Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater

Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater

For a huge number of Republicans, Goldwater's book, The Conscience of a Conservative was must reading. I believe it is just as vital today as it was then, and Senator Goldwater addresses many topics that could be torn from today's headlines. In this book, Goldwater offered a clear warning about impending dangers to the survival of our American freedoms with recommendations of appropriate action to avoid those dangers. Had Goldwater been elected, we might find today's political landscape very different. This book explores the perils of power, States rights, Civil rights, taxes and spending, and perhaps the most important, the welfare state. In the America of today, with a man in the White House like President Obama, The Conscience of a Conservative becomes, once again, must reading.

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona who ran for President in 1964 as the Republican Party's nominee. Conservative was a charismatic and outspoken personality throughout the early half of the 1960s. Goldwater is widely recognized with reviving the conservative political movement in the United States during the 1960s. He had a significant impact on the libertarian movement as well. Goldwater despised the New Deal's legacy and led a conservative coalition to oppose the New Deal coalition.

He rallied a sizable conservative base to help him win the tumultuous GOP primary. Goldwater's right-wing campaign program eventually failed to find traction with the people, and he was defeated by incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election. Johnson was elected in one of the greatest landslides in history, defeating many Republican opponents in the process. Supporters praised Johnson's crusades against the Soviet Union, labor unions, and the welfare state, while the Johnson campaign and other detractors branded him as a conservative.

Johnson and the Democrats in Congress were able to pass the Great Society initiatives as a result of his defeat, but the defeat of so many elder Republicans in 1964 also allowed a younger generation of American conservatives to mobilize. In 1964, Goldwater's role as a national conservative leader dwindled, and his followers largely rallied behind Ronald Reagan, who became governor of California in 1967 and the 40th President of the United States in 1981. In 1969, Goldwater returned to the Senate and focused on defense policy, bringing his experience as a senior officer in the Air Force Reserve to the table. The passing of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which reconfigured the Pentagon's higher echelons by giving the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff more ability to direct military action, was undoubtedly his greatest achievement.

When evidence of a cover-up in the Watergate affair became overwhelming and impeachment was near in 1974, Goldwater successfully encouraged President Richard Nixon to retire as an elder statesman of the party. By the 1980s, the Christian right's growing influence in the Republican Party had become so incompatible with Goldwater's libertarian beliefs that he became a outspoken opponent of the religious right on topics like abortion, gay rights, and the role of religion in public life.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781604598926
ISBN 10	1604598921
Title	Conscience of a Conservative
Author	Barry Goldwater
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Wilder Publications
Year published	2009-10-27
Number of pages	76
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.