Buckley and Reagan

Ross Douthat gets expansive in his review of William F. Buckley's last book, "The Reagan I Knew," and provides a few thoughts on conservatism, populism, and the alliance between the two.

Sure, Douthat may have an agenda. After all, he did write a book--"Grand New Party," which I checked out of the library but never got around to reading--about how the GOP needs to move towards the center in order to win back votes. For the past few months, even before the election was over, he's been urging the GOP to disassociate itself from populists, or at least populists in the mold of Sarah Palin.

That doesn't make his writing worthless, though. He makes an especially good point when he notes that we shouldn't be attracted to populism just because it's scorned by the liberal elite. The elite scorn a lot of things that aren't worth embracing.

Populism needs to be able to stand on its own. We shouldn't flock to it just because liberals sneer at it. It needs to show the dynamic spirit and muscular Americanism embodied by Reagan. That's what Douthat's getting at, and that's what the GOP needs to tap into if it wants to succeed in the future.