By Rick Manning
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” —Barry Goldwater
The 50th anniversary of Barry Goldwater’s clarion call for liberty acceptance speech for the Republican nomination passed this week. In a modern world where politicians talk, but their words are hollow, listening to Goldwater’s message a half a century later is like a drink of fresh water.
But the words were no less scary to politicians less than a year from President Kennedy’s assassination. The establishment Republicans, then known as Rockefeller Republicans, played the same cozy games with their Democratic masters as the establishment Republican class does today with crony capitalist beneficiaries of big government.
