Jonah Goldberg: Today’s Republicans see conservatism as a mere tool
In 1965, William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review magazine and, as much as anyone, of modern American conservatism, ran for mayor of New York City. It was a quixotic endeavor. When asked what he’d do if he won, he responded, “Demand a recount.”
Buckley ran, in other words, not to win a campaign but to win an argument. It was a three-way race, but he only really had one opponent: John Lindsay,
