Liberals lay claim to Goldwater legacy

Tom Pauken is upset that some people are identifying positions taken by the late Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater as being liberal. A new documentary, Goldwater Girl, by Barry Goldwater's granddaughter CC Goldwater features interviews by the likes of Al Franken, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton in support of the argument his granddaughter makes that Barry Goldwater was "a kind of liberal."

Let's face it. Some of Senator Goldwater's positions were liberal. He supported a woman's right to choose abortion. He supported the right of gays to serve in the armed forces. In 1996, when hardline conservatives criticized Bob Dole, the Republican nominee for President, Senator Goldwater said to him, "We're the new liberals of the Republican Party. Can you imagine that?"

Mr Pauken wants to continue claiming Barry Goldwater as a conservative because he "believed in limited government, supported traditional values, and advocated a foreign policy guided by what was in America's national interest." Conservatives have won the war of words over such loaded terms, but liberals in fact believe in the same things.

• Limited government: separation of church and state, Constitutional limits on government's interference in speech and press, keeping government out of the bedroom.
• traditional values: justice, jobs, freedom from want, equality of opportunity, the belief that all men are created equal
• foreign policy based on national interest: the cooperation of free countries, working together in support of those everywhere who struggle to gain and keep human rights, leading to a peaceful and prosperous world in which our own domestic security and prosperity are ensured.

Mr Pauken might find more agreement that Senator Goldwater was a conservative in other highlights of his career. He supported Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) in leading the political witch hunts of the 1950s. He suggested using nuclear bombs to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and jokingly suggested that we "lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin." He voted against legislation guaranteeing civil rights for all Americans.

Personally, I don't mind that conservatives still lay claim to Barry Goldwater's legacy. On the whole, there's much in there that belongs where it is, buried in history. But perhaps it's time to quit fighting over labels, conservative versus liberal, and begin finding the good in both great political traditions. There's much to admire in a man who can entice both political parties to claim a piece of him as their own.