![]() |
By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster (about the author) Page 3 of 3 page(s)
Also essential was to control the youth. In 1960 Buckley used his estate in Sharon, Connecticut for the founding meeting of the Young Americans for Freedom. This did not work out as planned. The group immediately broke into two factions, reflecting two viewpoints that continue to drive politics today. The Rockefeller wing was a simple political extension of corporatism. The Conservative wing eventually dominating, representing the principles of small government, individual rights, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. These had been the principles of Robert Taft, who Buckley sought to displace in the minds of young Americans by promoting the candidacy of Barry Goldwater. Credited with supporting the candidacy of Goldwater through National Review in 1964, Buckley gave public support to that candidacy because Goldwater's platform, rather than taking the clean non-interventionist viewpoint of Alliances with None, instead promised only to end the draft as soon as possible, according to Rockwell in his essay, “Before the Storm.” War was essential to the successful prosecution of the corporate agenda; the other issues would have been largely irrelevant at that point in time. Buckley's later attitude towards Goldwater was dismissive. His support at the time had provided invaluable credentials and deflected resistance to the War in Vietnam. Providing very public support to a candidate who the loses badly is perfect positioning for the take over of the resulting political movement. Those attacks included the devastating assaults on Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch Society for the shocking crime of saying, in 1965, that the Vietnam War was immoral and unconstitutional because Congress had not declared war. In those attacks Welch was characterized as, “just a candy maker from Connecticut.” A curious commentary from someone whose very accent lies.
The agenda was war for the profit of oil, pure and simple.
Most people believe because of that accent William F. Buckley, Jr., is the scion of old Eastern money, probably New England. In fact, he is the son of William Frank Buckley, Sr., a Texas oil baron whose fortune was made wildcatting in Venezuela and Mexico. Their descent is Swiss-German and they are Irish Catholics.
I have come to think of this as Buckley's personal addition to the war of ideas, waged against opponents who had accepted him as a friend.
Even today most members of what we generally call The Freedom Movement, have not noticed the larger strategy used with the publication of bifurcated support on issues that leaves the reader uncertain of the real principles involved. Today we also must deal with the misdirecting websites used to deflect a clear understanding of issues also using this strategic approach.
For real Conservatives and the Libertarians who followed them, government should remain strictly limited and local; the rights of individuals are respected. The people do it for themselves; Government is best that governs least. That is Conservatism.
Buckley knew how to exude the rhetoric, leading the mind down into a sink of nuance and mincing fantasy, never the reality. For Buckley, who never encountered reality himself, and for his fellow privileged CIA James Bond wannabes, reality was what they wished to believe it to be.
He wrote this in 1952 in an article for Commonweal.
“We have got to accept Big Government for the duration—for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged, given our present government skills, except through the instrument of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores. … And if they deem Soviet power a menace to our freedom (as I happen to), they will have to support large armies and air forces, atomic energy, central intelligence, war production boards, and the attendant centralization of power in Washington—even with Truman at the reins of it all.”
In recent years Buckley has often gloated over his success. Growing older he lives in a world of privilege gained through betrayal and lies. It was probably a lot of fun; a career of profitable work that was great for the ego and pocketbook simultaneously. He was probably laid frequently. Evidently when you have no conscience the only truth that matters is written in dollar signs.
That is the first part of the series. More coming soon on those who subverted freedom.
http://howtheneoconsstolefreedom.blogspot.com
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Contact Author |
Contact Editor |
View Authors' Articles |
| 7 comments |
Want to post your own comment on this Article?
|
||||
Tell a Friend:
|
Copyright © 2002-2009, OpEdNews |