W. F. Buckley, back in his younger, fire-breathing days, wrote a delivered a speech at West Point about John Kerry that was just devastating. Here is an excerpt:

“[Kerry’s words are] the indictment of an ignorant young man who is willing to condemn in words that would have been appropriately used in Nuremberg the governing class of America: the legislators, the generals, the statesmen. And, reaching beyond them, the people, who named the governors to their positions of responsibility and ratified their decisions in several elections.

The point I want to raise is this: If America is everything that John Kerry says it is, what is it appropriate for us to do? The wells of regeneration are infinitely deep, but the stain described by John Kerry goes too deep to be bleached out by conventional remorse or resolution: better the destruction of America if, to see ourselves truly, we need to look into the mirror John Kerry holds up for us. If we are a nation of sadists, of kid-killers and torturers, of hypocrites and criminals, let us be done with it, and pray that a great flood or fire will destroy us, leaving John Kerry and maybe Mrs. Benjamin Spock to take the place of Lot, in reseeding a new order.

Gentlemen, how many times, in the days ahead, you will need to ask yourselves the most searching question of all, the counterpart of the priest’s most agonizing doubt: Is there a God? Yours will be: Is America worth it?…what I hope you will consider, during these moments of doubt, is the essential professional point: Without organized force, and the threat of the use of it under certain circumstances, there is no freedom, anywhere. Without freedom, there is no true humanity. If America is the monster of John Kerry, burn your commissions tomorrow morning and take others, which will not bind you in the depraved conspiracy you have heard described. If it is otherwise, remember: the freedom John Kerry enjoys and the freedom I enjoy are, quite simply, the result of your dedication. Do you wonder that I accepted the opportunity to salute you?”

Thank you, Mr. Cella, these are fantastic words. Oh, if only Buckley had kept this passion! We’d have a different conservative movement from the one we have.

Has anyone ever told the story of his decline? The plain fact of it is so obvious in his book of collected speeches (from which the above quotation is taken) that one nearly wants to weep. The early speeches were so vigorous and brilliant. No wonder the man was able to do what he did. But what happened?

Whatever happened, I for one will not forget Mr. Buckley’s contributions; no matter how marked the decline that ensued.

I read a good biography of him several years ago (I forget who the author was, it might have been John Judis), which very clearly showed the decline and some of the causes. One key incident was the famous shouting match between him and Gore Vidal; Buckley felt ashamed of himself afterward and seemed to decide to lower his level of aggression. Overall, there was the increasing success and mainstream recognition that led him more and more to abandon the principles that had made him what he was.

Speaking of Mr. Buckley’s decline, Jared Taylor just wrote another interesting article: http://amren.com/nr_veering.htm