I remind you, Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the prosecution of evil is no virtue...
That is what I recall about Sen Goldwater:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_NXXDVtNbA
This conversation, the recalling of Conservatism’s roots, in that Mike Reagan could be right, these are not dusty old Shibboleth’s, far from it, somehow, we let these roots be taken away from us, it took Sarah Palin to remind us of the Intellectual underpinnings of what we are all about.
For that, Mike Reagan deserves a tip o’ the hat and the jar.
The way for conservatives to attract new conscripts is to talk about liberty, I feel. Everyone knows Republicans are the party of national defense: liberals ensure that. We need to remind people that we hate Leviathan (or Fedzilla, as Ted Nugent calls it).
As much as Goldwater’s “extremism” was a pipe-dream, at least it was a challenge. When Reagn got into power and fulfilled the modern conswervative promise, he didn’t do much of anything to permanently change government. Though he cut taxes, he didn’t cut spending. Pure libertarians are right to denigrate his achievements. But he was a dreamer, damnit. He inspired people.