Back to basics... Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative

I recently picked up the essential book on the conservative movement, Conscience of a Conservative,and am certainly glad I did. Frequently when a book is old as this one we shrug off reading it, this is one that demands your attention. If you previously read this years ago go read it again. The latest version has a new foreword by George Will and a new afterword by Robert Kennedy, Jr.

Barry Goldwater is considered the father of the conservative moment and with good reason. He eloquently states his case for smaller government and less taxes. He takes a definitive stance on states rights and nearly fifty years ago he had the foresight to see the fallacy of the welfare state.

Goldwater defines the conservative stance as asking not if there is a problem but does Federal government have the constitutional authority to be involved in the answer. He strongly believes that we should adhere to the principles of the constitution specifically the 10th Amendment, "those powers no delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Staunch conservatives may be surprised to hear that Goldwater was pro-choice, supporting Roe V Wade. "A lot of so-called conservatives don't know what the work means," he told an interviewer in 1994. "They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right."
A good look at his stance on the Soviet menace, reveals a lot about how we need to look at the war on terrorism. He had a no nonsense no compromise view that we needed to defeat the soviets not just detain them.

The GOP often invokes the name of Ronald Reagan as the great leader of the GOP, but apparently it is often forgotten that Reagen was a student of Goldwater. That in fact the efforts that Goldwater started in his 1964 presidential run actually culminated in 1980 with Reagan's win. Goldwater is the one who brought conservatives out of the boonies when the liberals were dominating politics.

I think its time the real conservatives start to rally and exhume Goldwater. We need to have more folks who are willing to stand up courageously and proclaim enough of expanding government lets get back to the constitution. Its time many so called conservatives read his book and find out what conservative really means.