Does Conservatism Have a Future?

I sent the following on "does conservatism have a future?" to 100 of my "closest friends," and I've received many replies, some of which I'll post in the coming days. If you'd like to take a shot at the question -- and I hope you will -- please send your comments to me: TalkTop65@aol.com. Thanks.

I've been involved with the conservative movement since the 1964 election. My first (national) published articles appeared in The National Reivew, and I was close to Bill Buckley's sister Priscilla, to historian Dr. Russell Kirk, and several others. I'm older now, but neither daffy nor a Democrat.

When Adam Brickley (of "Draft Sarah Palin" fame and the best young policitical activist in CO or the USA) and I appeared on Doug Gibbs's Political Pistachio radio show, he asked both of us if a truly conservative candidate could win the presidency. Both of us reluctantly said "No."

I sent the following to Bill Smith, a tireless conservative figure in Arkansas. I'd love to hear your views on it -- and, God willing, ultimately put the responses in a book about "The Resurrection of Conservatism: What Must Be Done."

Bill, thanks for all the hard work you're doing. I think after this election, conservatives need to get their (our) heads together and figure out what needs to be done to restore the movement to something approximating its Reagan-era status.

We need a vigorous online presence and a strong effort to turn good groups (like Bev Perlson's The Band of Mothers and Col. O. P. Ditch's Vets4McCain) into huge, effective advocacy groups.

We also need new leadership in Congress. I'm not talking ideology so much as people (like Eric Cantor) who have more than a clue how to grow the Movement. There are millions of people who will vote for Barack Obama -- including Blacks -- that should be voting for Republican candidates.

Additionally, we must ask if the conservative movement can supply enough money -- to conservatives -- so that they can campaign effectively. The money-raising gap is embarrassing. None of the Republican candidates, except perhaps Romney, did a decent job of fundraising.

McCain's online effort, until recently, was pathetic. In every winning campaign in the future, the Internet will play a critical role. One element in building our presence online to attract more young people, "the YouTube Generation."

We need to ask why that's the case. Somehow, we have to get more people to back the more conservative candidates.

I am trying -- and failing I fear -- to get Republican candidates for Congress in PA to take off the gloves and stop going through the motions. Nobody wins by being cautious over overly courteous.

William F. Buckley, American Original

If you want to see my photo essay about Barack Obama, including one of him in improbable Somali dress, you'll have to scroll down. Today, however, belongs to a man who almost single-handedly created modern American conservatism, William F. Buckley. (See more in the previous column.)

William F. Buckley, Jr. was never guilty of false modesty. He said, "'I am, I fully grant, a phenomenon, but not because of any speed in composition,' he wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 1986. 'I asked myself the other day, Who else, on so many issues, has been so right so much of the time? I couldn't think of anyone.'" The funny thing is that he was correct.

Here's how the CBS News Blog described this man of so many talents: "Editor, columnist, novelist, debater, TV talk show star of Firing Line,' arpsichordist, trans-oceanic sailor and even a good-natured loser in a New York mayor's race, Buckley worked at a daunting pace, taking as little as 20 minutes to write a column for his magazine, The National Review."

If you want to see a fine photo album of WFB, Jr., please click on the following:
http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/.

"For people of my generation, Bill Buckley was pretty much the first intelligent, witty, well-educated conservative one saw on television," fellow conservative William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said at the time the show ["Firing Line"] ended. "He legitimized conservatism as an intellectual movement and therefore as a political movement."

More to follow about William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I knew and revered. If you have thoughts on the man and his passing, I hope you'll leave them in the comments. He had a lover's quarrel with the political system, but the key word was love.

Now, he is with his beloved wife (and Epispcopalian! Patricia). God bless them both and condolences to their talented son Christopher and the other numerous members of the Buckley clan. (William was one of ten children, and two of his sisters also had 10 children.) His brother, James, was elected a U.S. Senator from New York (running on the Conservative Party ticket.)

My own memories of the Buckleys are flooding my head today . . .

Tomorrow, my column will be about "Obama's Chicago Problem," with emphasis on his links to some very unsavory characters, including his racialist Pastor Jeremiah Wright and "Minister" Louis Farrakhan, the head of the so-called "Nation of Islam," who has enthusiastically endorsed Obama. Please visit.