The late Barry M. Goldwater was the great conservative of my lifetime and I measure “conservatives” by what Goldwater stood for. He has been called the “father of modern conservatism” but I sincerely believe that if he were alive today he would denounce most of those who call themselves “conservatives”.

More than anything, Barry Goldwater’s conservatism believed in the freedom of the individual. He strongly opposed government’s intrusion into our private lives and on almost all of the so-called “social” issues, Goldwater today would likely vote with the Democrats.

In 1996 the former senator acknowleged that he’d probably be considered a “liberal” in the modern Republican Party. I guess he would be, V the K, if you really want to call the likes of Rick Santorum, James Dobson, Sam Brownback, Tony Perkins, Tom Coburn, Gary Bauer, Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schafly, Sean Hannity, et al, “conservatives”.

Most significantly, Barry Goldwater never changed. With only a few exceptions, everything he believed in the day he died was what he believed in in the early 1960 when he set forth the principles of his conservatism — a political philosophy in which I still believe. It is the Republican Party that has forsaken its principles of individual freedom and equality, civil rights, limited government, balanced budgets, a strong military, etc.

The left pretty much labels anybody more conservative than Lincoln Chaffee “far right.”

Thanks for defending us so often. Good luck with the writing; I look forward to your return.

I just realized I missed a negative in my last statement though…

If you’ve got NO reasons to think so other than “that’s what those people really think” then I’ve got to either dismiss what you’ve said or congratulate you on being psychic.

I won’t be on-line much (if at all) in November since I signed up for NaNoWriMo (just in case anyone has heard of it.) Hope to see everyone again a month and 50,000 words from now.

-Julie

As to Jack’s comment in #14, ditto to Synova in #15.

No, seriously.

I probably was just not listening to the proper objectors but I can’t imagine any reason whatsoever not to have taken their stated objections as if they were… telling the truth.

If you’ve got reasons to think so other than “that’s what those people really think” then I’ve got to either dismiss what you’ve said or congratulate you on being psychic.

There are hardly any conservatives ledt in the Republican Party. Most of those who call themselves “conservatives” are really the “far right”.

In many cases (Bauer, Buchanan, Keyes, Schafly, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, etc.) they are extremists on the far right — part of the growing theocratic wing of the GOP.

I am still amazed that Dobson and Robertson supported the nomination of Harriet Miers. Her writings and speeches from her pre-White House days provide some evidence that she might have ended up being a centrist justice in the mold of the woman she would have replaced.

You realize that this “dominant philosophy” is only in the make believe land where the conservative trolley goes to behind the set, right?

It’s real clear the Bush administration people were much more concerned about placating religious right “conservatives” than economic conservatives. They treat economic conservatives like cheap dates.

I don’t know if this upset will be a long term problem, it’s amazing to me how quickly things are forgotten. (Unless you’re a little blond beauty queen or a pretty blond co-ed who was murdered… then you get front page for months or even years.)

It was HER poor performances in the interview process and her laughable questionnaire submission.

I am curious on one aspect tho! Where was her “handler” like Roberts had? I never once saw the PR machine in action with her nomination like Roberts.

American gays need the opposite: economic conservative and social liberal.

I’m glad she’s gone. Bush’s new choice probably won’t be perfect, but he should at least get it half right.

Having said that, HRC’s and NGLTF’s crocodile tears for Miers are funny because they either know, or ought to know, her status as a born-again Christian social conservative.

I think their comments are just a cheap opportunity to slam Bush and make themselves feel good.

If Miers were going forward, HRC / NGLTF would be screaming bloody murder. Against her. Either that, or they’d wake up to find they’d just boosted a Dobson-approved conservative, because Harry Reid told them to.

I gotta believe HRC / NGLTF know the real dope on Miers (Dobson loved her) and hence, are only getting in the cheap shots.