The Conscience of a Conservative

by Barry M. Goldwater

Book Overview

The book that established the intellectual ground for the modern American conservative movementIt was 1960. The Cold War churned, and the rules of civil society were rapidly changing as the dust... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567319033
• ISBN13: 9781567319033
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: MIF Books
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.

Customer Reviews

What could have been...

This new edition of the modern classic statement of conservative principles is both welcome and important. As the forward by George Will and the afterward by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., both point out, the principles of conservatism-- and even the very label "conservative"-- have been hijacked by the modern Republican party's leaders. They both correctly point out that Barry Goldwater would be horrified by what is happening today in the name of conservatism. That's because as he saw it, the single function of the American system should be to maximize the freedom enjoyed as a birthright by every individual in order to allow each individual to achieve to his or her maximum potential. Obviously, it's possible to disagree with some (or even most) of the specific positions Goldwater takes. But it's not really possible to disagree with his definition of and explication of conservative principles. Equally obviously, there is virtually nothing being done in the name of conservatism today that fits the definition Goldwater establishes, mostly because the "big government conservatives" and the religious social conservatives they are allied with are interested in expanding government power over individuals in order to achieve the social aims they seek. The neoconservative chicken-hawks are interested in projecting American military power to every corner of the world to achieve the geopolitical aims they seek. None of these people have the least interest in maximizing individual liberty. The enormity of the opportunity that was lost as the conservative movement that Goldwater galvanized was hijacked is staggering. In addition, Goldwater was an exemplar of the kind of politics that simply don't exist today. He was passionate in his beliefs, often abrupt and even abrasive in his delivery, and occasionally profane. But he was never mean, small, or personally insulting. Indeed, in the run-up to the 1964 election, Goldwater and President John Kennedy were thinking of travelling together around the country to engage in dozens of debates about the issues of the day. What an odd idea: the people running for President should talk about the issues and argue directly with one another! No swift-boat ads, no religious tub-thumping, no dirty tricks; just real political dialog. What could have been...

Bedrock of Conservative Government

At just over 100 pages, this brisk handbook for Conservative political thought impressed me by its constant recourse to the sanctity of the US Constitution, and by its thorough enumeration of the ways in which the federal government has trespassed into areas forbidden it by that same founding document. It is clear that these repeated violations of the Constitution, carried out by both Democrats and Republicans (as Goldwater assiduously points out), have spoiled the Senator's good mood. Yet Goldwater has written here a gentleman's treatise. There is no partisan venom, just good, clean, political argumentation from a man who feared, in 1960, that decades of growth in federal power had taken the nation down the wrong path in several areas of public policy, and that this same growth in government was already strangulating individual freedom and sapping the souls of those dependent on government welfare. Goldwater presents what he perceives to be a striking contrast between the mode of thought of politicians in the 1960s and that of the radiant group who founded this country. On the one hand, at least one Republican of Goldwater's generation was quoted as saying "The underlying philosophy. . .is that if a job has to be done to meet the needs of the people, and no one else can do it, then it is the proper function of the federal government." Goldwater shows how this kind of intellectually lazy rhetoric is actually a declaration of the first principle of absolutism--that the State is competent to do all things--and is a repudiation of the Constitution itself, which defines many spheres of activity (education, agriculture, even some forms of foreign aid) as being expressly outside the power of the federal government. There are some real gems here, particularly Goldwater's grasp of the beginnings of judicial over-reach and the Supreme Court's end run around democracy and local decision-making. The 1954 Brown v. Board decision to desegregate public schools might well have been motivated by the best intentions, but it was, Goldwater reminds us, an un-Constitutional intrusion by a branch of the federal government into a domain that is off-limits to federal power. Indeed, the majority opinion in Brown v. Board acknowledged that the Court's decision long-jumped over the Constitution, since the "equal protection" clause in the 14th Amendment, which the Court used to strike down desegregation of schools, didn't apply to education. As Goldwater writes, "In effect, the Court said that what matters is not the ideas of the men who wrote the Constitution, but the Court's ideas." Of course, Americans tend to ignore the abuse of 1954 because segregation was so odious, but the lesson is that once a citizenry permits the Court to impose its ideas exta-legally, the same thing will happen in the future, but producing, potentially, wildly contested rulings. Goldwater concludes this book with a brief (actually, it's one of the longer chapters in the book) chapter

A Primer for Sound Reasoning and Historical Perspective...

...can be found in this short volume by the late Arizona Senator and former Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. Though the present writer has read numerous works since coming across the volume by the late Senator currently being reviewed, this is the one that first begin impressing upon his (at the time quite youthful) mind the logic behind the authentically conservative view of the world, of mankind, and of the core differences between liberal socialism and authentic conservatism. In shorthand, the differences between those views can be well distinguished by noting what the Constitution actually allows for the federal government to do and and what it is not allowed to do. The authentic conservative recognizes the restrictions (and if change is desired moves to do this through proper channels such as amending the Constitution) while the liberal socialist merely seeks to impose their views on others without respect for the rule of law in society. Whatever pretentions exist among those who think they are genuinely conservative in their outlooks but in varying ways are not (such as President Bush or Patrick Buchanan to name two examples), this is the book that for all intensive purposes ignited the modern conservative movement. For it is The Conscience of a Conservative probably deserves a good share of the credit for Ronald Reagan (i) abandoning the Democratic Party in 1962 (ii) giving the defining speech "a time for choosing" in October of 1964 in support of Goldwater's candidacy for president and (iii) provided a solid foundation for Reagan to cultivate his own conservative outlook in his tenure as governor of California and in two major campaigns for president. (In 1976 and again in 1980 when he won the first of his two terms as president.) It bears noting that while there is more to conservative philosophy than what is noted in this book, what is noted here is a good overview -showing the applicability of conservative principles to a host of issues outlined in chapters with titles such as "States' Rights", "Civil Rights", "Freedom for the Farmer", "Freedom for Labor", "Taxes and Spending", "The Welfare State", and "Education." A previous reviewer quoted a part of the book which this writer wants to reproduce here with some brief comments as they pertain to events subsequent to this book's initial publication runs: "While there is something to be said for the proposition that spending will never be reduced so long as there is money in the federal treasury, I believe that as a practical matter spending cuts must come before tax cuts. If we reduce taxes before firm, principled decisions are made about expenditures, we will court deficit spending and the inflationary effects that invariably follow." (p. 65) This observation proved to be prophetic in what happened in the 1980's with the budget deficits. (Though not with inflation which came down dramatically in that decade.) Those who know their history are aware that President Reagan p

seminal restatement of conservatism

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. -Barry Goldwater (1964 Republican Convention Acceptance Speech)If, as Oscar Wilde opined, homosexuality is "the love that dare not speak its name," then we might say that Conservatism is "the political philosophy that dare not speak the truth." Liberals are wont to bathe the masses in comforting but demonstrably false platitudes, because at the root of their political philosophy they maintain a series of fictions, like: (1) we're all essentially equal--all differences in intelligence, ability, etc. are a function of external factors and these external factors can be corrected by government; or, (2) all problems, both international and domestic, are soluble by government action because basically we all really have each others best interests at heart, we just sometimes need a push from Big Brother to realize it; and so on. Conservatism meanwhile is based on a set of somewhat ugly truths, derived from hard experience: (1) the natural state of man, like that of other animals, is one of competition, not cooperation; (2) it is because this competition was so brutal, often fatal, that men reluctantly gave up some measure of freedom, in order to establish a government to protect them from one another; (3) government, foreign and domestic, is now the greatest threat to man, because those governments will seek ever increasing levels of control over human behavior; and so on. Obviously, conservatives are left with a harder sell here.Therefore, while conservative academics express themselves openly, you very seldom hear conservative politicians present their ideas in simple unvarnished fashion; for the most part it gets dressed up in warm fuzzy language. Every once in a while though, especially in times of great crisis, someone will step forward and actually enunciated conservative values in blunt terms--modern instances include: Herbert Hoover in his post presidency phase; Charles Lindbergh and the America First movement; George S. Patton during WWII; Robert Taft after the War; Barry Goldwater in the early '60s; Ronald Reagan from 1962 to 1988; and Alan Keyes today. Significantly, most of these men were either destroyed personally or were denied the opportunity to exercise real power, either by voters or by party power brokers. For all the noble cant about how voters wish that politicians were more truthful, their actions at the voting booth tend to indicate the opposite. They would much rather be comforted than confronted.It is against this backdrop that we must consider Barry Goldwater's seminal treatise The Conscience of a Conservative. And it is only once we understand these circumstances that we can appreciate how significant a book it was; in fact, it may be the single most important written work of ideology ever produced by a practicing American poli

The Spark That Ignited the Modern Conservative Movement

Don't be fooled by the brevity of this book. Goldwater managed to hit a home run with his synopsis of conservative values. Many of today's conservatives owe their involvement in conservatism to Barry Goldwater. He is a forgotten hero.Goldwater was derided in the 1980s for turning off social conservatives. Yet, the 1980s revealed Goldwater for what he really was - a libertarian. He was consistent in his belief that government ought not to be involved in our lives in any way, shape, or form. That included our bedrooms as well as our wallets. He was a visionary who had keen insight on virtually every topic imaginable. Reading his three-decade-old book today is like reading yesterday's news. It is still pertinent and applicable. And there is still much to be learned from what he said and did.No conservative can possibly go without reading this book. It is historical - a building block towards the Reagan 80s and the GOP Congress 90s. It belongs on the shelf of every political scientist (or junkie) as a reference on the conservative governing philosophy.