Warnings
Goldwater called President Johnson "the most dishonest man we ever had in the presidency... a corrupt, power-mad administration... the phoniest individual that ever came around."
He called Richard Nixon "the world's biggest liar."
During the Iran Contra hearings, Goldwater accused Ronald Reagan of being "either a liar or incompetent."
He also said that Jerry Falwell deserved "a boot... right in the ass."
He also said: "Sometimes I think this country would be better off if if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea."
On Clinton: "The best thing Clinton could do... is shut up."
Was Barry Goldwater Right?
- A Speech Re-Examined
Excerpts from his Acceptance Speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Fransisco, California
In July of 1964, Barry Goldwater was labeled "extremist" and "dangerous" by his political opponents. They repeatedly used a line in his acceptance speech, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" as evidence of this. Indeed, in the aftermath of his death, this quote has been, and will no doubt continue to be, quoted extensively. Yet, what did he actually believe, and what did he say in this speech which would back up the charge of "extremism"? Several excerpts of this speech (below) will illustrate how he viewed the world of 1964 and the future of the world, as he hoped it would become.
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. On Vietnam:
"It has been during Democratic years that we have weakly stumbled into conflict- timidly refusing to draw our own lines against aggression- deceitfully refusing to tell even our own people of our full participation- and tragically letting our finest men die on battlefields unmarked by purpose, pride or prospect of victory. Yesterday it was Korea. Tonight, it is Vietnam. Make no bones of this. Don't try to sweep this under the rug. We are at war in Vietnam. And yet the president, who is the Commander in Chief of our forces, refuses to say- refuses to say, mind you- whether or not the objective over there is victory, and his Secretary of Defense continues to mislead and misinform the American people.
On the future fall of Communism and European Union:
"I believe that we must look beyond the defense of freedom today to its extension tomorrow. I believe that the communism which boasts it will bury us will instead give way to the forces of freedom. And I can see in the distant and yet recognizable future the outlines of a world worthy our dedication, our every risk, our every effort, our every sacrifice along the way. Yes, a world that will redeem the suffering of those will be liberated from tyranny. I can see, and I suggest that all thoughtful men must contemplate, the flowering of an Atlantic civilization, the whole of Europe reunified and free, trading openly across its borders, communicating openly across the world. This goal is far far more meaningful than a moon shot- it's a truly aspiring goal for all free men to set for themselves during the latter half of the twentieth century."
On Free Trade, NAFTA and Globalism:
"I can see a day when all the Americas, North and South, will be linked in a mighty system- a system in which the errors and misunderstandings of the past will be submerged one by one in a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence.
We know that the misunderstandings of centuries are not to be wiped away in a day or wiped away in an hour. But we pledge, we pledge, that human sympathy- what our neighbors to the south call an attitude of simpatico- no less than enlightened self'-interest will be our guide. And I can see this Atlantic civilization galvanizing and guiding emergent nations everywhere."
On Diversity:
"We see and cherish diversity of ways, diversity of thoughts, of motives and accomplishments. We do not seek to live anyone's life for him- we seek only to secure his rights, guarantee him opportunity to strive, with government performing only those needed and Constitutionally-sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed. ... "Thus do we seek inventiveness, diversity, and creative difference within a stable order...." Balance, diversity, creative difference- these are the elements of the Republican equation. Republicans agree on these elements and they heartily agree to disagree on many, many of their applications. This party is for free men- not for blind followers and not for conformists."
The Oft-Quoted "Extremism" quote - in context:
"And let our Republicanism, so focused and so dedicated, not be made fuzzy and futile by unthinking and stupid labels. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. The beauty of the very system we Republicans are pledged to restore and revitalize, the beauty of this Federal system of ours, is in its reconciliation of diversity and unity. We must not see malice in honest differences of opinion, no matter how great, so long as they are not inconsistent with the pledges we have given to each other in and through the Constitution. Our Republican cause is not to level out the world or to make its people conform in computer-regimented sameness. Our Republican cause is to free our people and light the way for liberty throughout the world. Ours is a very human cause for very humane goals."
Barry Goldwater was telling us in his time (1964) .
Once the ruling members of the CFR have decided that the U.S. government should adopt a particular policy, the very substantial research facilities of the CFR are put to work to develop arguments, intellectual and emotional, to support the new policy, and to confound and discredit, intellectually and politically, any opposition."
"In my view the Trilateral commission represents a skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power--political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical.
All this is to be done in the interest of creation a more peaceful, more productive world community.
What the Trilateralists truly intend is the creation of a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nation-states involved.
They believe the abundant materialism they propose to create will overwhelm existing differences. As managers and creators of the system they will rule the future."
---Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies
Senator Barry Goldwater put it less mercifully. In his book "With No Apologies", he termed the Trilateral Commission
'David Rockefeller's newest international cabal,' and said, 'It is intended to be the vehicle for multinational consolidation of the commercial and banking interests by seizing control of the political government of the United States"
