One wonders what William F. Buckley Jr. thought of the bumper crop of shrill conservatives on talk radio and TV who became the leading voices of the movement as his star waned over the last 15 years. Mr. Buckley, widely credited with being the father of the modern conservative movement, died Wednesday at the age of 82. Unlike Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and the like who try to pass themselves off as political thinkers, Mr. Buckley’s currency truly was about ideas, not ad hominem attacks. He was thoughtful, articulate, able to listen to and consider opposing ideas, and arrived at surprising positions on issues, such as advocating the legalization of marijuana.

Hard as it may be to believe today, liberalism was the mainstream ideology in the post-World War II era, from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. Franklin Roosevelt’s social and economic welfare programs generally were seen as effective and just, and they were expanded by subsequent presidents and the Democratic-controlled Congress. The obsession with ferreting out communists during the McCarthy era aside, Americans generally supported worker rights and unions, and saw government as a great equalizer. It might be argued that the radicalism of the late 1960s turned mainstream Americans off to liberal values, but in the 1950s and mid-1960s, the classic liberal ideas were accepted and firmly established.

Into this world, well-armed with a superior intellect and verbal skills – and a sly wit – strode Mr. Buckley, unapologetic as he espoused conservative ideas and challenged liberal ideology, or, as one writer put it, “calling its bluff.” As a younger man, he pioneered the use of TV with his long-running show “Firing Line” to offer his ideas and debate those with whom he disagreed. And he founded the National Review, a magazine in which he featured his philosophical and arcane yet breezy prose. And he rarely displayed a lock-step defense of his compatriots.

Consider this passage from a 2004 column: “Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great.”

As Jeff Greenfield of CBS News told Newsday, Mr. Buckley transformed conservatism from the image of a grumpy old man’s ideology to something that was “cool.” He was genuinely fond of many on the left, friends said, and when he debated them, always hit them were he felt it would do the most harm – in their ideas. That sort of political discourse never goes out of style.