Part of the reason for the Liberals’ hardh criticism of Goldwater was crudely political: many of Goldwater’s critics qwew Democrats who wanted to defeat the Republican nominee by any means at hand, including charges of racism. Part of it was philosophical: conservatism was a new way of looking at politics, and liberal critics dismissed its emphasis on individual responsibility and the principle of subsidiarity (allowing subordinate or local organizations to perform functions rather than a central authority) as an attempt to avoid dealing with deep-rooted like segregation.
Another part of the reason was racial: there were no Blacks in 1964, no Thomas Sowell, no Walter Williams, no Clarence Thomas, to articulate the conservative point of view on civil rights. Blacks could claim with some justification, that their views were not adequately represented within the emerging conservative majority of the Republican party.
Yet another reason why Goldwater was criticized so severly was the news media which misrepresented or misreported Goldwater’s views on civil rights and states’ rights.
Source: Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution by Lee Edwards
Another part of the reason was racial: there were no Blacks in 1964, no Thomas Sowell, no Walter Williams, no Clarence Thomas, to articulate the conservative point of view on civil rights. Blacks could claim with some justification, that their views were not adequately represented within the emerging conservative majority of the Republican party.
Yet another reason why Goldwater was criticized so severly was the news media which misrepresented or misreported Goldwater’s views on civil rights and states’ rights.
Source: Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution by Lee Edwards
