The Man Behind the Movement: Goldwater’s Ultimate Victory

Atlantic Unbound ^ | 8 August 2001 | Jack Beatty

[backhoe]

Yes, they had- used to be, no-one could win running as a Republican; now the opposite is true!

[Regulator]

Nice to see the dazed leftists figuring out what hit them all these years later. Chuckle.

Sister was a Goldwater Girl from Tucson; As a 9 year old, mom and I canvassed our precinct for Barry. Of course, it being Tucson, it wasn't particularly hard....mostly a foregone conclusion.

The bumper stickers my father's car had:

AuH2O
In your heart, you know he's right

Left them there till 1970.

Nice to see some people here on FR like Barry. The other day I made some flattering remarks about him and was immediately flamed. "worst campaign ever". "went for gay rights". "supported a Democrat". "supported abortion".

Yeah, that was Goldwater. Got older, still being a contrarian. So he went against the grain occasionally, even the conservative grain. I don't think his core principals changed. Read "With No Apologies". The prescience is remarkable. He was, of course, Right.

[Publius]

I stuffed envelopes for the Goldwater campaign and did some leafletting. This was back in New Jersey when I was a high school junior.

Under Democratic Gov. Richard Hughes, New Jersey was difficult and unfriendly turf for finding Goldwater voters. Even in the Catholic high school I attended, the priests were all New Deal liberals who unabashedly advocated socialism as the solution to everything. It was a difficult time for a virgin political effort if you were a conservative.

[headsonpikes]

"Conscience of a Conservative" bump.

So used was I do the dominant Liberal/Socialist orthodoxy that when I first spied that book, I couldn't believe that someone as prominent as a U.S. Senator had the same views as myself!

No politician in my adult life has done more to deserve respect as a principled and realistic man than Barry Goldwater.

The time was not ripe; people had not yet 'enjoyed' enough socialism.

The enjoyment of socialism is running a little thin nowadays, I believe.

Ron Paul for President bump. ;^)

[Cincinatus]

The book reviewed here is excellent and well worth reading.

Goldwater's singular achievement was to pave the way for the Reagan Revolution of the 1980's in two ways. First, the apparent triumph of LBJ and extreme New Dealism drove the Democrat party every further and further to the left, disaffecting and alienating their blue-collar, fundamentally conservative, Democrat base (the "Reagan Democrats"). Hence, Nixon's "southern strategy", massive defections from the Democrat party, and the phenomenon of "neo-conservatism." Second, it is impossible to imagine Reagan's victory in 1980 without a pre-Reagan, conservative sacrificial lamb -- Goldwater was the conservative offering on the altar of political immolation. The liberals took their best shot at Barry -- he was vilified as every rotten thing under the sun. When Reagan came along later, their attacks on him had no punch -- people had seen the essential hollowness of the Democrat agenda and rhetoric.

Although he reveled in his "contrarian" aura, Barry Goldwater was a fine conservative, a good Senator, and great American.

[Publius]

The enjoyment of socialism is running a little thin nowadays, I believe.

Compare Johnson's margin of victory to Gore's "margin of victory", and you'll see just how much has changed in 36 years.

[Publius]

When Reagan came along later, their attacks on him had no punch -- people had seen the essential hollowness of the Democrat agenda and rhetoric.

They had also seen double-digit inflation, malaise, humiliation at the hands of a bunch of mullahs in Iran and the Soviets on the edge of final victory in the Cold War. It was a nasty day for the liberals when the people woke up and realized they had been led down the path to disaster.

I remember well the looks on the faces of the TV anchors the night Reagan crushed Carter. Once the director cut to commercials, I could sense the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[boop]

Right on about "Conscience"! I foud a yellowed, flaking copy at a goodwill and read it cover to cover. It was amazing to realize it was written in 1962. I was stunned how he predicted what would happen if welfare was expanded, affirmative action was enacted, if the Soviets were "appeased", basically what the Great Society has done to America. It was like the man had a crystal ball and saw into the 90's.

[headsonpikes]

He represented the ideas of the Declaration of Independence; he represented the thoughtfulness of the Constitution; he represented America at its noblest.

imnsho. ;^)

My copy was a paperback, also, purchased spitefully at UBC's Bookstore, a typical leftist boar's nest.

I was rabidly right-wing. ;^)

Sometimes I miss the Commies; they were a good enemy! (that's a joke, eh?)