September 1, 2013 --

Sen. Goldwater's acceptance speech is probably best-remembered for the declaration: "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderaiton in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

LPR recently looked at the text of Goldwater's address to the 1964 Republican National Convention and was struck by its relevance to today's domestic issues. "We see in private property, " Goldwater explained, "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."

Goldwater went on to say, "We don't seek to lead anyone's life for him--we seek only to secure his rights and to guarantee him opportunity to strive, with government peforming only those needed and constitutionally sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed."

Consider this, too, from the Goldwater aceptance speech: "It is our cause to dispel the foggy thinking which avoids hard decisions in the delusion that a world of conflict with somehow 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."

And this: "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."

And by the way -- in his July 1964 acceptance speech, Goldwater pointed out -- half a year before the Tonkin Gulf resolution: "Make no bones of this. Don't try to sweep this under the rug. We are at war in Vietnam."