Here are the words of a great American which are well worth repeating:
We see, in private property 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. We see in the sanctity of private property the only durable foundation for constitutional government in a free society. And beyond that, we see, in cherished diversity of ways, diversity of thoughts, of motives and accomplishments. We do not seek to lead anyone’s life for him – we seek only to secure his rights and to guarantee him opportunity to strive, with government performing only those needed and constitutionally sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed.
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Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.
So who said this? The answer is senator Barry Goldwater in his speech accepting the presidential nomination of the GOP in 1964.
When you read his word consider how "equality" has been understood today by the left. They want equality which requires conformity and which then seeks to stamp out any disagreement. They want the end to free speech on issues like climate change, diversity and all manner of economic issues. To use the cliché, it is their way or the highway. But that is despotism, not freedom. It is tyranny and not liberty. Goldwater may have been a big loser as a candidate, but as a thinker, he was first rate.
We see, in private property 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. We see in the sanctity of private property the only durable foundation for constitutional government in a free society. And beyond that, we see, in cherished diversity of ways, diversity of thoughts, of motives and accomplishments. We do not seek to lead anyone’s life for him – we seek only to secure his rights and to guarantee him opportunity to strive, with government performing only those needed and constitutionally sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed.
...
Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.
So who said this? The answer is senator Barry Goldwater in his speech accepting the presidential nomination of the GOP in 1964.
When you read his word consider how "equality" has been understood today by the left. They want equality which requires conformity and which then seeks to stamp out any disagreement. They want the end to free speech on issues like climate change, diversity and all manner of economic issues. To use the cliché, it is their way or the highway. But that is despotism, not freedom. It is tyranny and not liberty. Goldwater may have been a big loser as a candidate, but as a thinker, he was first rate.
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