I’m on deadline for my syndicated column which I’ve barely started, so I can’t spend too much time on this. But I’m curious to know what exactly Ramesh makes of Cella’s argument other than the fact that it is “thoughtful.” I agree that it is thoughtful too. And Cella makes some interesting observations. But, I have to say that his essay strikes me as the indulgence of nostalgia as a substitute for detailed criticism.

It seems to me that one of the reasons National Review was so exciting in those days — and seems all the more so now, in retrospect — is that the times were so different. Standing athwart history yelling Stop, makes for bracing reading (albeit for a highly literate audience) when one truly believes we are on the road to serfdom. Then, to seek “relevance” in an age when the West appeared to be on the losing side of the twilight struggle amounted to, in effect, a moral and ideological surrender of the first order. Cella seems to bemoan the fact that the times no longer necessitate men and women to continually write the eulogies and last testaments for Western Civilization becauuse it makes for less interesting journalism. This is like regretting the end of a war because there will no longer be a need for Saint Crispin’s Day speeches.

Of course, we have our own struggle today in the war on terrorism. And, on that score, I should say that the writing of Victor Davis Hanson, Rich Lowry, John O’Sullivan and others is in line with the tradition of National Review.

Oh, and let me raise one minor issue in my own defense. Cella refers to my “columns” of “semantic fastidiousness” — whatever that means. I should note that A) I do not write columns for the magazine at all B) Nothing I have written for the magazine has concerned itself with semantics of any kind, fastidiously or otherwise C) I’d be curious to know what columns I’ve written for NRO fall into that category D) William F. Buckley has carved out quite an important following in part due to his devotion to what could rightly be called semantic fastidiousness. And I do seem to recall he had something to do with the National Review Cella pines for.