In Defense of William F. Buckley Jr.

[Draggingtree]

The Other McCain:

In Defense of William F. Buckley Jr.

Posted on | September 30, 2016 | 33 Comments

 

“In the hands of a skillful indoctrinator, the average student not only thinks what the indoctrinator wants him to think . . . but is altogether positive that he has arrived at his position by independent intellectual exertion. This man is outraged by the suggestion that he is the flesh-and-blood tribute to the success of his indoctrinators.”

– William F. Buckley Jr., Up From Liberalism (1959)

Never trust anyone who speaks ill of their own parents. Probably everyone goes through that adolescent phase of thinking their parents are idiots, but mature reflection — when we understand the difficulties of adult life, and have become parents ourselves — ought to temper our judgment, and curb any temptation to criticize our elders. Furthermore, people who malign their own parents are in essence testifying against themselves. “The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree,” after all, and if your parents were such awful people, what should we expect from you?

 

In 2009, Christopher Buckley published in the New York Times some anecdotes about his late father, William F. Buckley Jr., that were not entirely flattering. Among other things,