November 24 would have been Bill’s 100th birthday, and the release of a new postage stamp in his honor has made his centennial a wee bit of a national celebration. It is the perfect starting course for the 250th anniversary commemoration of the American Founding, in 2026.
One of my favorite speeches of Buckley’s is one he called “What Americanism Seeks to Be,” which he included in a volume, Let Us Talk of Many Things, published in 2000. In that speech, he emphasizes that the “majesty” of the United States Constitution has to do with its putting prohibitions not on people but on the government. It honors human freedom — a gift given by the Creator Himself — and sets up the human being, the citizen, which is the most precious commodity a nation has, for flourishing. About the Bill of Rights, he says,
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