"And if today's Republicans truly want to make their mark in service to our founding precepts, they'll reject liberalism-lite and return to the Goldwater standard."
I think he's missing a major point here. Conservatism today isn't necessarily more "liberal" than Goldwater conservatism. Goldwater conservatism had a somewhat more libertarian bent, whereas today social conservatism plays a bigger role in the movement. What really scares me is that we seem to have lost all concept of "shrinking government". We have a Republican House, Senate, and Presidency for the first time in over 50 years and govt. spending is still rising. If we can't cut down govt. now, I don't know when we'll have a chance.
Some facts on spending.
Bush did indeed increase spending at a very alarming rate in his first term.
So far in his second his proposed spending is less tha nthe forecast rate of inflation. This includes the military