Buckley and Galbraith

With the recent passing of the conservative sage of the ages, the world -- liberals and conservatives alike -- mourn. Like many, I had the opportunity to meet William Buckley on a number of occasions, never failing to be challenged by his wit and sharp discourse. Shockingly, he even briefly answered a formal letter of inquiry I once posed, signing in his trademark ball point pen lest I confuse it with a signature machine. A Southern California journalistic colleague once expressed disgust when the National Review printed my entry in their infamous 1985 "oxymoron" contest.

Perhaps the most interesting comments I heard about Buckley where from his good friend John Kenneth Galbraith, the prolific liberal economist. The two men shared a lifelong friendship, even though they were poles apart in ideology, both political and economic.

Once while Galbraith was visiting Los Angeles, I had an opportunity to ask him about his relationship with Buckley, which by all accounts should have been stormy.

Listening to my question, Galbraith (who certainly had to be one of the tallest economists to ever walk the earth) smiled and said that while Buckley's views "were certainly in error" and their disagreements "intense," their exchanges were always "civil, and as a matter of fact, memorable."

Perhaps the most interesting bit that Galbraith said was the fact that human beings use upwards of 100% of their intellectual capacity learning and assimilating culture, mores and language until they are about five years of age. Then, Galbraith said, "we spend the rest of our years nurturing mental decline."

The sole exception, he noted with some vigor, "is William F. Buckley." Galbraith asserted that "Buckley is the only living human who can lay claim to using more of his brains -- however much in error -- than any of his fellows."

Rest in peace, Mr. Right. You made us think.