"So very many conservatives were weaned on the delusion that we had only to nominate a sure-enough conservative to ensure a national landslide, that they cannot now look defeat in the face as indicating what in fact it is: that the majority of the American people do not, at the present time, desire a hard Conservative as President of the United States.
There is no doubt that Lyndon Johnson is a splendid politician, and that Senator Goldwater is a far worse one (which endears him to at least this voter). But if Senator Goldwater were as good a politician as Lyndon Johnson is said by his most extravagant admirers to be, and if Lyndon Johnson were as poor a politician as Senator Goldwater's adamant critics insist he is, I do not believe the vote in November would have been substantially different. . . . Unless conservatives realize that massive public education must precede any hope of a Presidential victory, they will never have a President they can call their own. This conservative backed Senator Goldwater for the Presidency not because I ever thought he could win the election, but because I believed, and I continue to believe I was correct in believing, that his nomination would do much to crystallize the conservative position in national affairs."
--William F. Buckley, Jr., National Review, January 12, 1965. Quoted in The Best of Bill Buckley, compiled by Richard Brookhiser and David Brooks.
Recently, the 60th anniversary of the publication of Bill Buckley's seminal God and Man at Yale was celebrated. The young recent graduate described the Marxist bias of many of Yale's economics professors. So, as we gear up for this very important presidential election, we should keep his words in mind.
