A Man of Principle

When leading political figures can be distinguished one from the other mainly by their haircuts, and Presidential candidates are packaged and repackaged like cigarettes and automobiles (the New This and the Dynamic That), it is rare indeed to find a man in high office who stands for clear-cut principle and presents himself to the public on the basis of principle. It is rarer still when that principle is conservative principle.

Barry Goldwater, an outstanding senator, a national leader of the Republican Party, has won his spurs in practical politics in two eminently successful campaigns in his native state. And his fellow senators have a high enough regard for his knowledge of how to win elections to choose him as chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. When, therefore, he cuts across the shuffling double-talk of contemporary political discourse to speak sharply and clearly for a principled conservative program, he cannot be shunted aside with the noises about “the art of the possible” which the call for a clear conservative program usually evokes from those who put all their faith in the sovereign virtues of slick propaganda and “smart operating.”

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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When leading political figures can be distinguished one from the other mainly by their haircuts, and Presidential candidates are packaged and repackaged like cigarettes and automobiles (the New This and the Dynamic That), it is rare indeed to find a man in high office who stands for clear-cut principle and presents himself to the public on the basis of principle. It is rarer still when that principle is conservative principle.

Barry Goldwater, an outstanding senator, a national leader of the Republican Party, has won his spurs in practical politics in two eminently successful campaigns in his native state. And his fellow senators have a high enough regard for his knowledge of how to win elections to choose him as chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. When, therefore, he cuts across the shuffling double-talk of contemporary political discourse to speak sharply and clearly for a principled conservative program, he cannot be shunted aside with the noises about “the art of the possible” which the call for a clear conservative program usually evokes from those who put all their faith in the sovereign virtues of slick propaganda and “smart operating.”