…as often happens, reasoning and imagination stifled the voice of conscience. –Leo Tolstoy (1881 – ‘What Then Must We Do?’)
Goldwater’s deviation from the Party of Lincoln was marked by his conduct and his ideas. When it came to both behavior and thinking, Goldwater’s close advisors in 1964 brought him as close as any presidential candidate had ever come to subverting the whole pattern of our American politics rooted in coalition and consensus. In 2016 Trump completed this process.
Now we know that, above all, in our Country politicians want to win. Their conduct is shaped by this obsessive goal. Sadly, it seems, for many of them, they also know that if they are elected then they are charged with governing. Their behavior in dealing with opposing factions in their own party, with the opposition and with the electorate is constantly molded and adapted by a traditional understanding that they are charged with organizing a government capable of coping with the problems placed on their plates.
These politicians are quite aware, for example, that their promises, which express what they think they should offer more than what they can actually do, cannot actually be fulfilled. They are also quite aware that if ‘progress’ is to be made that they must work with the opposition. They are charged with searching for compromises that benefit all and that frustrate all [remember our Founding Fathers were brilliant in ensuring that our democracy will only work, thrive and survive rooted in compromise]. At their best they seek consensus (sadly, they are not often at their best).
Goldwater’s career – and Trump’s career – are distinguished by their lack of training and development when it comes to learning, experiencing and integrating this unwritten code. Goldwater did have one leg up (as we say) on Trump. Goldwater had been elected to Congress – he was Senator Goldwater. Now, as a Senator he assumed no important role. He was involved with no legislation when it came to major National Challenges. His main business – supported by his own record – was simply to vote ‘NO’. He did not command the ear of his fellow senators – not even the ear of those who shared his views.
As a presidential candidate, Senator Goldwater, like presidential candidate Donald Trump, made decisions that reflected the outsider’s mindset. Again, candidate Trump elevated this mindset to a new level. The ground was seeded and tilled by Goldwater and nurtured and harvested by Trump.
As ideologues, Goldwater and Trump were/are more interested in preaching than in addressing the challenges of State. Goldwater addressed us via his speeches and Trump refined this as he addresses us via text-messages (Ah, the blessings of technology). Goldwater, like Trump, ensured that he only spoke to audiences that were converted to his views (sound familiar). For both men, the resounding applause that followed them whenever they spoke to their audiences reinforced, confirmed and affirmed that they were ‘right-just-accepted-important.’ Both bring salvation to the saved!
Again, does this sound familiar: Goldwater held no press conferences during his campaign. When he visited the cities he generally avoided the crowds, the slums, and the ghettos and appeared only in halls filled with militant pseudo-conservatives and white-supremacists who needed no persuasion by him. There was precious little effort on Goldwater’s part to take his case to the unconvinced [Thanks: Robert J. Donovan, 1964].
Goldwater’s team of amateurs and provincials trumped the political professionals – this team was called ‘The Arizona Mafia.’ They were new to politics and found it easy to abandon the familiar rules of political conduct. They were moved by the desire to dominate the party. Again, Trump has reaped what Goldwater had sown. For Goldwater, his true victory was not in being elected President but in winning the party. Thanks to Goldwater’s good work, Trump was able to do both and, it seems, Trump also finished Goldwater’s vision as the Republican Party is becoming – or has become – the ‘Trump Party.’
Ah, Gentle Reader…We are not finished yet (or, perhaps we are). Stay tuned for more…
The world we see clearly has already been distorted by unconscious mental processes. –RW Smith
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