Yeah, the GOP in the 1960s mostly rolled over and played dead for the Democrats, but Goldwater actually voted against the Civil Rights Act and spoke against it as a violation of the Constitution. He supported the ban on government discrimination, but could not support the bill’s provisions banning private citizens from discriminating. He regarded them as unconstitutional and far beyond the scope of any 14th Amendment enforcement authority possessed by Congress.
“but Goldwater actually voted against the Civil Rights Act and spoke against it as a violation of the Constitution. “
I think that one reason Goldwater was also against the Civil Rights Act is he believed it violated the 10th amendment. This is faulty thinking because the Bill of Rights and the 14th amendment were clearly put in place for the Federal government to protect the civil rights of all American citizens.
In cases such as this (the Jim Crow laws of the south), it is right for the federal government to step in and do something about states that were using the force of their government to abridge the state’s citizens of their constitutional rights.
Goldwater was correct that the government should not compell individual citizens to not be racists. If someone wants to be in a group called the KKK, that is perfectly legal. However, when these racists violate American citizens civil rights and use the force of State government to do it (Jim Crow laws or local sherrifs abrogating their duties), the Federal government has an obligation to step in every time.