Why McCain Has Lost Our Vote

Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me.

Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.

For a while, there were several candidates who aligned themselves with the Goldwater version of Conservative thought. My grandfather had undying respect for the U.S. Constitution, and an understanding of its true meanings.

There always have been a glimmer of hope that someday, someone would "race through the gate" full steam in Goldwater style. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened, and the Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear. Nothing about McCain, except for maybe a uniform, compares to the same ideology of what Goldwater stood for as a politician. The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe.

When you see the candidate's in political ads, you can't help but be reminded of the 1964 presidential campaign of Johnson/Goldwater, the 'origin of spin', that twists the truth and obscures what really matters. Nothing about the Republican ticket offers the hope America needs to regain it's standing in the world, that's why we're going to support Barack Obama. I think that Obama has shown his ability and integrity.

After the last eight years, there's a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you.

Related: Barry M. Goldwater, Jr.: Why Barry Goldwater Couldn't Support Obama

Comments

[MissiColvin]

GoldWater Republican for Obama
Part 1
Why I support Barack Obama:
As a self proclaimed Goldwater Republican, I have found that Barry Goldwater's prediction that in the next few decades we will no longer be Republicans but rather considered to be Liberals or Democrats. Being Republican used to mean conservative government, rather than conservative values pushed upon the people without consideration for their individual opinions. I don't need a government concerned with my personal values and morals, that was my Mother's job! Keep your laws off my body and out of my house, and let me decide what spiritual path I choose. These are my rights, not just as an American but as a human being.
Missi Colvin

[MissiColvin]

GoldWater Republican for Obama
Part 2
Why I support Barack Obama
On education, we are lost. Our teachers are responsible for molding our future, yet we treat them more like babysitters. We don't appreciate them, we don't honor them, we barely pay them, and worst of all we don't give them the tools and skills that they need to teach. Our gifted students should be preparing to rule the world, and they are falling through the cracks of the system. Gifted students are failing because they are being taught at the lowest common denominator. The future of our country and our world is in their hands, but when they lose interest in their education, we lose our future. I am not saying that other students are not important as well, but we make accommodations for them, why does that not go both ways. Who knows how much further we could be if our best and brightest could be inspired as well. I was one of those students that fell through those cracks, and might I add so was Albert Einstein. Luckily his gifts weren't wasted, but mine were. I wonder how many others spent their lives knowing they were not living up to their capabilities, because they didn't make the grade due to boredom and lack of challenge.
Missi Colvin

[MissiColvin]

GoldWater Republican for Obama
Part 3
Why I support Barack Obama:
On Economy, well I don't think this is just a recession, I see this as the beginning of a depression. If we don't turn this around now, we will soon pass the point of no return. This one will make the Great Depression look more like a minor hick-up. There is and old saying that comes to mind: "No great civilization will be taken down from the outside before it rots from within." Well something is starting to stink! When you get on an airplane they tell you that in the event of pressure loss, you should secure your own oxygen mask first, before helping others. This is basic logic, if we weren't so busy taking care of other countries, maybe we wouldn't be so weak here at home. Just like a parent, they can't take care of their children, if they don't take care of themselves first. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?
Missi Colvin

[MissiColvin]

GoldWater Republican for Obama
Part 4
Why I support Barack Obama:
On Health Care, well this is personal! My mother retired independently wealthy at the age of 50. However she could not get insurance even though she could afford it, because she had cervical cancer 25 years ago. She passed away April 18, 2008 from cancer, by the time that they found it, it was to late. She was 54 years old. She saw many doctors who merely dismissed her complaints as a pulled muscle, for a year and a half. By the time she demanded that they check for everything, it was to late they gave her 6 months. She made it 7. Given proper care she would still be here. It would have been treatable, if only they paid attention to her, but without insurance, the doctors wouldn't run the tests that needed to be done. In that 7 months she couldn't get any help, she was to sick for insurance and to rich for help. When she passed everything that she had worked so hard for was all gone. Even her house went into foreclosure. Hospice was the only help she got, she was to young for Social Security, and wasn't sick long enough for Disability. If only she could have had insurance, maybe she might have gotten the chance to be a grandmother.
Missi Colvin

[MissiColvin]

GoldWater Republican for Obama
Part 5
Why I support Barack Obama:
I could keep going on and on over almost every issue, but it really just boils down to CHANGE! I know that I sound cliche but we really do need a complete overhaul in almost every arena. If Obama can just get the ball rolling on even a quarter of the changes he wants to make, we can come back from this. Not without a fight and it will be hard, but these last 8 years have our country so messed up in so many ways, that rotting stench will become a plague. I am so disgusted and ashamed of what has been allowed to happen through this administration, I will not bring a child into this country without hope of change. I want to have a baby next year. This election will decide for me whether my child will be born American or not. I am so fed up I am ready to leave, and move somewhere else. I love my country! I love our political system. I don't love watching it fall! Didn't we learn anything from the Romans?
Missi Colvin

[Goldwater432]

Barry Goldwater quotes:
The time has come to recognize the United Nations for the anti-American, anti-freedom organization that it has become. The time has come for us to cut off all financial help, withdraw as a member, and ask the United Nations to find headquarters location outside the United States that is more in keeping with the philosophy of the majority of voting members, someplace like Moscow or Peking.

Barry Goldwater quotes:
And here we encounter the seeds of government disaster and collapse -- the kind that wrecked ancient Rome and every other civilization that allowed a sociopolitical monster called the welfare state to exist.

Barry Goldwater quotes:
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution ... or have failed their purpose ... or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should be attacked for neglecting my constituents' 'interests,' I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty, and in that cause I am doing the very best I can.

[jalapeno]

All these quotes were from his earlier John Birch days. The blue period.

CC was speaking of his older and wiser years, when he was beholden to no dogma or special interests.

[Goldwater432]

A few quotes from Barry Goldwater. Read his entire acceptance speech when you get a chance. Obama supporter? Prolly not!

"To insist on strength is not war-mongering. It is peace-mongering."
"The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government."

Categories of people whose votes he did not want: "the lazy, dole-happy people who want to feed on the fruits of somebody else's labor"

From Barry's Acceptance Speech:
"It is further the cause of Republicanism to restore a clear understanding of the tyranny of man over man in the world at large. It is our cause to dispel the foggy thinking which avoids hard decisions in the illusion that a world of conflict will somehow mysteriously resolve itself into a world of harmony, if we just don't rock the boat or irritate the forces of aggression - and this is hogwash.

It is further the cause of Republicanism to remind ourselves, and the world, that only the strong can remain free, that only the strong can keep the peace.

[nelsonmelle]

I was born and raised here in Arizona. I am a proud liberal who was raised with the utmost respect and admiration for Goldwater. I was proud to meet him in 1992 at a Pro-Choice event and was thrilled to hear him talk about modern politics. The modern republican party is so far from Goldwater's dream. This was an excellent commentary and more in line, I believe, to where Goldwater would have stood. I too cried watching his service and value a signed copy of his book. They just don't make politicians like him anymore - I don't know if they ever did.

[Position]

Interesting how we use our right to speech and the freedom that is granted in how we write our interests for followers of what we claim to be the best or right position in a given condition. when in reality due to our uprightness failure to see clearly is impossible. There are factors, like living locations and income positions that tend to promote thinking which when given enough time become a believe that is thought to be truth, little is understood outside our selfs if it does not include the 5 senses, like what are they really having to happen to them. Those very things you are standing for because of the up bringing provided good or bad are the very things you are losing by the stand for planned parenthood in which the only means of having to chose, is death for those that are unable to share what is really happening to them. Sad position to be in, is like when what you want is whats best for us and when your fail to include all of us.

[Enid]

I will give you your position, give me mine.
My reproduction rights are just that, mine.
You can go tell it to Jesus if you don't like it
but leave ovaries and sperm to there owners

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

CC: I really liked the documentary you did on your grandfather. It was very well done.

Being a fellow Arizonan, I'm sure you've seen all the Obama bumperstickers all over the valley and in NORTH SCOTTSDALE, no less!

ps. I still wear my Goldwater/Miller '08 shirt!!

[DrBillo]

thank you for proving that Conservatives can think a situation through with out malice and condemnation-this well written piece should be the charter for a new Republican party--they need to drench themselves of the nuts like limbaugh,savage,kristol,bush and cheney and have people like this young lady be part of the new Republican Party--they need help,desperately---

[karebarron]

I just heard Republican talking head, Brad Blakeman, say, pretty much that Americans should vote for McCain, because, we don"t want to "give all the keys to the Kingdom to one party¦" What? For six of the last eight years one party had all the keys to all three branches of government. Just because they squandered it does not mean that the more rational party will do the same. Mr Blakeman, are you asking for a handout? I have not heard you suggest that McCain is actually qualified to BE President. Are you asking us to "spread the wealth?" Give the Office of President of the United States to John McCain. Like Socialism for John McCain and Sarah Palin? Come on! You have got to do better than that. Why don't you just ask Americans to allow Bush to remain in office for four more years, so he can fix what he broke? Or better yet, just tell us you would like to put the foxes in charge of the hen house!

[veganphoto]

excellent use of "spread the wealth"

[Wildweezle]

At the end, was it always just about McCain's termperament?
Read the theory here and view the "I'm Voting For That One" and the "That One 08" bumper stickers at the following location:
http://wildweezle.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/im-voting-for-that-one/

[Jknow]

Hi CC,
As a fellow Arizonan, I am not ashamed to admit that I cried like a little child when I watched your grandfather's funeral on PBS. What an amazing man. I am presently reading a protest novel against the Bush administration in which one of the heroes is a United States senator exactly like your grandfather. The senator in this book has absolute integrity, honesty and fearlessness, and he is willing to sit down with the everyday citizen and explain why he is against corruption in the United States government.The senator in the novel comes from a family that created a large and famous clothing store chain, and a family that is always looking for ways to serve others with honesty, kindness and fairness. The book is titled "Trail of Death: Alfredo Gomez and the Assassination of President Kennedy" (Amazon.com). Your courage in coming out in favor of Obama would make your grandfather proud. Thanks for staying true to the values Senator Goldwater held so dear.

[chaos4700]

As a relatively young liberal, I never really knew what to think of Barry Goldwater. As a matter of practical experience, I only see what the Republicans are now and I suppose I've just always assumed he was part of the same ilk. The example you've set, however -- someone who's voting on issues, not along party lines -- is inspiring, and your words about the philosophies you and your grandfather share give me some hope for genuine bipartisanship in the future. I believe I will always be a Progressive, but sharing your viewpoint makes me hopefully that there may still be something redeeming in conservative ideology once Republicans clean house and get back to their roots. Or maybe "if"...on the other hand I'm not holding my breath either.