Whither the Conservative Movement pg. 6
Ronald Reagan
The 1964 Presidential campaign put two conservatives on the national scene. Barry Goldwater’s luck would wane with his resounding electoral defeat at the hands of Lyndon Johnson. Ronald Reagan, first heard in this campaign in a national appeal for funding for Goldwater, soon became the torch-bearer of the conservative movement. From 1965, Reagan’s voice would increasingly become known as the voice of the conservative Republican movement. While he remained “Mr. Conservative” until he retired from politics, Barry Goldwater never regained the full measure of influence that he wielded during his Presidential candidacy.
Reagan is often referred to as “The Great Communicator” and he certainly had time to hone his skills in the years between 1964 and 1980. His eight years as President also gave him a platform like no other from which to speak. He made the most of it and the excerpts quoted here give ample evidence of his ability to connect his down-home style of rhetoric to overarching ideological themes.
His ideology also represents a marked departure from Goldwater’s version of conservatism, but it built on the familiar ground of taxation as the enemy of freedom and liberty. In the 1960s, it was virtually indistinguishable from Goldwater’s ideology. Whereas Goldwater simply made the connection between taxes and loss of liberty, though, Reagan contributed additional avenues of attack against taxation.
The first was ideological. Reagan saw progressive taxation as a path towards Marxism and communism (Reagan, 1961, quote II.A.1). It was therefore indefensible (Reagan, 1961, quote II.A.2). The second additional avenue of attack was simple
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The 1964 Presidential campaign put two conservatives on the national scene. Barry Goldwater’s luck would wane with his resounding electoral defeat at the hands of Lyndon Johnson. Ronald Reagan, first heard in this campaign in a national appeal for funding for Goldwater, soon became the torch-bearer of the conservative movement. From 1965, Reagan’s voice would increasingly become known as the voice of the conservative Republican movement. While he remained “Mr. Conservative” until he retired from politics, Barry Goldwater never regained the full measure of influence that he wielded during his Presidential candidacy.
Reagan is often referred to as “The Great Communicator” and he certainly had time to hone his skills in the years between 1964 and 1980. His eight years as President also gave him a platform like no other from which to speak. He made the most of it and the excerpts quoted here give ample evidence of his ability to connect his down-home style of rhetoric to overarching ideological themes.
His ideology also represents a marked departure from Goldwater’s version of conservatism, but it built on the familiar ground of taxation as the enemy of freedom and liberty. In the 1960s, it was virtually indistinguishable from Goldwater’s ideology. Whereas Goldwater simply made the connection between taxes and loss of liberty, though, Reagan contributed additional avenues of attack against taxation.
The first was ideological. Reagan saw progressive taxation as a path towards Marxism and communism (Reagan, 1961, quote II.A.1). It was therefore indefensible (Reagan, 1961, quote II.A.2). The second additional avenue of attack was simple
Go to Page 7
© 2004 by Xpatriated Texan
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