Will Formosa Save the United States?

I have lectured before to military aggregations and I am aware of the preference of your profession for direct action, whether military or rhetorical. The day before yesterday, at Quemoy, Captain Wang succeeded in a mere fifteen minutes in giving his visitors a comprehensive view of the military and strategic situation involving that perky redoubt: but I could not hope to do so well as he, in telling you things you need to know about the Liberal mind in America, things which are as important to understand as is the mind of the enemy. So let me, please, wind into this complex subject in my own oblique way.

One learns from a study of opposites. And my experience during the past few days in Taiwan has given me knowledge not only of your own situation, but knowledge as well, by contrast, of our own in America. I cannot say that I have come to know Taiwan or its people or its officials. I can only say that during the past five days I have engaged in Stakhanovite endeavors to learn something about yourselves and your great enterprise. I feel like Will Rogers, who came back to New York from Russia in 1931, having made a short trip there, which included a visit to one of Russia’s famous community baths. “Did you see all of Russia?” a reporter asked the humorist when he landed. “No,” he said, “but I saw all of parts of Russia.” I have seen all of parts of Taiwan—surely there does not exist a Chinese or Taiwanese dish that I have not gratefully consumed. And surely there does not exist, in all your vast repository, a single resource of hospitality and kindness that I have not tasted. And I have seen something of your agricultural program, your dam-building, your bureaucracy, your intellectuals, your politicians, your press, your diplomats, your soldiers, your strategists, your propagandists: but most important, I have seen something of your spirit. And it is in sharp contrast to the spirit of many men strategically situated in America. They are people who call themselves Liberals. The historians among you will immediately object that they, have no title to that august designation: but the world of words is ruled by an absolute democracy: so that today in America, those people have come to be known as Liberals who in domestic affairs argue for an increase in the concentration of social, political and economic power in the hands of the state; and who in foreign policy follow the road of appeasement and withdrawal, for reasons that derive from their dependence upon a complex of philosophical heresies.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

I have lectured before to military aggregations and I am aware of the preference of your profession for direct action, whether military or rhetorical. The day before yesterday, at Quemoy, Captain Wang succeeded in a mere fifteen minutes in giving his visitors a comprehensive view of the military and strategic situation involving that perky redoubt: but I could not hope to do so well as he, in telling you things you need to know about the Liberal mind in America, things which are as important to understand as is the mind of the enemy. So let me, please, wind into this complex subject in my own oblique way.

One learns from a study of opposites. And my experience during the past few days in Taiwan has given me knowledge not only of your own situation, but knowledge as well, by contrast, of our own in America. I cannot say that I have come to know Taiwan or its people or its officials. I can only say that during the past five days I have engaged in Stakhanovite endeavors to learn something about yourselves and your great enterprise. I feel like Will Rogers, who came back to New York from Russia in 1931, having made a short trip there, which included a visit to one of Russia’s famous community baths. “Did you see all of Russia?” a reporter asked the humorist when he landed. “No,” he said, “but I saw all of parts of Russia.” I have seen all of parts of Taiwan—surely there does not exist a Chinese or Taiwanese dish that I have not gratefully consumed. And surely there does not exist, in all your vast repository, a single resource of hospitality and kindness that I have not tasted. And I have seen something of your agricultural program, your dam-building, your bureaucracy, your intellectuals, your politicians, your press, your diplomats, your soldiers, your strategists, your propagandists: but most important, I have seen something of your spirit. And it is in sharp contrast to the spirit of many men strategically situated in America. They are people who call themselves Liberals. The historians among you will immediately object that they, have no title to that august designation: but the world of words is ruled by an absolute democracy: so that today in America, those people have come to be known as Liberals who in domestic affairs argue for an increase in the concentration of social, political and economic power in the hands of the state; and who in foreign policy follow the road of appeasement and withdrawal, for reasons that derive from their dependence upon a complex of philosophical heresies.