Life, Liberty and Property

While Barry Goldwater died in 1998, more than a few of us had hoped that a part of him would live on forever in the GOP’s platform.

As noted by E.M., there is a certain anti-libertarian movement growing in the GOP. With Rick Santorum as well as Mike Huckabee, vocally denouncing “this new-fangled libertarianism” that formed the basis for Goldwater’s conservative revolution, and inspired Ronald Reagan‘s own brand of conservatism. Libertarianism is nothing new for the GOP, a party that was once proud to call Barry Goldwater “Mr. Republican.”

No, it is the big-government, nanny-state-loving neocon/theocon alliance that is a relatively new force in the Republican party. Traditional conservatism is the conservatism of Barry Goldwater — a movement to conserve (root word…) the values of our founding fathers; men who fought a war to free themselves of the encumbrances of an oppressive government. Thomas Jefferson may not have been a perfect libertarian (can you be a libertarian and a slave-owner?), but he was the original small-government politician, and he was joined in this ideology by many of the other brave men who are responsible for creating America.

Barry Goldwater, like Thomas Jefferson, understood that government’s purpose was not to be the solver of problems. For all of the social ills we have attempted to use the government to fix over time, we only seem to accrue more problems. Like Mike Huckabee, I believe in family values. However, I also believe that the way to achieve those values starts and ends with the family.

Government cannot raise our children better than we can do ourselves.

Government cannot provide for us better than we can do ourselves.

Government is not the answer to every question, and attempting to make it so, will only raise more questions.

I for one will not give in. The battle is not over for common sense in government. Just because big-government promises are a road to easier wins at the polls, I will not be swayed. Conservatism and libertarianism MUST not waver on free markets, personal responsibility, sensible foreign policy, and the roll-back of government largesse that has brought the GOP success in the past.