-Caveat Lector- > > William F. Buckley, Jr. - ON THE RIGHT > Friday, January 19, 2001 >------------------------------------------------------------ >To Subscribe! visit: http://www.shagmail.com/sub/sub-buckley.html >------------------------------------------------------------ > >ON THE RIGHT by William F. Buckley Jr. > >HOW TO PRACTICE DISRESPECT > >The president of the United States, no less, has lightheartedly >questioned the legitimacy of the presidential election. >Lightheartedly not in the sense of a roast, at which you >are invited to say uproariously improvised defamations of >the guest of honor; lightheartedly in the sense of Mr. >Clinton's historical insouciance. No one can know better >than a president who has served in office the axiomatic >dependence on legitimacy. Now Mr. Clinton is making jokes >on the subject that should be off-limits this side of >Letterman and Leno. > >What Clinton said about campaign manager William Daley was, >"I think he did a brilliant job in leading Vice President >Gore to victory." He said it again at the banquet that >night: "What I told them upstairs was Bill Daley ran the >first presidential campaign in history that was so clearly >winning, a court had to stop the vote in order to change >the outcome." > >The next day -- inevitably -- the president-elect was >asked about it. Governor Bush was piqued, but brushed >Clinton off with less of the retaliatory verve one might >have got from, say, Ronald Reagan. Are there reasonable >limits to the expression of sour grapes? > >In Little Rock, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publishes >a weekly column by Gene Lyons, who hosts an annual event >designed to elicit "wit, irony or sarcasm for humane >purposes." Mr. Lyons quotes as "hard to surpass" a >proffered pledge of allegiance by one Paul Kirkpatrick. >"... I will badmouth the president daily, I will work >in whatever small way I can to defeat and undermine his >programs and agenda, I will believe every scurrilous >lie told about him, and I will criticize and ridicule >his wife and children at every opportunity." > >Mr. Lyons brings to mind the line by the critic Guy >Davenport: "Sometimes, on reading Goethe, one has the >paralyzing suspicion that he thinks he's being funny." > >But professor James K. Galbraith was not trying to be >funny, as far as one can tell, when he wrote for The >Boston Globe lines gleefully quoted in the >Democrat-Gazette column. "The key to dealing with the >Bush people ... is precisely not to accept them. ... >I will not reconcile myself to them. They lost the >election. Then they arranged to obstruct the count of >the vote. They don't deserve to be there, and that >changes everything. They have earned our civic >disrespect, and that is what the people should accord >them." > >These lines are a part of a longer piece that will >appear in the Texas Observer. There we will have the >judgment of professor Galbraith on "the events of >late in the year 2000." It is that "the United States >left behind constitutional republicanism, and turned >to a different form of government." We have now >"corporate democracy. A system whereby a board of >directors -- read Supreme Court -- selects the chief >executive officer. The CEO in turn appoints new >members of the board. The shareholders, owners in >title only, are invited to cast their votes in periodic >referenda. But their franchise is only symbolic, for >management holds a majority of the proxies. On no >important issue do the CEO and the board ever permit >themselves to lose." > >This is a fantasy that Linda Chavez will especially >enjoy. Mr. Galbraith is University of Texas Professor >of Government in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public >Affairs, where he can study stolen elections under high >domestic patronage. > >The planted axiom here is that five members of the Supreme >Court were what? -- bribed? coerced? persuaded? -- to >ignore their oaths of office in order unconstitutionally >to effect the election of a Republican. That kind of >language hasn't been around since the John Birch Society >taught that genuine understanding of postwar history >required one to understand that Dwight D. Eisenhower was >a Soviet agent. > >Fellow travelers in sedition don't need to buy the entire >Galbraith dogma. But they might find his practical advice >enticing. "The new president should be allowed lifetime >appointments only by consensus. The public should oppose -- >and 50 Senate Democrats should freely block -- judicial >nominations whenever they carry even the slightest ideological >taint. That may mean most of them, but no matter. And as for >the Supreme Court especially, vacancies need not be filled." > >Individual items on the Bush agenda should be "furiously >opposed," as for instance the elimination of the estate tax. >Is there a foreign-policy plank in the Galbraith agenda? For >sure. "The people must unite to oppose the global dangers of >National Missile Defense -- a strategic nightmare on which >Bush campaigned -- that threatens for all time the security >of us all." > >To which the obvious comment is that professor Galbraith >shouldn't worry: Corporate capitalism would not permit >corporate suicide, so he is safe after all. > > > Questions? Comments? Email us at: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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