Saturday, April 24, 2010

Would Barry Goldwater Be Welcomed into Today's GOP?

Given this quotation from a Goldwater speech on the Senate floor in 1981, I would say not:

On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.
I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." 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."
Wow. I've often said that today's "conservatives" would hate Barry Goldwater for his comments about gays in the military, and now this...

By the way, he was also prompted, by Jerry Falwell's opposition to Ronald Reagan's appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor to the US Supreme Court, to comment, "I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."

Like I say, no Rethug Party for Barry Goldwater. Too honest, too straightforward, too outspoken, too independent, too small-d-democratic and especially too anti-fundo-religious.

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[HT to The Truffle for bringing the first quote to light.]

4 Comments:

Anthony Pitman said...

Sen. Goldwater saw it coming. Wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross. Today's Rethug (fascist) party.
On a side note, good to see you publishing daily. I live surrounded by FauxNews brain rot and look forward to reading your blog.

Farnsworth68 said...

Thanks AP. It's pretty amazing that he did see it, all the way back in 1981.
--The F Man

Anonymous said...

Barry Goldwater, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, all would totally FAIL to meet the neocon agenda today. We're turning into a nation of extremophiles. A moral or political center or consensus is all but impossible when there's economic chaos, endless war, old racist and religious bigotry resurfacing, and wealth inequality unseen since the Robber Baron Era.

-WageslaveZ-

Farnsworth68 said...

Yeah, especially not that trust-busting fascist commie Roosevelt!
Or that commie-enabling China-visiting Nixon. Or that black liberationist Lincoln. None of those guys had a personal political philosophy which would make them welcome in the new GOOP.
--The F Man