Barry Goldwater's Warning About Our Current Republican Party In One Graphic

[Jack Rabbit]

47. Goldwater had a lot of "true believers" who were supporters

Phyllis Schlafley, for example, came to prominence in 1964 for writing A Choice, not an Echo, a book in in support of Goldwater's candidacy.

That's too bad. He deserved better than to be thought of the candidate of the far right.

Although I believe Goldwater was wrong about more things than he was right, he was an honest, straightforward man who could be relied on to tell anybody who would listen exactly what he thought. During the Watergate crisis, all eyes and ears were on Goldwater; everybody knew that once Senator Goldwater turned against Nixon the game was over. Few others in either house of Congress at that time -- and perhaps none today -- had that kind of integrity.

I once worked with a man who lived in Phoenix when he was younger. He had a job at a gas station. One day, his partner decided to go for dinner as scheduled. Within minutes it seemed as though every car in Phoenix was pulling into the station, overwhelming the young man. Then the young man saw getting out his car none other than Barry Goldwater. Goldwater looked around for a few seconds and saw that he wasn't likely to get a lot of individual attention under the circumstances. So, what did the richest man in Phoenix, a United States senator who was almost president of the United States, do about it? He started pumping his own gas. Soon everybody was pumping their own gas. The young man checked Goldwater out at the register and thanked him. Goldwater said that the he could see the spot the young man was in and decided it was up to him to provide relief.

How many members of Congress could you imagine doing that today?