|
3.Barry Goldwater: 1964 Republican
National Convention Address
My good friend and great Republican, Dick Nixon, and your charming wife,
Pat; my running mate, that wonderful Republican who has served us so
well
for so long, Bill Miller and his wife, Stephanie; to Thurston Morton
who's
done such a commendable job in chairmaning this Convention; to Mr.
Herbert
Hoover, who I hope is watching; and to that -- that great American and
his
wife, General and Mrs. Eisenhower; to my own wife, my family, and to all
of my fellow Republicans here assembled, and Americans across this great
Nation.
From this moment, united and determined, we will go forward together,
dedicated to the ultimate and undeniable greatness of the whole man.
Together -- Together we will win.
I accept your nomination with a deep sense of humility. I accept, too,
the
responsibility that goes with it, and I seek your continued help and
your
continued guidance. My fellow Republicans, our cause is too great for
any
man to feel worthy of it. Our task would be too great for any man, did
he
not have with him the hearts and the hands of this great Republican
Party,
and I promise you tonight that every fiber of my being is consecrated to
our cause; that nothing shall be lacking from the struggle that can be
brought to it by enthusiasm, by devotion, and plain hard work.
In this world no person, no Party can guarantee anything, but what we
can
do and what we shall do is to deserve victory, and victory will be ours.
The good Lord raised this mighty Republic to be a home for the brave and
to flourish as the land of the free -- not to stagnate in the swampland
of
collectivism, not to cringe before the bullying of communism.
Now, my fellow Americans, the tide has been running against freedom. Our
people have followed false prophets. We must, and we shall, return to
proven ways -- not because they are old, but because they are true. We
must, and we shall, set the tides running again in the cause of freedom.
And this party, with its every action, every word, every breath, and
every
heartbeat, has but a single resolve, and that is freedom -- freedom made
orderly for this Nation by our constitutional government; freedom under
a
government limited by the laws of nature and of nature's God; freedom
balanced so that order lacking liberty [sic] will not become the slavery
of the prison shell [cell]; balanced so that liberty lacking order will
not become the license of the mob and of the jungle.
Now, we Americans understand freedom. We have earned it; we have lived
for
it, and we have died for it. This Nation and its people are freedom's
model in a searching world. We can be freedom's missionaries in a
doubting
world. But, ladies and gentlemen, first we must renew freedom's mission
in
our own hearts and in our own homes.
During four futile years, the administration which we shall replace has
--
has distorted and lost that vision. It has talked and talked and talked
and talked the words of freedom, but it has failed and failed and failed
in the works of freedom.
Now, failures cements the wall of shame in Berlin. Failures blot the
sands
of shame at the Bay of Pigs. Failures mark the slow death of freedom in
Laos. Failures infest the jungles of Vietnam. And failures haunt the
houses of our once great alliances and undermine the greatest bulwark
ever
erected by free nations -- the NATO community. Failures proclaim lost
leadership, obscure purpose, weakening will, and the risk of inciting
our
sworn enemies to new aggressions and to new excesses.
And because of this administration we are tonight a world divided; we
are
a Nation becalmed. We have lost the brisk pace of diversity and the
genius
of individual creativity. We are plodding along at a pace set by
centralized planning, red tape, rules without responsibility, and
regimentation without recourse.
Rather than useful jobs in our country, our people have been offered
bureaucratic "make work"; rather than moral leadership, they have been
given bread and circuses. They have been given spectacles, and, yes,
they've even been given scandals.
Tonight, there is violence in our streets, corruption in our highest
offices, aimlessness amongst our youth, anxiety among our elders, and
there's a virtual despair among the many who look beyond material
success
for the inner meaning of their lives. And where examples of morality
should be set, the opposite is seen. Small men, seeking great wealth or
power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of
public service into mere personal opportunity.
Now, certainly, simple honesty is not too much to demand of men in
government. We find it in most. Republicans demand it from everyone.
They
demand it from everyone no matter how exalted or protected his position
might be. Now the -- the growing menace in our country tonight, to
personal safety, to life, to limb and property, in homes, in churches,
on
the playgrounds, and places of business, particularly in our great
cities,
is the mounting concern, or should be, of every thoughtful citizen in
the
United States.
Security from domestic violence, no less than from foreign aggression,
is
the most elementary and fundamental purpose of any government, and a
government that cannot fulfill this purpose is one that cannot long
command the loyalty of its citizens.
History shows us -- it demonstrates that nothing, nothing prepares the
way
for tyranny more than the failure of public officials to keep the
streets
safe from bullies and marauders.
Now, we Republicans see all this as more, much more, than the result of
mere political differences or mere political mistakes. We see this as
the
result of a fundamentally and absolutely wrong view of man, his nature,
and his destiny. Those who seek to live your lives for you, to take your
liberties in return for relieving you of yours, those who elevate the
state and downgrade the citizen must see ultimately a world in which
earthly power can be substituted for Divine Will, and this Nation was
founded upon the rejection of that notion and upon the acceptance of God
as the author of freedom.
Now those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what
they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own
version of heaven on earth. They -- and let me remind you, they are the
very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power
does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.
Their mistaken course stems from false notions, ladies and gentlemen, of
equality. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers
understood
it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences.
Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads
first to conformity and then to despotism.
Fellow Republicans, it is the cause of Republicanism to resist
concentrations of power, private or public, which -- which enforce such
conformity and inflict such despotism. It is the cause of Republicanism
to
ensure that power remains in the hands of the people. And, so help us
God,
that is exactly what a Republican President will do with the help of a
Republican Congress.
It is further the cause of Republicanism to restore a clear
understanding
of the tyranny of man over man in the world at large. It is our cause to
dispel the foggy thinking which avoids hard decisions in the delusion
that
a world of conflict will somehow mysteriously resolve itself into a
world
of harmony, if we just don't rock the boat or irritate the forces of
aggression -- and this is hogwash.
It is further the cause of Republicanism to remind ourselves, and the
world, that only the strong can remain free, that only the strong can
keep
the peace.
Now, I needn't remind you, or my fellow Americans regardless of party,
that Republicans have shouldered this hard responsibility and marched in
this cause before. It was Republican leadership under Dwight Eisenhower
that kept the peace, and passed along to this administration the
mightiest
arsenal for defense the world has ever known. And I needn't remind you
that it was the strength and the [un]believable will of the Eisenhower
years that kept the peace by using our strength, by using it in the
Formosa Straits and in Lebanon and by showing it courageously at all
times.
It was during those Republican years that the thrust of Communist
imperialism was blunted. It was during those years of Republican
leadership that this world moved closer, not to war, but closer to
peace,
than at any other time in the last three decades.
And I needn't remind you -- but I will -- that it's been during
Democratic
years that our strength to deter war has stood still, and even gone into
a
planned decline. It has been during Democratic years that we have weakly
stumbled into conflict, timidly refusing to draw our own lines against
aggression, deceitfully refusing to tell even our people of our full
participation, and tragically, letting our finest men die on
battlefields,
unmarked by purpose, unmarked by pride or the prospect of victory.
Yesterday, it was Korea. Tonight, it is Vietnam. Make no bones of this.
Don't try to sweep this under the rug. We are at war in Vietnam. And yet
the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of our forces, refuses to
say
-- refuses to say, mind you, whether or not the objective over there is
victory. And his Secretary of Defense continues to mislead and misinform
the American people, and enough of it has gone by.
And I needn't remind you -- but I will -- it has been during Democratic
years that a billion persons were cast into Communist captivity and
their
fate cynically sealed.
Today -- Today in our beloved country we have an administration which
seems eager to deal with communism in every coin known -- from gold to
wheat, from consulates to confidences, and even human freedom itself.
Now the Republican cause demands that we brand communism as the
principal
disturber of peace in the world today. Indeed, we should brand it as the
only significant disturber of the peace, and we must make clear that
until
its goals of conquest are absolutely renounced and its relations with
all
nations tempered, communism and the governments it now controls are
enemies of every man on earth who is or wants to be free.
Now, we here in America can keep the peace only if we remain vigilant
and
only if we remain strong. Only if we keep our eyes open and keep our
guard
up can we prevent war. And I want to make this abundantly clear: I don't
intend to let peace or freedom be torn from our grasp because of lack of
strength or lack of will -- and that I promise you, Americans.
I believe that we must look beyond the defense of freedom today to its
extension tomorrow. I believe that the communism which boasts it will
bury
us will, instead, give way to the forces of freedom. And I can see in
the
distant and yet recognizable future the outlines of a world worthy of
our
dedication, our every risk, our every effort, our every sacrifice along
the way. Yes, a world that will redeem the suffering of those who will
be
liberated from tyranny. I can see -- and I suggest that all thoughtful
men
must contemplate -- the flowering of an Atlantic civilization, the whole
of Europe reunified and freed, trading openly across its borders,
communicating openly across the world.
Now, this is a goal far, far more meaningful than a moon shot.
It's a -- It's a truly inspiring goal for all free men to set for
themselves during the latter half of the twentieth century.
I can also see -- and all free men must thrill to -- the events of this
Atlantic civilization joined by its great ocean highway to the United
States. What a destiny! What a destiny can be ours to stand as a great
central pillar linking Europe, the Americas, and the venerable and vital
peoples and cultures of the Pacific. I can see a day when all the
Americas, North and South, will be linked in a mighty system, a system
in
which the errors and misunderstandings of the past will be submerged one
by one in a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence. We know that
the misunderstandings of centuries are not to be wiped away in a day or
wiped away in an hour. But we pledge,? we pledge that human sympathy --
what our neighbors to the South call an attitude of "simpatico" -- no
less
than enlightened self'-interest will be our guide.
And I can see this Atlantic civilization galvanizing and guiding
emergent
nations everywhere.
Now I know this freedom is not the fruit of every soil. I know that our
own freedom was achieved through centuries, by unremitting efforts of
brave and wise men. And I know that the road to freedom is a long and a
challenging road. And I know also that some men may walk away from it,
that some men resist challenge, accepting the false security of
governmental paternalism.
And I -- And I pledge that the America I envision in the years ahead
will
extend its hand in health, in teaching and in cultivation, so that all
new
nations will be at least encouraged -- encouraged! -- to go our way, so
that they will not wander down the dark alleys of tyranny or the
dead-end
streets of collectivism.
My fellow Republicans, we do no man a service by hiding freedom's light
under a bushel of mistaken humility.
I seek an America proud of its past, proud of its ways, proud of its
dreams, and determined actively to proclaim them. But our example to the
world must, like charity, begin at home.
In our vision of a good and decent future, free and peaceful, there must
be room, room for deliberation of the energy and the talent of the
individual; otherwise our vision is blind at the outset.
We must assure a society here which, while never abandoning the needy or
forsaking the helpless, nurtures incentives and opportunities for the
creative and the productive. We must know the whole good is the product
of
many single contributions.
And I cherish a day when our children once again will restore as heroes
the sort of men and women who, unafraid and undaunted, pursue the truth,
strive to cure disease, subdue and make fruitful our natural environment
and produce the inventive engines of production, science, and
technology.
This Nation, whose creative people have enhanced this entire span of
history, should again thrive upon the greatness of all those things
which
we, we as individual citizens, can and should do. And during Republican
years, this again will be a nation of men and women, of families proud
of
their role, jealous of their responsibilities, unlimited in their
aspirations -- a Nation where all who can will be self-reliant.
We Republicans see in our constitutional form of government the great
framework which assures the orderly but dynamic fulfillment of the whole
man, and we see the whole man as the great reason for instituting
orderly
government in the first place.
We see -- We see in private property and in economy based upon and
fostering private property, the one way to make government a durable
ally
of the whole man, rather than his determined enemy. We see in the
sanctity
of private property the only durable foundation for constitutional
government in a free society. And -- And beyond that, we see, in
cherished
diversity of ways, diversity of thoughts, of motives and
accomplishments.
We don't seek to lead anyone's life for him. We only seek -- only seek
to
secure his rights, guarantee him opportunity -- guarantee him
opportunity
to strive, with government performing only those needed and
constitutionally sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed.
We Republicans seek a government that attends to its inherent
responsibilities of maintaining a stable monetary and fiscal climate,
encouraging a free and a competitive economy and enforcing law and
order.
Thus, do we seek inventiveness, diversity, and creative difference
within
a stable order, for we Republicans define government's role where needed
at many, many levels -- preferably, though, the one closest to the
people
involved.
Our towns and our cities, then our counties, then our states, then our
regional compacts -- and only then, the national government. That, let
me
remind you, is the ladder of liberty, built by decentralized power. On
it
also we must have balance between the branches of government at every
level.
Balance, diversity, creative difference: These are the elements of the
Republican equation. Republicans agree -- Republicans agree heartily to
disagree on many, many of their applications, but we have never
disagreed
on the basic fundamental issues of why you and I are Republicans.
This is a Party. This Republican Party is a Party for free men, not for
blind followers, and not for conformists.
In fact, in 1858 Abraham Lincoln said this of the Republican party --
and
I quote him, because he probably could have said it during the last week
or so: "It was composed of strange, discordant, and even hostile
elements"
-- end of the quote -- in 1858. Yet -- Yet all of these elements agreed
on
one paramount objective: To arrest the progress of slavery, and place it
in the course of ultimate extinction.
Today, as then, but more urgently and more broadly than then, the task
of
preserving and enlarging freedom at home and of safeguarding it from the
forces of tyranny abroad is great enough to challenge all our resources
and to require all our strength.
Anyone who joins us in all sincerity, we welcome. Those who do not care
for our cause, we don't expect to enter our ranks in any case. And --
And
let our Republicanism, so focused and so dedicated, not be made fuzzy
and
futile by unthinking and stupid labels.
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
(Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.)
And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is
no
virtue.
Why the beauty of the very system we Republicans are pledged to restore
and revitalize, the beauty of this Federal system of ours is in its
reconciliation of diversity with unity. We must not see malice in honest
differences of opinion, and no matter how great, so long as they are not
inconsistent with the pledges we have given to each other in and through
our Constitution.
Our Republican cause is not to level out the world or make its people
conform in computer regimented sameness. Our Republican cause is to free
our people and light the way for liberty throughout the world.
Ours is a very human cause for very humane goals.
This Party, its good people, and its unquenchable devotion to freedom,
will not fulfill the purposes of this campaign, which we launch here and
now, until our cause has won the day, inspired the world, and shown the
way to a tomorrow worthy of all our yesteryears.
I repeat, I accept your nomination with humbleness, with pride, and you
and I are going to fight for the goodness of our land.
Thank you.
|
