What made Buckley so potent? For me, it was an odd combination of substance and style. His opponents chaffed at his patrician demeanor and condescending sneer. But for our side it was a revelation at a time when the inexorable advance of the welfare state was presumed and those who opposed it were glibly dismissed as yahoos. Buckley had the guts, the brains, the style–and yes, the cash–to stand athwart the stampede until we could all catch our balance as a people and realize that Chesterton was right about the genius of tradition, and Adam Smith was right about the genius of the markets.