Cold War ended a long time ago. The Commies lost. There was never any justification for the Neocon holy crusade to spend America’s blood and treasure going around the world fighting every battle for others. There certainly isn’t any justification for an entrenched bureaucracy which thinks it and not the people should determine America’s foreign policy nor for having an open border, nor for outsourcing American manufacturing to the point that its a threat to national security.
National Review has become irrelevant. Its their own fault - and I grew up in the 80s and my dad had a subscription to National Review. I grew up reading it.
If NR hadnt already been dead to me, the immediate and unwarranted attacks on the Covington kids would’ve done it.
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