It’s an honest question because, not being old enough to remember Goldwater’s run for President, I really don’t know. Conventional conservative wisdom is that, sure, Goldwater lost by a landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson, but he has since been vindicated as his social vision of limited government and foreign policy belligerence (anybody see a contradiction there?) was later adopted under Ronald Reagan and now stands triumphant everywhere. Conventional liberal wisdom isn't all that different. But is it true?
Here is where I could use some perspective from people who remember Goldwater. My impression is that what alarmed people so much about Goldwater was three things, (1) he opposed Civil Rights legislation, (2) he thought we were too squeamish about using nuclear weapons, and (3) he wanted to escalate the war in Vietnam. So, has he been vindicated? Well, on civil rights, definitely not. There seems to be a general consensus that, whatever his merits on other issues, Goldwater was dead wrong about civil rights. On nuclear weapons, given that we have not used them since, and that we nonetheless managed to win the Cold War, I don’t think anyone could say he was vindicated.* On Vietnam, we ended up taking Goldwater’s advice and escalating, and it didn’t go so well. To this day, people dispute whether that means that escalation was a mistake in the first place, or whether it just shows we didn’t escalate enough, and Goldwater would have done it right. So if these were Goldwater’s three big issues, he got two wrong, while one remains controversial. That hardly seems like vindication.
But what about limited government? Well, our top tax rates have gone down since 1964, but government revenue and spending as a share of the economy has not. I don’t honestly know if Goldwater promised to roll back the New Deal, but I do know that both Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich essentially promised that and neither got very far. Those New Deal Era programs like Social Security, deposit insurance, farm subsidies, the SEC and so forth are still there, and most of them remain popular, even among people who hate “government.” Nor did Goldwater triumph even over Johnson’s Great Society enacted in the wake of his victory. After all, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps were Great Society programs, and neither Reagan nor Gingrich succeeded in rolling them back, either.** One possible triumph Goldwater may claim was in the rollback of much “economic” regulation, in the sense of regulations of routine economic decisions like hauling rates for trains or trucks and fares for planes. But there had been a parallel increase in environmental and consumer protection regulation, so ultimately our economy is neither more nor less regulated than in 1964, but merely differently regulated.
So I don’t really see Goldwater as being vindicated in the sense that any of his policy preferences as of 1964 being enacted. I will concede he has been vindicated in the sense of being an early signal of a change in mood. “Liberal” has become a dirty word. “Government spending” is considered the ultimate evil to be massively cut, even if no one has yet figured out how to make any actual cuts palatable. And boasting how much you will hurt and punish everyone who is not like us has shown itself to be a highly successful electoral strategy. But how much of that is really a vindication of Goldwater?
So far as I can tell, two main factors have been at work in creating our more conservative mood. One is a reaction against the excesses of the ‘60’s. Opponents of the Vietnam War really did engage in a lot of unpatriotic behavior that offended a lot of people’s deep seated values and created a serious backlash. (Are you listening, Occupy Wall Street?) The other was the rise of the Religious Right. And few people were so sharply critical of the Religious Right than Goldwater. Goldwater strongly disapproved legislating religious views. He said all good Christians should kick Jerry Falwell in the ass. He saw no reason to deny gays equal rights to serve in the military. He favored medical marijuana. He even opposed restrictions on abortion. Today's conservatism quite simply means strong leanings toward theocracy. Goldwater's conservatism meant nothing of the kind.
Here is where I could use some perspective from people who remember Goldwater. My impression is that what alarmed people so much about Goldwater was three things, (1) he opposed Civil Rights legislation, (2) he thought we were too squeamish about using nuclear weapons, and (3) he wanted to escalate the war in Vietnam. So, has he been vindicated? Well, on civil rights, definitely not. There seems to be a general consensus that, whatever his merits on other issues, Goldwater was dead wrong about civil rights. On nuclear weapons, given that we have not used them since, and that we nonetheless managed to win the Cold War, I don’t think anyone could say he was vindicated.* On Vietnam, we ended up taking Goldwater’s advice and escalating, and it didn’t go so well. To this day, people dispute whether that means that escalation was a mistake in the first place, or whether it just shows we didn’t escalate enough, and Goldwater would have done it right. So if these were Goldwater’s three big issues, he got two wrong, while one remains controversial. That hardly seems like vindication.
But what about limited government? Well, our top tax rates have gone down since 1964, but government revenue and spending as a share of the economy has not. I don’t honestly know if Goldwater promised to roll back the New Deal, but I do know that both Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich essentially promised that and neither got very far. Those New Deal Era programs like Social Security, deposit insurance, farm subsidies, the SEC and so forth are still there, and most of them remain popular, even among people who hate “government.” Nor did Goldwater triumph even over Johnson’s Great Society enacted in the wake of his victory. After all, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps were Great Society programs, and neither Reagan nor Gingrich succeeded in rolling them back, either.** One possible triumph Goldwater may claim was in the rollback of much “economic” regulation, in the sense of regulations of routine economic decisions like hauling rates for trains or trucks and fares for planes. But there had been a parallel increase in environmental and consumer protection regulation, so ultimately our economy is neither more nor less regulated than in 1964, but merely differently regulated.
So I don’t really see Goldwater as being vindicated in the sense that any of his policy preferences as of 1964 being enacted. I will concede he has been vindicated in the sense of being an early signal of a change in mood. “Liberal” has become a dirty word. “Government spending” is considered the ultimate evil to be massively cut, even if no one has yet figured out how to make any actual cuts palatable. And boasting how much you will hurt and punish everyone who is not like us has shown itself to be a highly successful electoral strategy. But how much of that is really a vindication of Goldwater?
So far as I can tell, two main factors have been at work in creating our more conservative mood. One is a reaction against the excesses of the ‘60’s. Opponents of the Vietnam War really did engage in a lot of unpatriotic behavior that offended a lot of people’s deep seated values and created a serious backlash. (Are you listening, Occupy Wall Street?) The other was the rise of the Religious Right. And few people were so sharply critical of the Religious Right than Goldwater. Goldwater strongly disapproved legislating religious views. He said all good Christians should kick Jerry Falwell in the ass. He saw no reason to deny gays equal rights to serve in the military. He favored medical marijuana. He even opposed restrictions on abortion. Today's conservatism quite simply means strong leanings toward theocracy. Goldwater's conservatism meant nothing of the kind.
Ultimately, therefore, it seems a stretch to me to say that Goldwater has been vindicated. But I am open to opposing arguments.
No comments:
Post a Comment