This thread on Buckley is, alas, not as informed as it could be. I would recommend to all of you a book by George Nash on the modern conservative movement – or if you like Up from Communism by John Diggins, for a deeper appreciation of the movement Buckley assembled and led. The term fusionism is critical – for it underscores his effort to 1) oppose communism as a threat to the West and the feedom loving world (Chambers, Burnham, Eastman) 2) embrace free enterprise economics (Friedman, Mises); 3) promote traditional values (Kirk, Eliot, etc.)
Were there tensions between these groups. Of course. Buckley was not tempted toward isolationism because Communism and fascism did not allow it – and would not have left the United States to its own path. Capitalism as a destructive force relative to tradition alarmed Kirk and others, who felt that free enterprise had to be tempered by deeper concerns of a transcendental and environmental nature. Yet, free enterprise compromised too much by statism would bring the machine of prosperity and economic strength to a standstill. I would encourage you to read, however self promoting, a book I have written on line called Crossing Swords: William F. Buckley and the American Left. It consists of 10 chapters on Buckley’s running debates with the left on a variety of these issues. It can be found on intellectualconservative.com here.
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2008/12/05/crossing-swords-buckley-in-perspective/
Finally, I was interested to read that Mises was run out of the conservative movement by Buckley. Could you point me to the source – I have watched and read just about everything on buckley and I don’t recall him ever saying a negative word about Mises. He did, however, have concerns about Rand and Rothbard.