Goldwater Redux

"Let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Barry Goldwater, in his acceptance speech as Republican candidate for President, 1964

Barry Goldwater, with the above words, attempted to move the Republican Party back to the right after 35 years of "moderation" (read ideological coziness with the Democrats).  Unfortunately, it also cost him the 1964 Presidential election.  But, he did manage to re-plant the flag of conservatism that was then carried forward by the likes of William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan.  Now, Jeb Bush, has managed to throw Barack Obama a lifeline (after The Barry's few disastrous weeks in his quest for re-election.)  His poorly-timed comments in New York City at the Bloomberg LP were:

“Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party, and I don’t, as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement, doesn’t allow for finding some common ground,”

In response, the keeper of the conservative flame, Grover Norquist, riposted in the following quote from the Washington Post:: 

Grover Norquist is lashing out at former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) for his comments critical of Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. Bush has said in recent days that Republicans should accept a deal that includes $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. “There’s a guy who watched his father throw away his presidency on a 2:1 [ratio of spending cuts to tax increases] promise,” Norquist told Talking Points Memo . “And he thinks he’s sophisticated by saying that he’d take a 10:1 promise. ... You walk down that alley, you don’t come out. You certainly don’t come out with 2:1 or 10:1.”

Who is right in this internecine squabble?  Even though I kinda cringe at a lot of what Grover Norquist says, I do believe that the "radicalism" that is being exhibited by him and many many others in the Republican party is nothing more than a recognition of the squishiness that has seeped into the Republican ideology since Ronald Reagan's Presidency ... and the continued drift leftwards in our political ethos as a result of the ideological resolve of the radical left.  Let me offer three examples:

- President Richard Nixon in some ways was even more liberal than LBJ.  He called his approach "New Federalism" which included expansion of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the government's first affirmative action programs, and a proposal for comprehensive national health care (with an employer mandate!)

- President George W. Bush "43" prided himself as being a "compassionate conservative."  Yet, to some, he was in fact more of a "slow-walking liberal."  Witness his $4.8 trillion expansion in our national debt, his extreme ballooning of our federally-funded entitlement programs -- the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit of 2003, his huge increase in government regulations, and, with Ted Kennedy, the "No Child Left Behind" program.

- We now have the most radically-left President in our history.  Recent revelations of Barack Obama's membership in the socialist New Party (see: Breitbart Story) is just one indication of the hidden agenda that he brought with him into the White House.  Obama has been resolute in not compromising with the Republicans during his term in office.  Even when he got Speaker of the House John Boehner to agree to a $800 billion revenue (tax) increase, he reversed himself the next day and demanded $1.2 trillion.  Isn't this the kind of lack of finding a "common ground" that Jeb Bush might have highlighted?

Yes, I think we all agree that compromise should be part of politics.  But when one party is constantly and perniciously loath to move to the middle (read the Democrats) ... and this rigidity is lauded by many in the media ... this gives rise to the kind of radical mimicry that Grover Norquist represents.  The persistent and consistent take-no-prisoners attitude on the radical left is now being matched on the radical right ... and, in a way, I can't blame them.  And until there is a relenting on the left, I don't believe that there will be any relaxing on the right.  If compromise is always painted as being willing to move left, then, eventually, the body politic revolts and gives rise to the Tea Party and the kind of reaction we just witnessed in uber-liberal Wisconsin ... in its failure to recall its conservative Governor, Scott Walker.

This is why Grover Norquist, the modern-day Barry Goldwater, might indeed be a good thing for our nation in the long run ... even though he is a bit of an anathema currently.