You know the truism about conservatives coming to Washington to do good and staying to do well? For once the cliche fits: My real payoff comes tonight when I attend National Review's 50th anniversary gala. It will be held at a magical location downtown, the National Building Museum. I heard Bill Buckley speak there a year or two ago at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's own 50th anniversary dinner. Tonight will be even finer. Any event Buckley heads is a coronation. Who else could have turned conservatism into a magnificent celebration of life?