Why Barry Goldwater Couldn't Support Obama

Being Barry Goldwater's son and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. Well, I am. The decision truly is a no-brainer.

In a previous article, my niece CC implied that the Goldwater family would support Obama. I don't resent my niece's beliefs, she is after all entitled to the freedom of choice we all enjoy as Americans -- however, I do resent what she has done. When she speaks, she should speak for herself and not imply that she is a representative or spokesperson for the Goldwater name. When I speak, I represent my own thinking and never imply I speak for anyone else.

Before one can even attempt to speak for the reputation and beliefs of the Goldwater family, it might be helpful to re-read the Conscience of a Conservative that Barry Goldwater, Sr. wrote and be reminded of the principles of what it means to be a Goldwater conservative. My niece owes the family that at least if she thinks her public endorsement is so important.

Further, that endorsement should at least contain the specifics of what she thinks my father would find so appealing about Obama. Is it his tax policy on small businesses that will increase taxation for over four million people or half of the top one percent of income earners? Is it his anti wealth policy when he advocates increasing taxes and doing away with the capital gains tax? Is it his universal health care program? Who will pay for that? Is it his so-called education program that calls for free college education and offers more federal intrusion into our education process? Or maybe it is just his lack of foreign policy experience?

When anyone makes this kind of leap they at least owe specifics and not generalizations. It's this kind of blind reasoning that is helping liberal Democrats take over our government with a veto-proof Congress and allowing free control of the executive and legislative branches. I have to ask CC if she thinks her grandfather would want this. Absolutely not. He would view this as dangerous and I'm surprised she doesn't.

Barry Goldwater was one of the icons of the Republican Party and, yes, would be unhappy with many of the recent failures from within. I speak about this all the time and how mad I am that Republicans have lost their way. However, we do not find our way back by sheepishly going over to the other side. My father worked to rebuild the party in 1964 by taking it back from the liberal Establishment. He would work to do the same thing today.

CC does not help the Republican Party nor the cause by minimizing John McCain. McCain may not be everything she wants in a President or hold her exact values, but she should work within the party to promote the ideals Barry Goldwater stood for. Endorsing one of the most liberal Senators in Congress is certainly not the way to help fix any problem she sees; instead it is a betrayal of everything my father advocated government should be. My father would never endorse a candidate or a party that wanted to grow government, raise taxes or in any way step on our freedoms.

Together the Goldwaters, including CC, should work together to redefine the Republican Party and make it the model Barry Goldwater Sr. stood for.