Audubon Society members interested in the Golden-Throated Warbler, the Red-Breasted Robin and the Great Horned Owl must detect a familiar ring in those hardy denizens of the political forest, the Black-Hearted Communist, the Die-Hard Reactionary, the Moss-Backed Conservative and the Fuzzy-Minded Liberal. In any event, the hunting season appears more open than ever and arrows fly in all directions.
William F. Buckley Jr., in his syndicated newspaper column, recently raised the question as to what methods were ethically permissible to conservatives who wish to diminish the political influence of prominent Liberal entertainers. Wisely, he pointed out that whatever weapons were deemed suitable for this purpose could also be turned, by Liberals, against conservative performers. Since I address a conservative audience in these pages, and write in my capacity as a Liberal, I shall say no more about the two-sidedness of the argument but shall restrict myself to general comments pertaining to morality and logic. One reason for this is that the argument is not symmetrically two-sided anyway. There are, as it happens, only a handful of conservative actors, whereas hundreds of our nation’s most gifted performers identify themselves as Liberals. This is not surprising, of course. Down through history creative people of all sorts: painters, novelists, poets, playwrights, musicians, composers, sculptors, and actors, when they have been socially conscious at all, have almost always been to the left of political center. This, of course, proves nothing, although it suggests a great deal.
Comments