A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'
William F. Buckley, Jr.Read
One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed - different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat.
Interpretation
The United States' goals in Iraq have not been achieved, and new strategies must be developed that accept this reality.
William F. Buckley, Jr. points out that the American efforts in Iraq have not met their intended objectives, highlighting the need for a reassessment and new plans moving forward that recognize the current situation as a defeat. This admission is critical for learning from past mistakes and adjusting future actions to better align with reality.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about foreign policy during a political debate.
A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'
Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.
I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.
I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence.
You cannot paint the Mona Lisa by assigning one dab each to a thousand painters.
Political institutions, no matter how well or badly designed, depend for continued existence upon acting men; their conservation is achieved by the same means that brought them into being. Independent existence marks the work of art as a product of making; utter dependence upon further acts to keep it in existence marks the state as a product of action.
The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flamboyant labels on empty luggage.
Sanctions did indeed help to bring Iran to the negotiating table. But sanctions did not stop the advance of Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations have done that, and it is in our interest not to deny ourselves the chance to achieve a long-term, comprehensive solution that would deny Iran a nuclear weapon.
To be free is better than to be unfree β always. Any politician who suggests the opposite should be treated as suspect.
The violence associated with the A.N.C. is minimal, infinitesimal next to the violence of the apartheid regime.
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
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