[FoRK] Another one bites the dust

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Feb 27, 2008, at 8:44 AM, Jeff Bone wrote:
> Goodbye and good riddance to the chronically inconsistent and often  
> incoherent "conservative intellectual" who once said this:
>
> "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. …"


I am indifferent about Buckley, but I have to call bullshit on your  
quote mining.

In context (from 1952 -- Cold War onset):

"Ideally, the Republican Platform should acknowledge a domestic enemy,  
the State."

"The most important issue of the day, it is time to admit it, is  
survival. Here there is apparently some confusion in the ranks of  
conservatives, and hard thinking is in order for them. The thus-far  
invincible aggressiveness of the Soviet Union does or does not  
constitute a threat to the security of the United States, and we have  
got to decide which. If it does, we shall have to rearrange, sensibly,  
our battle plans; and this means that 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. The  
question is raised: Does it make a great deal of difference if we lose  
our freedom to a Georgian bandit or to a Missouri ignoramus? The  
question is a good one."


I'm having a really hard time getting worked up over the quote.

Cheers,

J. Andrew Rogers