The Conscience of a Conservative

With an Introduction by Patrick J. Buchanan and a New Foreword by Darcy Olsen of the Goldwater Institute.

Here is the path-breaking book that rocketed a political philosophy into the forefront of the nation's consciousness, written in words whose vigor and relevance have not tarnished with age:

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 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 that have failed in 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 later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' "interests," I shall replay that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am dong the very best I can.

Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–87) and the Republican Party's nominee for president in the 1964 election. He is the American politician most often credited for sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. Goldwater died May 29, 1998.