Examining the history of the GOP from to today to the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign the historian Michael Kazin concludes, “Adhering to an easily understood and deeply felt ideology has helped conservatives win impressive victories. After Goldwater lost the 1964 election in a landslide, they kept building their movement, taking advantage of the failure of Democratic administrations and Congresses to contain communism or soothe the rising fears of white Americans about black criminals, rebellious youths, and uppity gays and feminists. They persuaded evangelical churchgoers, anti-regulation and anti-union employers, and intellectual Cold Warriors to unite against the common enemy of secular liberalism. They elected three avowedly conservative presidents and now control both houses of Congress and wield, in effect, a majority on the Supreme Court.” However, Kazin believes that there is one difference between today’s presidential candidates and Goldwater: “Goldwater knew he was going to lose.” Read the entire article:
History Chick in AZ 