This is an archive page of the Blogger News Network. All stories posted on BNN are copyrighted by their author. All site elements on BNN are copyright 2005, Robert Hayes.
Right In Front Of The Democrats' Noses
by Whym Rhymer
Originally posted to BNN 3/8/2005
Once upon a time there was a Republican Party; it was, back then, a Grand Old Party. The year was 1964 and “Mr. Conservative,” Barry Goldwater, was the Republican nominee for President. He lost to Lyndon Johnson that year but, while running, he changed the course of the Republican party.
"He is seeking, not to rule, but to liberate a country."
Ayn Rand in support of Goldwater
Barry Goldwater, it turned out, was not a good Presidential candidate for the Republican party because he was too quick to offer his honest opinions of the way things should go:
He wanted a smaller government:
"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."
He wanted a strong, uncompromising defense . . .
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
and a no-nonsense offense:
"I could have ended the war in a month. I could have made North Vietnam look like a mud puddle."
And he was openly hostile toward the newly-forming 'Religious Right:'
"Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.
from The Congressional Record, September 16, 1981
Well, that was once upon a time.
The Republican Party either never really got it or they have since lost most of what Goldwater attempted to give it. Maybe it's not all their fault, maybe it's just the troubled times we live in . . . then again maybe it's the dishonest, power-grubbing nature of the type of people who have been running for political office during the succeeding decades.
Since the Republicans have lost it maybe the Democrats could resuscitate it, that's what this Reason Magazine Online article suggests:
"There's a better and arguably more attractive ideological option than being anti–"pro–free market," and it's sitting right in front of the Democrats' noses. When the party you despise controls most of the levers of government, it's an excellent time to run against government."
"It's the Democrats who need Enlightenment now. The Republicans, with their ever-expanding government, runaway debt and anti-federalist moral crusading, have given the opposition a golden opportunity. If they don't seize it, "salvation" may be their only option left."
Whym Rhymer blogs at Whymrhymer 101.
Archive Page