The conscience of a majority

Fülszöveg

BARRY GOLDWATER
ON THE NEWS MEDIA:
"Nobody has endowed Mr. Huntley, Mr. Brinkley, Mr. Reynolds or any of the other network TV commentators with special powers. . . . Yet all of these men not only announce the news, but they weigh it, judge it, punctuate it—sometimes with sneers and open ridicule. The viewer has no recourse but to sit and take it."
ON DEFENSE SPENDING:
". . . today, in the assault on the defense budget we are seeing part of an overall strategy to bring about unilateral disaimament of this nation. I say this with full understanding that I am speaking about people who have become convinced that the way to protect 204 million American people is to leave them unprotected."
ON THE DRAFT:
"The fundamental right of man is the right to life. The use of force against that right—as in the draft law— is clearly wrong. It would be wrong to assume that free men have to be forced to fight for their country."
ON THE DEMISE OF LIBERALISM:
"One of the root causes which I... Tovább

Fülszöveg

BARRY GOLDWATER
ON THE NEWS MEDIA:
"Nobody has endowed Mr. Huntley, Mr. Brinkley, Mr. Reynolds or any of the other network TV commentators with special powers. . . . Yet all of these men not only announce the news, but they weigh it, judge it, punctuate it—sometimes with sneers and open ridicule. The viewer has no recourse but to sit and take it."
ON DEFENSE SPENDING:
". . . today, in the assault on the defense budget we are seeing part of an overall strategy to bring about unilateral disaimament of this nation. I say this with full understanding that I am speaking about people who have become convinced that the way to protect 204 million American people is to leave them unprotected."
ON THE DRAFT:
"The fundamental right of man is the right to life. The use of force against that right—as in the draft law— is clearly wrong. It would be wrong to assume that free men have to be forced to fight for their country."
ON THE DEMISE OF LIBERALISM:
"One of the root causes which I detect in the demise of liberalism is popular disg ist with the continuous insistence that society must shoulder a mass rej:)onsibility and a mass guilt lor everything which is not perfect in the human condition at this point in the history of our country."
ON THE 18-YEAR-OLD VOTE:
"I am, and always have been against all forms of discrimination whether it be on racial or some other ground, and my feeling is that the 21-year-old voting requirement is rank discrimination against some 12 million Americans in the 18-to-21-year age group."
From the oldest recorded history of man doiun to the precise jnoment of the present, the application of conservatism has been the process of individuals "doing their thing" in an atmosphere of freedom. Only when this activity is carried out luithout regard to the rights of others does it depart from the precepts of conservatism.
Thus, with a reassertion oi the rights of individual liberty and private property, Barry Goldwater begins THE CONSCIENCE OF A MAJORITY. In this, his most important book, Goldwater discusses the great issues of the 70s. His views possess a breadth, candor and positive outlook that will surprise many of his staunchest critics.
The foundations of his philosophy remain the same: conservative fiscal and defense policies, a de-emphasis of big government and re-emphasis of local responsibility and individual freedom. It is a belief in these principles and a resentment towards the excesses of liberalism and the New Left that have resulted in a "reawakening of conscience in this country," according to Goldwater. This conscience, he says, "is demanding an end to phony excitement and change for the sake of change and for government by street mobs."
He deplores the "new isolationism" as it is manifested in calls for leductions in America's defense spending and foreign commitments. He brands as illegal the "widespread use by unions of their members' dues money for political activities." Not surprisingly he takes a dim view of the news media and, in what many will consider the most interesting and controversial chapters in the book, cites specific examples of how he and others have been treated unfairly by the media.
Goldwater bemoans what he describes as the cult of "the unthinkable" and in listing some of the "unthinkable" things which have lately become fashionable he provides a caustic summation of the Forgotten American's nightmare.
But MAJORITY is more than a diatribe. It expresses, in fact, an extremely positive outlook. Goldwater urges all Americans to get behind the fight against air pollution and overpopulation. He is optimistic about the nation's youth and some of his positions—such as favoring the 18-year-old vote—may surprise people who have tended to take an all too simple view of this far from simple man.
This is a Goldwater with a sense of history, who can analyze the causes of our current problems, and it is also a Gold-water with a sense of the future who can speculate on the benefits to be reaped from space exploration. No subject, from the plight of the American Indian to the trial of the Chicago Seven, is avoided in this peppery, straight from the shoulder credo by America's leading conservative spokesman. Vissza