William F. Buckley Jr. Quotes
When you want to attack your opponent’s position, first you have to attack it rationally.
1968 was one of the more polarized presidential elections, and most politicians in the heat of debate, tended to make ad hominem attacks on their opponents instead of rational arguments. Conservatives tended to attack opponents as communists, communist sympathizers, or giving aid and comfort to the communists. Often they never got around to attacking the real political position of their opponents. Buckley realized that he would not persuade many of his fellow conservatives to eschew the personal red-baiting on their opponents. Their political; base demanded this. But he urged them to restrain themselves and first make a rational attack on liberalism and liberal policies. Very few took his advice that year or ever in the remainder of the century until the fall of the Soviet Union.
William F. Buckley Jr. Quoted on PBS, Independent Lens: The Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Convention Debates October 3, 2016
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is a modern summary of the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza who developed the modern philosophical foundation of science and scientific thinking. When the authorities are clerics and religious leaders, their authority gets undermined which is why the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all excommunicated Spinoza. For the scientists, they themselves are to be rejected as determiners of knowledge and truth so they tend to do poorly in political disputes because the good scientists would never assert a belief that the politicians should listen to them just because they are great scientists and they “know.” It is the ideologues and junk scientists who are sure of their testimony and can advise with certainty. See linked quote(s).
_0_thumbnail_47x47.jpg){kind=small}
In politics, this is one of the reasons why legislative debates will rarely change any minds or positions. The politician and his party are defined in part by his previous positions. In legislative debate, he is maintaining and supporting those positions. Scientifically, the best way to have a shot at changing a politicians position with new evidence, is to present it privately, in a 1 on 1 situation. Even if the politician has a member of his staff present, he is conscious of showing his staff member what he is not easily manipulated and will stand up for principles and the party.
William Frank Buckley Jr. was an American public intellectual and conservative author and commentator. In 1955, Buckley founded National Review, a magazine that stimulated the conservative movement in the late-20th century United States. Buckley hosted 1,429 episodes of the public affairs television show Firing Line (1966–1999), the longest-running public affairs show in American television history with a single host, where he became known for his distinctive Mid-Atlantic idiolect and wide vocabulary.
