Barry Goldwater and the "Good Old Days" of Political Discourse

I was never a fan of Barry Goldwater, although I found his blunt way of talking rather refreshing. He was the virtual embodiment of conservatism in the middle years of the 20th century. His book, The Conscience of a Conservative, was the bible of conservative thought in the 1960's.

Lyndon Johnson, elevated to office by the assassination of President Kennedy, trounced Goldwater in the 1964 campaign for the Presidency. I was a high school student at the time and mostly remember Goldwater as the guy who was going to lead us into nuclear war because of his "extremism." I remember the famous quote in his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention:

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

He took a huge amount of heat for that one, although I have to admit that the quote actually makes a valid point. Goldwater generated a lot of fears at a time when people were building fallout shelters in their backyards. I remember the short-lived television commercial depicting a little girl innocently pulling petals off a flower as a mushroom cloud explodes in the background.

Now comes an interesting HBO documentary, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater. Produced by his granddaughter, it is a sympathetic depiction of the man, but it also has some important insights into politics then and now. Let me mention two.

The first is the capacity of politicians 40 years ago to mightily disagree with one another in Congressional deliberations and then to go out together, have a drink or dinner, and talk about life and family. There are many examples of this--Hubert Humphrey, Tip O'Neill, Lyndon Johnson. Barry Goldwater was another.

According to the documentary, Goldwater was a good friend of John F. Kennedy. It became apparent at some point that the two of them might very well be running for office on their party tickets. They talked about how they would campaign and apparently agreed to travel the country on the same plane, disembarking to discuss their vast differences on public policy issues, then climbing aboard together as friends enroute to their next stop.

Such a thing would never happen today, and we are the poorer for it. The politics of personal attacks, dirty tricks, and polarization are what we have in place of the spirited but respectful dialogue of another time. Oh them good old days!

The other thing learned from the film is that labels don't fit. Many of Goldwater's positions would be comfortably embraced by today's social liberalism. He had a gay grandson who he supported without qualification. He was appalled by those who tried to insert religious agendas into public policy.

The film is well worth a look. It helps us put perspective on today's political machinations and demagoguery. How we long for a climate where men and women of goodwill are allowed to speak their minds and unburden their hearts without fear that their lives will be stripped bare in the tabloids. The politics of personal destruction distorts and mutes the political discourse this nation needs.

I'm glad Barry Goldwater did not become president. But I am also glad that he brought his ideas into public life and participated in the vigorous but respectful dialogue that our world has a right to expect from those who would lead us.

Technorati tags: Politics Dialogue Goldwater

God and Politics: An Unholy Alliance?

There is hope these days for those of us who have been dismayed by the efforts of conservative Christians to inject their theological and cultural agenda into party platforms and political campaigns. The bumper sticker sentiment that "God is neither Republican nor Democrat" has seemingly been lost within the fundamentalist/evangelical churches. The tendency is to demonize Christians who do not share their social agenda. The constitutional separation of church and state is increasingly ignored by right wing ideologues who see those churches as providing foot soldiers for partisan conservative causes. The horror stories are endless.

The problem is exacerbated by Democrats and other liberals who seem tone deaf when it comes to understanding the language and perspectives of people of faith who do not embrace the conservative social agenda. John Kerry was like a deer staring into headlights when asked questions about his Catholic faith. Candidate after candidate just chose to cede the religious ground, apparently feeling that progressive politics could not be found in the pew. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

They took a thrashing in 2004, failing to defeat a vulnerable president and electing weak congressional candidates who should have been booted out of Congress so they had more time to pack for the Rapture. But the licking they took had some positive outcomes. Finally, at long last, some liberals got religion. It was a new kind of deathbed repentence.

They realized that they needed to find authentic voices of faith who could help frame the political agenda in a way that spoke to the hearts and souls of church folks. They had forgotten that civil rights, support for the poor, economic justice, and a vast array of social reforms had been birthed in the churches. Now it seemed that the only "Christian voice" came from the right--people who had unbending positions on abortion, homosexuality, and school prayer, with nothing to be said for poverty, equality, and peace. The progressive Christian voice needed a microphone, and someone who could speak sensibly into it.

One who emerged was Jim Wallis, an evangelical Christian with social justice burned into his bones. Jim is the founder of Sojourners, an important journal of faith and justice, and of Call to Renewal, an interfaith effort to end poverty in the United States. I have been privileged to work with him in several different arenas over the past few years. I rejoice in seeing how his eloquent voice is now being heard across the land. His book, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, has become a best seller. It is essential reading for Christians with a social conscience.

Now comes word this week that a blog has been created as a way of extending this important dialogue. Bookmark this site (God's Politics: A Blog by Jim Wallis and Friends) and join in the conversation.

I have written previously about how I awoke after election day 2004 with a seething anger over the role played by churches in that election. Where were the prophetic voices? Where was the demand for justice?

I'm beginning to hear the voices, still muted and often overcome by the strident rhetoric of the right. But I am hearing the whisper of hope. Listen for it, point to the places where you hear it. Add your whisper. Let it become a mighty rushing wind.

Technorati tags: Faith and Politics Peace Jim Wallis

No Cheating on the Vision Test

I had an eye exam today and got to wondering about those eye charts. It used to be that the letters were printed on paper and hung on an easel; now they're projected on the wall and manipulated electronically.

I became curious as to whether the lines of letters were always the same, theoretically allowing one to memorize the letters and to thereby cheat on the eye exam. You may think there isn't likely to be a high interest in that, but you might be surprised. For example, I could see people using that method as a way to avoid restrictions on driver's licenses or to escape that dreaded "over the hill" verdict when bifocals are prescribed to those more concerned about vanity than clarity.

I asked the ophthalmologist about this and he demonstrated how the letters can be randomized or changed by the click of a remote control. He did acknowledge that he rarely used that feature. So I can only assume that our society has a sprinkling of people improperly credentialed as having 20/20 vision, all because they memorized the bottom line on the eye chart. Knowing that if there is no vision the people will perish, I will be watching for these near-sighted offenders and will do my part to bring them to justice.

This got me to thinking about what a previous President Bush once called the "vision thing," referring not to an ophthalmological issue but to the need for people who can take the long view and see possibilities that most others overlook. Visionary leadership occurs when one can read the changing lines of type, never believing that memorizing yesterday's chart will be sufficient today or tomorrow.

There's an old saying that "hindsight is 20/20." Perhaps that is so. The visionary will not avoid looking back, but will also understand that the world beyond the farthest hill is what must be known, if imperfectly. There can be no cheating on this vision test, but there will certainly be new ways of seeing.

Can you read the bottom line?: C E P A E

Technorati Tags: vision peace community

The Prairie at Sea

I reported a while back that my wife and I had gone on an Alaskan cruise in July, a first time experience for both of us. We had a great time traveling for a week from Seattle to Juneau and other ports, looking out upon the glacial beauty of the Inside Passage. It was good for us in ways we had not imagined and it gave us time to talk about many things, some personal, some global.

We had long wanted to take a cruise but had not actively pursued it. Then one day back in January we were listening to A Prairie Home Companion, a favorite radio show we tune in each week on NPR. An eclectic mix of music and comedy, the show stars Garrison Keillor, a funky philosopher/writer/musician who stirs his homespun tales into a tasty stew of cultural commentary, political satire, and poignant slices of life. The music is in many ways the heart of it and it comes from many directions--country, jazz, pop, folk, even classical at times.

Listening that day we discovered that Keillor and his show had chartered a ship and were taking a cruise with 1500 or so listeners of the program. The convergence of a Holland America cruise line and A Prairie Home Companion theme was something we couldn't resist. We signed up.

It isn't often that one can experience the wisdom of the prairie in the vast open waters of the sea. But people from diverse backgrounds formed community, became friends, talked about shared values and sometimes about conflicting ones. On this huge ship with its grand dining room and spacious lounges we found ourselves thinking at times about the simple, yet important things. In the lavish comfort of a luxury cruise line there was still opportunity to ponder the deeper human questions.

Even so, we could not fully escape the world's realities. As we walked the deck or sat comfortably in chairs looking out to the sea, the frightening sounds of air raid sirens and incoming missiles played hauntingly through television speakers as CNN broadcast continual coverage of the war in Lebanon and Israel.

But through it all it was the music that provided the zestful foundation of what happened that week, pulling us from our inbred rationality and luring us to dance. The lyrics were sprinkled liberally into the stew, some of them words that might suck desperately for life if spoken, but miraculously gave life when sung.

I know there are moral complexities here. It's easy for people who can afford a cruise to talk about a needy world while eating an elegant five course dinner. The irony is not lost on me, nor has it been in the past when I have had to balance what one sees during many trips into the developing world with the fact that I wanted my own kids to go to college and have a good life, something impossible in many cultures.

But still... I continue to believe that something redemptive does happen when one takes a slice of the prairie to the glacial beauty of the sea. Nothing gets resolved, to be sure. But Powder Milk Biscuits and Lutheran guilt and news from Lake Wobegon (all concepts very familiar to APHC listeners) have something to contribute to the dialogue that must occur in this broken, yet beautiful world.

If the prairie can come to the sea just imagine what else is possible. The city to the farm? The rich to the poor? The gay to the straight? The pit bull to the cocker spaniel? The Muslim to the Christian?

It makes one want to climb aboard the ship of human hope, sprinkle in some music, break bread at a common table, tell some stories, and talk about where we've each come from, what we've each seen and heard. Maybe then we can come to know something of each other. In that way, through our shared stories, the prairie truly could talk to the sea, and likewise the sea to the prairie. What a world that would be!

All aboard?

Technorati Tags: cruises peace community

Moderated Comments

When I started this blog it was primarily for my own amusement, and that remains my central purpose. However, a number of you have invested time in making thoughtful observations about the various topics, and that has been a rewarding and somewhat unexpected bonus.

Early on I noticed some "anonymous" comments that were generic compliments about the site. That appealed nicely to my hubris, until I realized that they were repititious both in content and spelling errors. They also encouraged people to click on embedded links to other sites. Clearly some mischief was afoot.

My philosophy is always one of open dialogue and free speech. However, these postings come not from human beings interested in ideas, but from automated bots trolling for unsuspecting victims. Whether they are advertising links or malicious spyware, I cannot allow the blog to be used in this way.

Therefore, I will be moderating comments on the blog so as to weed out these troublesome bots. I have also gone back and deleted all that I could find on previous postings. This means only that there will be a short delay from the time a comment is posted until it appears on the blog. I will certainly not use this to censor content (unless it is obscene or libelous), but only to protect users of the blog from being victimized by those who seem to have nothing better to do than prey on the goodwill of others.

I'm sorry for the need to do this, but I prefer to head off any potential difficulty for those of you gracious enough to read these musings from time to time.