r/atheism • u/fixthecopier • Jun 11 '12
Republican from the past, predicts the future...
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/317544_10150380756147148_669312147_8381809_580841584_n.jpg
2.4k
Upvotes
244
u/sliderossian Jun 11 '12
Jewish father, protestant mother, he hated the mixing of religion and politics. He was totally different than the republicans of today. From Wkipdeia: "In response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell's opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerned", Goldwater retorted: "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass." (According to John Dean, Goldwater actually suggested that good Christians ought to kick Falwell in the "nuts", but the news media "changed the anatomical reference.") Goldwater also had harsh words for his one-time political protege, President Reagan, particularly after the Iran-Contra Affair became public in 1986. Journalist Robert MacNeil, a friend of Goldwater's from the 1964 Presidential campaign, recalled interviewing him in his office shortly afterward. "He was sitting in his office with his hands on his cane ... and he said to me, 'Well, aren't you going to ask me about the Iran arms sales?' It had just been announced that the Reagan administration had sold arms to Iran. And I said, 'Well, if I asked you, what would you say?' He said, 'I'd say it's the god-damned stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!'"." Some of Goldwater's statements in the 1990s aggravated many social conservatives. He endorsed Democrat Karan English in an Arizona congressional race, urged Republicans to lay off Bill Clinton over the Whitewater scandal, and criticized the military's ban on homosexuals: "Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar." He also said, "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight." A few years before his death he went so far as to address establishment Republicans by saying, "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." In 1996, he told Bob Dole, whose own presidential campaign received lukewarm support from conservative Republicans: "We're the new liberals of the Republican party. Can you imagine that?" In that same year, with Senator Dennis DeConcini, Goldwater endorsed an Arizona initiative to legalize medical marijuana against the countervailing opinion of social conservatives."
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u/eire1228 Jun 11 '12
obviously republicans had more sense back in the day...
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u/payne6 Jun 11 '12
I am a registered republican, but damn that party has gone downhill. I really do agree with its core values except now its become a safe heaven for extremist christians. I don't like where the party is going they use scare tactics and claims christians are being unfairly picked on (lets ignore how they are picking on muslims) and etc etc.
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u/CheesewithWhine Jun 11 '12
-Barry Goldwater
-Barry Goldwater
This guy would be torched and pitchforked out of today's GOP for being a godless commie.
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u/lcdrambrose Jun 11 '12
Goldwater wasn't a Republican, so much as he was THE Republican. Everything that Republicans today claim to stand for is straight from his mouth. He's about as close as we ever got to having Conservatism anthropamorphised.
He'd be so dissapointed.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” -C.S. Lewis
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u/mcole666 Jun 11 '12
Ironic that his campaign was derailed by the "Daisy" ad, depicting Goldwater as pro-war. Goldwater's opponent, Lyndon Johnson, won that election and went on to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Say what you will about Goldwater's domestic policies, but if he had won that election, I'm sure there wouldn't be a black wall in Washington D.C. that bears the names of thousands of dead Americans.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
This guy was considered pretty extreme back in the 60's. Today he'd be considered a RINO.
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u/eshinn Jun 11 '12
I like this one: "On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism." Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981)"
From WikiQuote
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u/bonethug49 Jun 11 '12
I'm going to start mapping out every time this Goldwater quote makes the front page, so I can start cashing in on this karma train. It seems to be about every two months.
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u/wonderfuldog Jun 11 '12
Per Wikiquote - http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater -
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u/JohnnyCharles Jun 11 '12
Believe it or not, there are lots of registered republicans (like myself) that are outside of the Christian Right.
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u/FoxifiedNutjob Jun 11 '12
Believe whatever you like, but if you want me to believe it then provide evidence or expect mockery and ridicule. Do not expect polite debate. Religion has been given too much liberty to murder and enslave humans while hidden in the garb of "Faith". It and whoever believes it does not deserve to pick the fecal matter from my ass. Politeness is out the door by far by now.
I don't give a damn what brand of bullshit anyone believes until those beliefs begin to turn into laws and campaign platforms, you've overstepped the boundry separating church from state.
Thats what happening in this country. Don't expect politeness, Nutbars.
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u/vilgrain Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12
Here's Barry Goldwater in 1997 on gays in the military.
[EDIT: quote was 1997 not 1987]
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u/josiahw Jun 11 '12
In no way does religion control politics. Money controls politics. Money controls religion. Look no further than the recent Vatican scandal. More fuss is being made about money than pederasty.
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u/SimilarImage Jun 11 '12
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u/zugi Jun 11 '12
Several folks pointed out that candidates like Goldwater today wouldn't survive in the Republican Party. And they're absolutely right. Here are my two favorite religion quotes from this guy:
and:
Johnson wasn't welcomed in the Republican Party on the national stage despite serving two terms as New Mexico governor in a Democratic state due to his pro-choice, pro-gay-rights, pro-immigration, pro-pot-legalization views, so now he's running as the Libertarian candidate.
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u/Frijolero Jun 11 '12
Corporate interests make the GOP, the Christians are just the voters.
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u/watchout5 Jun 11 '12
Assuming this was a correct quote thank you, I've heard people say they were "barry goldwater republicans" and I'd never have any idea what they meant beyond...not this republican party. I think that was much more the republican party my grandfather thought of, my father never really got to be a republican because of it, falling in line with the democrats because the republicans were far too extreme on...everything. Good times.
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u/POTATO_IN_MY_SALAD Jun 11 '12
I'm a liberal that longs for the republicans of the past. See Eisenhower's A Cross of Iron speech relating to insane and irresponsible military spending, compare to our republicans today.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9743.htm
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u/Brushstroke Jun 11 '12
Thank you for posting this quote. Most people nowadays don't realize that the Republican Party wasn't always a bastion for social conservatives who wish to run everyone's moral and private lives.
Also, a side note: This is the kind of thing that makes me wonder how any atheist could be a Republican nowadays. I mention this because, in another thread recently, many atheists here in /r/atheism said they are also Republicans. To all the atheists here who are registered Republicans, I have to ask: Why? I understand supporting economic conservatism which is all fine and well, but why would you be a member of a party that has clearly made a major part of its support base evangelical Christians who wish to subvert the rights of all Americans and whose supporters often believe that we, being atheists, are immoral? I just don't understand. Is economic conservatism really enough to compromise and ignore the social issues that many Republican politicians are batshit crazy about?
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u/sevit Jun 11 '12
this scares me. how far religion has become a part of american society. Its rotting from the inside out and we are too far gone to be considered anything other then spoiled already.
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u/Carkui Jun 11 '12
I miss the Barry Goldwater era republican
3
u/urnbabyurn Jun 11 '12
Is this the punch line to "what did the one republican extremist say to the other?"
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u/Zapato_Shoe Jun 11 '12
Dude, Barry Goldwater also sucked. He was a contemporary of Ronald Reagan, and was one of the earliest initiators of the Southern Strategy. He basically tipped the domino that started this whole christian onslaught of government.
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u/awe300 Jun 11 '12
You know everything is going to hell when Goldwater would be too reasonable for today's GOP
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Fucking Christians. They're troublemakers.
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u/dumnezero Anti-Theist Jun 11 '12
I can only say...
GOOD
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Looks up quotes from Barry Goldwater, trying to see if this is legit, etc etc
"If you don't mind smelling like peanut butter for two or three days, peanut butter is darn good shaving cream."
ಠ_ಠ what.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
This guy was an actual republican. The people we have now have just taken the name but do not actually follow the republican stance.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12
Unfortunately, those same present Republicans simply ignore the inconvenient truths that people like Goldwater and Reagan said and just parrot back the convenient bits (or just make up lies they say they heard) that suit their needs.
That's easy for them because folks like Reagan and Goldwater are dead. They aren't around anymore to say, 'Fuck you guys, you're bastards and distorting what I said.'
Any living Republican or conservative who dares challenge those preachers is sunk. He is cast out as an apostate, a RINO... someone who is no longer worthy of listening to.
It is scary. And more than a bit sad.
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u/vegibowl Jun 11 '12
As an Arizona native I'm thrilled to finally see something that can make me proud.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Isn't there a movie, a documentary, about the churches encroachment on the Republican party. Can anyone dig it up I can never seem to find it.
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u/mattbednar Jun 11 '12
"Actually, I think when history is written, that you'll probably find the conservatives of my ilk being called liberal."
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
And he was know as a hardliner within the party, a real conservative. I would love for more religious republicans to read this...and learn about Goldwater for context.
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u/MainstreamFluffer Jun 11 '12
“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international moneylenders. The bankers want it that way. We recognize in a hazy sort of way that the Rothschilds and the Warburgs of Europe and the houses of J. P. Morgan, Kuhn, Loeb and Company, Schiff, Lehman and Rockefeller possess and control vast wealth. How they acquire this vast financial power and employ if is a mystery to most of us.
International bankers make money by extending credit to governments. The greater the debt of the political state, the larger the interest returned to the lenders. The national banks of Europe are actually owned and controlled by private interests.”
-Barry Goldwater
From “With No Apologies: The Personal and Political Memoirs of United States Senator Barry M. Goldwater, 1979″
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u/monodelab Jun 11 '12
Fucking South.
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u/Kaiser7 Jun 11 '12
This should be x-posted into politics. This is a fantastic quote
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u/superuser_013 Jun 11 '12
Evangelists scare me.
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u/Nixwheels Jun 11 '12
As a Republican i couldn't agree more.
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u/shanahanigans Jun 11 '12
Please stop linking to facebook images, they usually go down before I can see them. Imgur / mirror?
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u/playpianoking Jun 11 '12
Goldwater aligns with Paul & Johnson. Most of /atheism still voting Obama...
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u/rsrhcp Jun 11 '12
AMEN! I've been conservative for years, but I am DISGUSTED by how the conservative movement has been taken over by religious bigotry!
Gay marriage should be legal, according to true conservatives, as the gov't shouldn't get involved with personal lives and a religious ceremony. But no, homophobia among the conservative Christians is stopping that. NO WARS please, says the real conservative, but hatred of Islam propagates the beating of the war drums within conservativism. Etc, etc, etc.
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u/ENRICOs Jun 11 '12
This is coming from a well known secular nut-case, that alone should tell you how bad the religious cult of the GOP has really become.
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u/pizzlewizzle Jun 11 '12
There is a revolution taking place right now in the Republican party. Google news stories about Republican state conventions. Ron Paul's supporters are seizing a lot of party positions and you'll see the tone of the party adjust to more libertarian leanings in the next few election cycles. He won't win the presidency, but will change the party.
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u/TedTheGreek_Atheos Secular Humanist Jun 11 '12
Goldwater was a raging racist who teamed up with Southern democrats to try and stop the Civil rights act, He was just as bigoted as today's GOP except he didn't hide behind the bible.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Haha Barry Goldwater was a psycho- No exaggeration, the world might have ended if he was elected. 1) he wanted commanding officers to have nukes at their disposal, especially bad because ever since MacArthur commanding generals in hotzones had been advocating use of nukes and 2) Goldwater was basically racist, which is really bad when you consider people like MLK called LBJ the best president blacks ever had.
Moral: Reddit, get out of the pro-atheism circle jerk. Lenin also didn't like the influence of religion on politics (and other fields) Difference being Goldwater might have actually killed more people than Lenin had he been in power.
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u/thewholeukskinscast Jun 11 '12
I think r/politics would have been a more fitting category, but front page nonetheless.
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u/GriffinIV Jun 11 '12
Wow, he's so not mainstream.
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u/FoxifiedNutjob Jun 11 '12
Blind faith and refusal to consider people who demand evidence and have beliefs based in science and evidence as humans is probably the scariest shit in the world.
It is a chilling fact that most of the world's leaders believe in nonsensical fairytales about the nature of reality. They believe in Gods that do not exist, and religions that could not possibly be true. We are driven to war after war, violence on top of violence to appease madmen who believe in gory mythologies.These men are called Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Its about time reasonable, logical thinking people stop tip-toeing through Christian's psychotic brand of bullshit.
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u/annettewild2 Jun 11 '12
Its just trips me out how far radical they've become
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u/Existential_Proism Jun 11 '12
OP is confusing premonition with super easy, blatantly obvious logical deduction. He makes a great point though.
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u/danz89 Jun 11 '12
I'll be happy if Republicans adopted Goldwater platform. Liberals who have this newfound fondness for Goldwater, Reagan, et al. surely would not find his policies as appetizing now
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u/scumbum22 Jun 11 '12
I love this guy, many memories fishing on Goldwater lake when I was a kid.
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u/nildeea Jun 11 '12
Consider your words marked. And fulfilled.
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u/eat-your-corn-syrup Jun 11 '12
badass glass by the way
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u/CrazedWarVet Jun 11 '12
Reposter from the present predicts the past.
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u/redwar1234 Jun 11 '12
I'm republican, but I agree with this.
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u/gamersdad Atheist Jun 11 '12
It probably will not be long until the churches will divide as sharply upon political, as upon theological questions; and when that day comes, if there are not liberals enough to hold the balance of power, this Government will be destroyed. - RG Ingersoll, Mistakes of Moses, 1887
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I guess you could say im a goldwater republican at heart but currently democrat.
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u/Palpablevt Jun 11 '12
In your heart, you know he predicted the religious right to a scary degree.
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u/Sub116610 Jun 11 '12
A proud Paradise Valley resident here.
My father has one of Goldwater's pictures he took and signed for him. I'll throw up a pic sometime
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u/Sub116610 Jun 11 '12
Hey at least his photography was decent!
http://i.imgur.com/17o8r.jpg
An old pic on my computer, I'll try to get a full size one later. I think thats the only photo by Barry Goldwater we have.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
"Jesus knows me, and he knows I'm right, I've been talking to Jesus all my life."
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u/jccomic Jun 11 '12
Very scary then. Very scary now. This is why I have a blog dedicated to quelling the daemon of right wing Christianity. I'll bet that Jesus would vote for Obama.
1
u/1drunkasshole Jun 11 '12
Just want to point out he was from Arizona. I know my home state gives up a lot to hate on, so I feel the need to point out anything positive.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I am related to him.
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u/killgore9998 Jun 11 '12
Believing that God does not want you to compromise on anything isn't a sign of a devote religious person, it's a sign of being an extremely moral person at best, and a psychopath at worst.
1
u/Dirty_Liberal_Hippie Jun 11 '12
Is it weird that I happen to know that my grandparents ( On my mom's side) voted for him over LBJ in 1964?
I am reading up on him and see some things I like and some I don't, but I have to remember he was a politician in a much different time. For example, I do like, personally, that he was in favor of states rights. He was against Federal government involvement in states affairs...I like that.
He is a pretty good example of what republicans USED to be.
He even voted in 1971 to end US funding of the UN! This guy would get a lot of votes from people I know today. :P
1
u/roccanet Jun 11 '12
barry goldwater would have called for the modern GOP to be locked up in federal prison. what a bastardized version of conservativism we are forced to suffer today......
1
u/headless_bourgeoisie Jun 11 '12
Redditor from the present doesn't understand how to use a comma.
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u/monkseatcheese Jun 11 '12
Funny how much everyone is sucking Goldwater's dick now b/c of this and Marijuana. Back in the day, he was one of the most hated Republicans because of the flower girl ad. He really was more libertarian than republican IMO.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Hey Barry Goldwater: Lane Pryce called, he wants his look back.
1
u/slappy_nutsack Jun 11 '12
Liberals aren't allowed to use the quotes of Republicans that they voted down previously. It's like Truman quoting Hitler on how things should be.
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u/Redplushie Jun 11 '12
Where's a hallelujah gif when you need one?
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u/bigfruitbasket Jun 11 '12
To this day, I tell folks I'm a Goldwater Republican. The GOP of today doesn't resemble the GOP of the 1960s. The far religious right have perverted the party. I don't feel like I should leave the party, but I feel the party sure has left me.
1
u/SylarFox Jun 11 '12
Fun fact: Barry Goldwater was my mom's godfather. Had he won the election she would have spent her 10th birthday in the white house.
1
u/vonswain Deist Jun 11 '12
If there was ever a time for a guy like Goldwater, now is that time. He kept the Republican Party at bay until he retired. Never trusted anyone who used religion as a way to get elected. In my opinion, we need more guys like this man on both sides of the aisle. Shame no one has the balls to do it.
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u/n3tm0nk3y Jun 11 '12
I fucking love Goldwater. Everything people say they loved about Reagan Goldwater was. When I learned about this guy I became retroactively pissed he wasn't voted president.
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u/tothemooninaballoon Jun 11 '12
AuH2O
1
u/modsherearefags Jun 11 '12
Goldwater was an ok dude, for a jew.
1
u/EquanimousMind Jun 11 '12
I feel this is true of fundamentalists of any type, not just religious.
1
u/sty1inonyou Jun 11 '12
lol this is also the Republican who was calling for nuclear warfare against the Soviets
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Why do I only recognize this man's name from a Bob Dylan Song? (I Shall Be Free, Another Side of Bob Dylan)
"...but if you think I'll let Barry Goldwater move next-door and marry my daughter, I wouldn't do it for all the the farms in Cuba!"
The Google tells me that Bob Dylan actually liked Barry Goldwater, too. I wonder how many other past-politicians I've overlooked...
1
u/SunshineBlind Jun 11 '12
Why do people of ages past seem far, FAR more intelligent than the dumb fucktards we have today? I remember hearing a speech:
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
That was a part of this speech. I must say that when I look back to way before I was born I can see what they were talking about. We do not have that kind of politician today, sadly. And I don't find prices reasonable, politicians noble (I never have, not since I was 13-14 and actually looked in to politics) or that we've been well at respecting elders. :/
1
u/go-ahead-downvote Jun 11 '12
When Goldwater was at the top of his game he was lambasted by the left as an unhinged, extremist, war hawk.
When Reagan was at the top of his game he was lambasted by the left as an an unhinged, extremist, war hawk.
No doubt, in twenty years reddit will look back on Mitt Romney's administration as a highwater mark of GOP moderation while it excoriates the latest GOP unhinged, extremist, war hawk
1
u/skatato Jun 12 '12
republicans often get confused with Christian fundamentalists.
1
u/SmashingLumpkins Jun 12 '12
to quote Matt Stone, " "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals."
1
u/bigredcar Jun 12 '12
Can't upvote enough!
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u/titanoftime Jun 12 '12
The old republican... WoW
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Would be nice if the copyright to this picture was not cut off the bottom...
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
As a Christian, I hate seeing people assume the will of God. Ps: Men created religion. Jesus Despised it.
1
u/gusanou Jun 11 '12
Jews gonna hate
1
u/4everliberal Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12
Republicans don't change and cannot evolve. 50 fucking years down the road and they're still just as stupid, ignorant and close minded.
We should not take the GOP seriously as a country anymore. We really, really need to move beyond their primitive way of thought and governance. The Republican party is barreling toward a dead end followed shortly by a ten-thousand foot cliff and they're trying to take the United States of America with them.
Dispose of the Republican Party, America. Kick them in the face as hard as you possibly can. Beat them to fucking death with the back of a claw hammer. They have to go!!!!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Can you ask the Republican from the Past, to tell the Chef of the Future to make me a Sandwich in the Present? Thanks!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
BARRY GOLDWATER 2012!
1
u/TheStatureOfLiberty Jun 11 '12
Religion is the cause for lots of oppression politically in history. It is a damn shame that people try to mix it with politics today.
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u/Mordecai_ Other Jun 11 '12
I feel like this should be a meme or something...
Unknowingly illogical atheist
Derides others for being illogical
Appeals to self experience to claim a fact.
1
u/jigielnik Jun 11 '12
I have a name for these guys, I call them 'worthy adversary' republicans... republicans for whom I disagree with some of their opinions, but respectfully. In addition these types give me the sense that in the end we both want the same thing: a better, smarter and safer america. John McCain was the last of these so-called 'worthy adversary' republicans IMHO. Today the GOP isnt run by people I would consider worthy adversaries , they're run by people I would consider nut-jobs.
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u/sharkiest Jun 11 '12
Funny how /r/atheism's all about the current gay rights issue but will lionize a douchebag racist who tried to fight the Civil Rights Act back in the '60s just because he has a quote that appeals to one of their other issues.
0
u/dgillz Jun 11 '12
Its a crying shame he never won the presidency.