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Towards a Liberal Goldwater Moment

Matt's efforts to reality-check the "Goldwater moment" are really worth reading and you should, uh, read them. But it's worth noting that conservatives don't really view Goldwater as this seminal, epochal moment, but rather as part of a larger history that encompasses Goldwater, Reagan, and Bush. This triumph of the true believers narrative, wherein conservatives clung to their ideals through the loss of Goldwater, were redeemed by Reagan, and proven victorious by Bush 43, allows the right to paint itself as a movement secure and unflinching in their beliefs. It creates a meta-narrative or -- dare I say it? -- a heuristic for Republicans as courageous, tough, committed, reliable, grounded, trustworthy, etc. They had their time in the wilderness and ended it through sheer dedication to conservative principles. It's not just an American story, it's a Christian one.

That's why the work Matt's doing is important, but also why it's unlikely to have an effect. Revising history is a very tough thing to do, particularly when the event in question isn't up for public scrutiny. Indeed, it'd be more useful to analyze the disconnect between Goldwater and the modern Republican party in order to understand how they appropriated their history to fit their future, rather than how their history created their future. Liberals, beyond simply building institutions, need to undergo a similar project. We need to pick a "phoenix moment" that can serve as the public rebirth of liberalism. Whether that's the Dean campaign, the Gore campaign, or a loss yet to come, in order to revive the progressive project, we're going to have to create a resurrection storyline. Republicans did it with Goldwater, but were savvy enough to ditch the portions of "Goldwaterism" that didn't work. We've got to show a similar combination of political pragmatism and marketing acumen if our much-expected resurgence is to come true. That, by the way, should be what we mean when we speak of our "Goldwater moment". Not just strengthening ACT and electing party chairmen, but preparing the public for a return to Democratic ideals.

Posted by Ezra Klein on February 25, 2005 3:38 PM | Permalink

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COMMENTS (10)

The birth of liberalism? The moment that sparked the minds after years of being kicked/ignored/subjugated? How about DEAN/DNC Chair!

Posted by: Aurona | February 25, 2005 3:48 PM

It's not about the people in charge it's about the message and the selling of the message to the masses. The Dean folks just can't grasp this fact, they are caught up in the cult of personality. Reagan and Bush jr were elected with the help of a right wing propagandaa machine that allowed them to overcome their dumbness, Reagan and his trees make pollution and the numerous other Reaganisms and Bush is of course famous for his gaffs.

The left needs to build a structure to counter the right wing structure that was built after the Goldwater failure. The Republicans didn't put a losing Goldwater in charge of building the structure and the liberals need to realize we can't count on Dean to build a liberal structure to counter the right.

You asked the question last week, where is our Grover Norquist? Till we get a Grover, a Heritage Foundation and a Fox News we will continue to lose.

Posted by: jbou | February 25, 2005 5:27 PM

We have our resurrection storyline. We are on course victory of snatching a seventy year dream from the heart of the Republican storyline and stomping on it. I speak of course of Social Security privatization. If we don't blink it is dead and not for the reasons most supporters of Social Security present. The issue is not that Social Security has minor problems that need to be fixed in a less drastic way than 'personal accounts'. The real victory is going to be the demonstration that Social Security is going to be a net creditor to the Federal Government forever. It's just not broke, as presently constituted it is overfunded.

This concept is apparently too far-reaching to be embraced, certainly I have not been able to get much traction advancing it over the last three months, but the numbers are there for inspection. Exactly nobody is predicting that the economy will perform down to even Low Cost (fully funded) numbers, still less those of Intermediate Cost (the producer of the 2008, 2018, 2042 dates).

My fear was that Bush would be able to jam something through before the release of the next Annual Report (due March 31). That is not going to happen. So I am content to just let the numbers speak, there is no reason not to do a straightline extrapolation of the numbers in the following table. None.
Changes in Trustees projections over time

Channel your inner FDR.

Posted by: Bruce Webb | February 26, 2005 10:52 AM

Check out all the George W Bush as God rhetoric coming from the right and tell me that's not a cult of personality - as, for the matter, was Reagan, whose success had everything to do with people believing in him no matter what was going around him. It may well be that's what America really wants - a personality to build a cult around. And that may be indicative of why George H.W. Bush, a decidedly uncharismatic figure, is often viewed in a less successful light.

My own reaction to Ezra's poitn about not being able to rwrite the story of Goldwater in 64 is that I think it confirms that history is written by the winners. When liberalism is back on the rise (and, eventually, it will be), then we can remind conservatives that the brave tale of surviving in the political wilderness to return to glory with Reagan and Bush II (conveniently ignoring Bush I, BTW) is itself a fantasy. Conservatism is not nearly so tidy a tale, nor is its ideological unity really so strong or such a given.

Posted by: weboy | February 26, 2005 1:06 PM

jbou:

Agree that it will take a lot of personalities and infrastructure, a la Grover, Heritage and Fux News, to get the Dems off the canvas. Disagree strongly about the comparison to Goldwater.

In 1964, Goldwater was already an old man...or gave every impression of being one, to my 9-yr-old eyes at that time. Dean gives no such impression. Furthermore, though he doesn't look like one compared to the current gang of wingnuts, the Goldwater of 1964 was one of the most extremist elements in the pre-Dixiecrat-absorption GOP. Dean has lately come out swinging, but that's a political style, not an ideology. As many in left blogistan have pointed out, Dean is a moderate at best.

More on this later (maybe), but I'm trying to sort out some thoughts on the subject.

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