Recently I felt the need to re-read "The Conscience of a Conservative." You may suppose that this book was written by Mitt Romney, or Rush Limbaugh, or Marc Sanford or some such. It wasn't. It was written by Barry Goldwater, United States Senator from Arizona, whose seat John McCain now holds.

Barry Goldwater was the Republican candidate for President in 1964, a year in which the John Kennedy Assassination, which had happened less than one year prior, mazde it impossible to mount a Republican campaign. Yet other than that election, Barry Goldwater was a winner. He also created (along with Bill Buckley) the modern "conservative" movement from which Ronald Reagan soon arose -- the rest of the story we all know.

Or do we ? Barry Goldwater was the ultimate "conservative," the man who gave the movement its name, and yet he was

* pro-choice - fiercely so
* pro gay rights -- it was he, a reserve military officer and proud of it, who famously said "I don't care if the soldier is straight as long as he shoots straight!"
* for limited government and no deficit spending

He was these things, indeed he was passionately for liberty of the individual. It was Goldwater who said "Extremism in the cause of liberty is no vice."

So what happened? Why does the word "conservative" today suggest a person who is militantly pro-life, anti gay rights, and in favor of tax cuts for the rich leading to huge deficit spending ?

In a word, religion. That's what happened. During the 1970s and even more so in the 1980s, as a result first of the Supreme Court's ROE v. WADE decision, religious fundamentalists became political activists.

Barry Goldwater hated that. His view was that religion had no business being a subject of political action or of legislation, federally or in the states.

It might also be relevant here to note that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- a Ronald Reagan appointment -- was from Arizona. "Conservatives" don't like her much either. Actually, "conservatives" don't much like ANYONE who thinks for him or herself. Their view is that you either obey "conservative principles" or you are anathema.

This penchant for doctrine has infected much more than just the "social" issues. It was rigid doctrine, blind & deaf to common sense & the facts, that caused the Iraq part of our War on Terror to go so grievously wrong. Between Donald Rumsfeld's refusal to listen to our soldiers and Paul Bremer's disastrous de-Baathification, what should have been a strong victory almost became disaster. Only as disaster loomed did John McCain's view -- that we needed to INCREASE our force, not shave it down, and to empower the Sunnis, not make them jobless -- did we turn toward victory.

Fortunately for liberty, Barry Goldwater tradition remains strong in the Western states. Wyoming's Dick Cheney, when pressed by religionists to oppose his lesbian daughter Mary's rights to marry said "freedom means freedom for everyone." Barry Goldwater would have agreed.

So where does John McCain fit in to this discussion ? First, as an Arizonan, he is linked by tradition and comradeship to Sandra Day O'Connor, Barry Goldwater, and that pathway of "conservatism." He thinks for himself, on all issues. Clearly as President he will not be working day and night to impose the religionists' view of things on a Republican party already dangerously off the rails in that direction.

With John McCain, and in the company of his campaign, I feel comfortable, even cherished, as I express my passionate belief in FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL, no matter what his or her sexual orientation, to make his or her private decisions on private matters without having his face filled with interventionists and their placards. I know that John McCain will not retard medical research -- which saves lives, right? -- because of religionists' objections. I know that though John McCain gives a nod to Samuel Alito, he will almost certainly choose Sandra Day O'Connor -- and her THINK FOR YOURSELF ethic -- as his Supreme Court justice role model.

When reporters say that John McCain is "the real thing," as does today's WALL STREET JOURNAL, this is what they are talking about. John McCain makes up his own mind how to respond to a challenge or a decision. It's his basic policy. In the great American tradition, he lives and will govern AD HOC and not by a BOOK OF IMMUTABLE DOCTRINE.

As for "The Conscience of a Conservative," in it Barry Goldwater spoke passionately about his opposition to Communism in all its aspects, implications, and practices; and he spoke equally combatively about deficit budgets, government regulations, federal micromanagement of everything, the bludgeoning power of federal financial "assistance." You ought to read (or re-read) this book, newly reissued and readily available at big bookstore chains. It might start you re-thinking who is really a conservative and who is just a Busybody with a Busy Book.