Barry
Goldwater’s Policies
One of the most attention-grabbing
questions about an election is not related
to which candidate or party won but why the voters voted the way they did or
what the repercussions of the outcomes are. Nonetheless, finding the right
answer to these questions is not always an easy undertaking for focusing only
on the campaign incidents and events is not adequate.
It is vital for one to put much emphasis on trying to determine the electorate’s
behavior leading to the election to entirely have an undertaking of the election outcomes.
It is defined by first analyzing the sources of individual voting patterns,
and this is
associated with the various policies that a party or candidates will lay
before the electorate. In the USA, the Democrats and Republicans have each had
their fair share of winning the presidency, and
this is determined by various policies
the party members formulate. Thus, the paper seeks to explore how Barry
Goldwater’s policies played a vital role towards the populist winning of a
Republican Presidential candidate during the 1980 election.
Barry Goldwater
served as the United States Senator for Arizona for
five terms before he decided to have a shot at the nation’s top seat; the presidency in 1964. During his tenure as
senator, Goldwater was known for being
more leaned towards the conservative movement that was against the Republican Party’s
agenda at the time. Even though he did
not have a chance to win an election as
the president, the policies he widely advocated for played a vital role in marshaling
a new wave of young conservatives who voted for President Reagan, the winner of the 1980 general
election.
President Lyndon
Baines Johnson and Nixon played a considerable role in ballooning the federal
budget as they financed wars and various public welfare programs. Johnson
increased the federal budget by billions of dollars, and this was double the amount that President Kennedy had added[1]. According
to Johnson, he wanted to build a Great Society and thus brought the need for a substantial federal budget that was affecting the entire nation. In the case of
Nixon, his policies nearly destroyed the USA economy. He introduced harmful
wage-price controls with the aim of restoring
the economy towards a positive growth, but
they were unsuccessful. He also played a vital
role in the ending of the USA gold standard, and
this allowed the USA to print money with the aim
of solving economic woes[2].
Even so, according to Goldwater, he was profoundly
opposed to such huge federal spending and the economic policies that had been
formulated to grow the economy including the tax structure that he termed as
being unfavorable[3].
This saw a huge percentage of the USA
citizens remaining unemployed as the rates of job growth were minimal. In the case
of the working class, there was no growth in wage rates, and this frustrated a considerable portion of the citizens. As a result of this, Regan’s
economic policies during his campaigns were
based on four pillars; reducing the government spending, tighten money
supply in the economy to aid in job
creation and reduce federal income tax. All these policies had earlier been campaigned
for by Goldwater during his presidential campaigns even though he did not have a chance to win. However, during the
1980 elections, the self-employed, farm workers
and working class all rallied behind Reagan for he had promised them of a better
economy that would increase employment, reduce taxes and increase wage rates.[4]
According to Goldwater, he held that the role of any
government should be to preserve and extend freedom to its people. The previous
Presidents had increased the over-dependence of its citizens on the government
and this as evidenced by the expanded
social welfare programs that had been implemented all over the USA in the mid-1960s[5].
Goldwater being conservative, he believed the fact that such programs had placed an unacceptable burden on the taxpayers in the USA yet they were not
in any way helping to get them away from the
increased rates of poverty[6].
Goldwater believed that for a government to have the welfare of its people at heart, it should instead let the individuals,
community charities, religious organizations, private hospitals among other entities
promote it. During his campaigns, he stated that he would introduce budget cuts
mainly aimed at the low-income
individuals and for those who were regarded
as being the neediest would be exempted
from the taxations. At the time, a large percentage
of the USA population was dissatisfied
with the welfare programs, and thus once Reagan
laid out his welfare dissolution policies that had earlier been indicated by Goldwater,
he attracted massive support from the people thus propelling him into a win.
Goldwater believed
in the fact that communism was one of the greatest threats towards the America
nation and its citizens. Additionally, he felt
that through communism the entire world was at risk for it was the principal disturber of the peace. Every nation
that had communist beliefs was, therefore, a threat to every man on earth. To ensure that the USA overcame communism, Goldwater
stated that it was the time the USA strengthened
its military and improved its foreign policies[7]. In his book, The Conscience of a Conservative, Goldwater has a chapter titled
“The Soviet Menace,” he has outlined
various actions that need to be undertaken to ensure that communism was fully eliminated from the world. His calls
for action were very different from those
implemented by President Dwight
Eisenhower who believed that diplomatic relationships with the Soviet would
help curb communism[8].
Goldwater indicated that it was high time the USA even stopped its foreign aid
to communist nations such as Yugoslavia and Poland. However, for countries that were anti-communist, Goldwater
called for improved foreign policies through foreign aid. Additionally, Goldwater indicated that the USA should not use
nuclear weapons to acquire victory during the Cold War. In general, Goldwater
wanted the USA to become a global governance national and make sure that the
nation frees all people by lighting the way for liberty. And this was followed
by the Republican Presidential Candidate.[9]
During Reagan’s campaign, he noted the fact that the USA was facing a reduced
global standing. He stated that win for a Republican candidate would ensure
that the President pushes for greater
military preparedness and have a close affiliation
with nations that aimed at eliminating communism would see the USA becoming a
global leader in pushing for freedom by using its foreign policy instrument, economic
pressure, military, and diplomatic power.
The signing of the
Civil Rights Act in 1964 brought about an end to legal discrimination against
the blacks in department stores, restaurants, and
hotels[10]. However,
the act did not gain support from every person for some felt that it did not
have their best interest at heart. Goldwater
became the voice of all the opponents of the Civil Rights Act. In his book, he described how the conservatives and liberals tried
to find a similar end but did not agree on the methods employed. He stated that the state had every right to
make decisions regarding desegregation. However, he noted that discriminating
the blacks was unjust and would make them inferior. All he wanted was to ensure
that all parties would support the method used
in eliminating discrimination. Goldwater, therefore, supported the
Southern states on their stance about
civil rights for they wanted each state to have a sovereign power to implement
its laws[11].
As a result of this, The Democrats lost their control over the Southern States,
and this transition was evidenced during the 1980 Presidential
election whereby Ronald Reagan emerged as the winner. In his campaigns, Reagan
gave speeches in support of Goldwater’s stance on civil rights and called for
the implementation of individual/state rights. As a result of this, all
southern electorates voted for Reagan, and
this is even evidenced today whereby all Southern
states support the Republican Party.
Additionally, Goldwater
was a strong advocate of free markets. A substantial number of the huge companies
in the USA colluded with various government officials and thus were sheltered through
the various regulations that were passed.
However, these regulations made it very hard for market entry, and as such, most of the corporations seemed
like a fourth branch of the government. Goldwater believed that competition was
vital for the USA economy for it would help people not to become too reliant on
the welfare programs. Additionally, in a free
market economy, the individuals control the resources that are allocated by way
of voluntary market transactions determined by the forces of demand and supply[12]. In most cases the economic development and
growth of free markets are ascertained by the rate of risks whereby high risks mean
low profits while low risks translate into high
benefits. More importantly, the
government has very little control over the market regulations, and its primary
role is to push for market regulations that support investments, growth and
increased employment opportunities for its citizens. Nonetheless, this was not the case under the presidency on Eisenhower,
Nixon and Johnson for the government took control over the economy through the
big companies by favoring them all through.
Therefore, the government was to blame
for the increased poverty rates in the USA for it did not create employment opportunities.
The Republican presidential candidate advocated against protectionism as it was
weakening the economy and pushed for the formation
of free markets[13].
This made the USA citizens heed to his economic
growth policies and improvement of the free trade abilities of the USA. This would help in creating employment
opportunities, and people would not
become dependent on government welfare programs of which, it is what they
wanted.
Barry Goldwater is
one of the most renowned politicians in the USA. Despite not being able to win
any presidential election, his policies have
formed the foundation for successive presidential
candidates that have seen them emerge victorious as witnessed from the
Republican Party victory of 1980. Goldwater believed in having a free market that would allow the economy to grow
on its own. This was far away from the protectionism
style of economy that the previous government
had tried to implement. The results of such market style saw high unemployment
rates and dissatisfied employees due to low wages. On the other hand, Goldwater was a strong advocate for Civil
Rights. However, he believed that the states each had the right to formulate their
laws and not the federal government. As such, he pushed for state rights
throughout the USA. President Johnson had
earlier introduced the welfare programs with
the aim of building a Greater Society.
Nonetheless,
according to Goldwater, he pushed for the scraping of welfare programs for they
made the citizens poorer than helping them out. The government was not helping create
jobs or increase wage rates for it was already spoon-feeding its citizens. As
such an elimination of the welfare programs was imminent. Robust foreign policy would also help the USA become a global leader in military and
economic developments. During his campaign,
he was seen as being a radical member of
the Republican Party. However, it is through him that the “New Party” was formed
and has become conservative even up-to-date.
[1] Krason, Stephen M. The Transformation of the American Democratic
Republic. Routledge, 2017. p. 350
[2]
Abrams, Burton A., and James L. Butkiewicz. "The political economy of wage
and price controls: evidence from the Nixon tapes." Public Choice
170, no. 1-2 (2017): 4.
[3]
Goldwater, Barry Morris, and C. C. Goldwater. The conscience of a
conservative. Princeton: Princeton University Press,2007,p.53
[5].Ibid.,
p.63
[8] USA Department of State Office of the Historian. Foreign Policy under
President Eisenhower. n.d. Retrieved
from
https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/eisenhower
[9] Goldwater,
Barry Morris, and C. C. Goldwater. The conscience of a conservative.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. p.112
[10]
Bourne, Jenny. "A Stone of Hope: The civil rights act of 1964 and its
impact on the economic status of black americans." La. L. Rev. 74
(2013): 1195
[12]
Nicolaides, Angelo. "Assessing the morality of capitalism, Marxism and the
free market economy." Journal of Economics 7, no. 2-3 (2016).p.114
[13]
Magazzino, Cosimo. "The economic policy of Ronald Reagan: between supply-side
and Keynesianism." European Journal
of Social Sciences 27, no 3
(2012):p.4
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