Extremism In Defense Of A Lie
Shortly after the passage of health care reform last week, a brick was thrown through the window of a Democratic office in New York. Attached to the brick was a note that said, “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice”. This was a quote from Barry Goldwater’s 1964 acceptance speech as the Republican presidential candidate. Possibly, the words attached to the brick were intended by the vandal to be a moral justification for his crime. However, we can’t adequately judge the appropriateness of his actions unless he is willing to come forward and explain to the American public exactly what liberty he is in danger of losing and how “extreme” he is willing to become in defense of that liberty. Does the passage of health care reform take his current insurance policy away, or is he now without insurance and just upset that at some point he will be forced to buy it? Is he afraid of “death panels” or is he concerned that his tax dollars might be used to fund abortions? Is throwing a brick the only action he is willing to take or does he advocate the use of deadly force? Would he be willing to fill a truck with fertilizer and diesel fuel and blow up a federal building? Would he be capable of gunning down a public official in front of his family while attending Sunday services at their local church?
The brick thrower and Barry Goldwater are both wrong. You cannot exist as a civil society unless violent extremism is denounced. And fear of an undefined loss of liberty is the most specious of motives. Yet it still is not entirely his fault. The brick thrower has been lied to. He has been told that the health care reform bill is the end of America. He has undoubtedly heard the voices of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or any number of other right wing voices tell him every conceivable untruth about the Democrats, Obama and this bill. He is not defending liberty, he is defending a lie. He has been used by those who have motives more in line with personal profits and political ambitions than with principle. I sincerely hope that bricks are the beginning and end of this violence, but so far, the Republican leadership has done little to quell these destructive emotional outbursts. Unfortunately, our history has proven that, if left unchecked, it can get much worse.
Soon after Barry Goldwater spoke those words, he lost his bid to become President in a Democratic landslide. Yet he did not resort to throwing bricks through windows or any other sort of extremism. He continued to work responsibly as a respected member of the United States Senate. He was willing to reach across the aisle and work with democrats when he felt it appropriate and was even known to stand up to Republican Presidents like Nixon and Reagan. Most importantly, he was a very vocal critic of the Republican Party’s migration towards the far right. He showed a particular disdain to the religious activists who had seemingly high jacked his party. He thought that Abortion was a matter of personal choice and thought that the banning of homosexuals from serving in the army was “silly”. His quote from the convention may be his most famous, but by the end of his life he had adopted a quite different view. In an interview shortly before his death he told the right wing “Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you’ve hurt the Republican Party much more than the Democrats have.” Perhaps this will become the new rallying cry of moderate Republicans and they can begin to take back their party from the anonymous brick throwers and those that irresponsibly egg them on.
And when I was young we thought that Goldwater was extreme. The Hutaree Christian Militia? Has Glenn Beck given birth? 24% of Republicans polled believe that President Obama could possibly be the Anti-Christ. However they will only commit to “possibly”. These people need to go back and reread their Bible. In my mind, they should be welcoming this ushering into the end of times with arm’s wide open. Extremists may be hoping the so called “battle”, could begin with a brick. We need to chill! Well said Mike Burns., Allen Howard
My dad joined the Republican party when he was in college so he could vote for Nelson Rockefeller in the Republican primary against Goldwater. He kept his membership all of these years even though he voted mostly Democrat. He now, however, has decided that he can no longer call himself a Republican. The extremists have driven him out.