William F. Buckley Jr., the father of the modern conservative movement, died this week at age 82. In honor of his passing I submit these quotes for your consideration:
I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.
Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.
You cultivate the essential virtues: high purpose, intelligence, decency, humility, fear of the Lord, and the passion for freedom.
I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth.
Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
Does baloney fear the grinder?
You cannot paint the "Mona Lisa" by assigning one dab each to a thousand painters.
Conservatives should be adamant about the need for the reappearance of Judeo-Christianity in the public square.
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"the need for the reappearance of Judeo-Christianity in the public square"
ReplyDeleteWhy is there a need for government supported/mandated J-C in the public square?
Don't know where Buckley was coming from or when he actually said that.. just quoting the quote.
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't read government supported or mandated in his comment. I am wondering why you did?
Nobody is mandating it, but since it is the root and foundation of the Constitution and the English Common Law from which we derive our ideas of freedom and the dignity of every individual, seeing it reappear as honor and respect and modesty and integrity in the public square would be a great move towards a better society.
ReplyDeleteI didn't explain that well: we derive our Bill of Rights from English Common Law.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I read that that way, because the only bits of J-C that have disappeared from the public square that I'm aware of are governmental in nature.
ReplyDeleteTherese, I'm not sure what points you're trying to make, but while we do derive most of our law from English Common Law, there where a number of Christians that were part of the foinding of the colonies and ultimately our country that seemed to be insistent on religious freedom. That has certainly become a stickier situation since there are a greater number of religions and non-religious people in our country who object to state sponsored religious iconography. Here I am thinking of displaying the ten commandments or religious holiday decoration in the public square.
Buckley was not talking about religious freedom; he was talking about the restoration of a Judeo-Christian view of the dignity of the individual - displaying the commandments or a Christmas tree is the least of our problems.
ReplyDeleteNor is it enough that we should pray and hope for some restoration of societal shame for screaming swear words in front of children at ballgames, allowing blatant sexuality in TV prime time, advertising to adolescents in terms far too adult for them, etc.
And it would be nice to see children expelled for cheating and suspended for foul language, fighting or calling in bomb threats instead of having the school district spend $$$ dealing with the parents' inevitable lawsuits.
But what's really at stake because of the underlying legislation that will be hard to reverse is watching abortion expanded into a absolute right and requiring physicians and hospitals to provide it, sanctioning and forcing euthanasia under the pretext of "preserving dignity," cloning embryos as medical farm commodities, warping marriage from the legal and emotional protection of children that are its by turning it into a "fairness" issue, allowing pieces of sharia law into local government, etc; THAT's the problem.