‘Standing Athwart History’ Will Always be Necessary
This week, the pioneer conservative publication, National Review, turns 70. On November 19, 1955, NR Founder William F. Buckley, Jr., published a launching statement that included its famous raison d’etre: to “stand athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so.” NR’s platinum anniversary offers an opportunity to revisit Buckley’s convictions and assess where the country and conservative movement stand today.
1955: “Instead of covetously consolidating its premises, the United States seems tormented by its tradition of fixed postulates having to do with the meaning of existence, with the relationship of the state to the individual, of the individual to his neighbor, so clearly enunciated in the enabling documents of our Republic.”
2025: As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Buckley’s insight seems even sharper. Only five years ago, the George Floyd riots convulsed the nation. The seeds for that unrest were sown by critical race theory, which reached a highwater mark in the New York Times’ 1619 Project. America’s internal detractors had moved from torment to contempt for its founding. Meanwhile, the party of Lincoln – who in the 1840s and 1850s revived the proper understanding of our “enabling documents” – revealed its own torment when its 2024 platform downplayed the urgency of defending our first inalienable right: the right to life. This inter-party state of play echoes W.B. Yeats’ “the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
1955: “The inroads that relativism has made on the American soul are not so easily evident.”
2025: Buckley identified this trend during the halcyon days of post-war America. The nuclear family was ascendant, moving to the suburbs while a baby boom took root. TV shows like Ozzie and Harriet reinforced these norms, and relativism seemed distant. But Buckley saw what was brewing in academia. Today, relativism’s wreckage is indeed “easily evident” for “those with eyes to see and ears to hear” (cf., Matt 13:16-17), especially when considering the educational, financial, mental and physical well-being of those not raised in a stable two-parent household.
1955: “The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to conform with scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience.”
2025: Buckley’s defense of Truth over the relativism endemic in utopian social engineering marks a core philosophical divide between conservatives and liberals. This fracture goes back to Eden, when mankind seized the power to define its own reality and its own determination of what is right and wrong. In that sense, Adam and Eve themselves could’ve authored what Justice Scalia called the “sweet mystery of life” passage in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). Without transcendent truth, everything becomes malleable. Doubt it? Ask a recent Supreme Court nominee to define “woman.”
Don’t Stop Yelling Stop
Conservatives find themselves in the same battle we were in 70 years ago, if not millennia ago. The left hasn’t moderated a bit since National Review launched; it has actually grown more determined. Although the Soviet Union’s collapse exposed socialism’s bankruptcy, the left just marches on. The right, on the other hand, has oscillated. With the exception of the promise of the Reagan era, it would seem the right is regressing to the state of play in the 1950s. Having been unable to repeal and replace Obamacare a decade ago, today’s GOP fights over the extension of Obamacare’s inflated taxpayer subsidies. Moreover, the irresponsible levels of spending and debt are a reminder of how far we have to go. Same goes for stalled momentum on social issues.
For conservatives, that means there are plenty of opportunities to continue yelling “Stop!”, including, for starters, when government fails to prevent the bankruptcy of unreformed social programs, when government ignores threats to life and its dignity through abortion, genetically engineered embryos, and an unregulated IVF industry that creates throw-away embryos, and when political parties allow the mainstreaming of antisemitic antagonists. Come on, conservatives, let’s hear those voices!
Congressman Keith Rothfus served 3 terms in the U.S. House. He is a Notre Dame Law School graduate living near Pittsburgh where he and his wife raised their family. He is a regular commentator on American Radio Journal.
