Goldwater an Anglospherist?

For several years now, I have used the video of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 acceptance speech as a prop to teach 1960s conservative Republican protest politics to my college students. Each year, I am more impressed with the language and vision within that speech, far beyond the controversial “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” line.

Yesterday, while watching it yet again, I was struck with Goldwater’s prescience on what he called “the flowering of an Atlantic civilization.” Much of what he forecasted has come to pass, the recent fracas with France notwithstanding, and resembles what many are today calling the “Anglosphere.” Here is what he said:

“I believe that we must look beyond the defense of freedom today to its extension tomorrow. I believe that the communism which boasts it will bury us will, instead, give way to the forces of freedom. And I can see in the distant and yet recognizable future the outlines of a world worthy our dedication, our every risk, our every effort, our every sacrifice along the way. Yes, a world that will redeem the suffering of those who will be liberated from tyranny. I can see and I suggest that all thoughtful men must contemplate the flowering of an Atlantic civilization, the whole world of Europe unified and free, trading openly across its borders, communicating openly across the world. This is a goal far, far more meaningful than a moon shot.

It's a truly inspiring goal for all free men to set for themselves during the latter half of the twentieth century. I can also see - and all free men must thrill to - the events of this Atlantic civilization joined by its great ocean highway to the United States. What a destiny, what a destiny can be ours to stand as a great central pillar linking Europe, the Americans and the venerable and vital peoples and cultures of the Pacific. I can see a day when all the Americas, North and South, will be linked in a mighty system, a system in which the errors and misunderstandings of the past will be submerged one by one in a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence. We know that the misunderstandings of centuries are not to be wiped away in a day or wiped away in an hour. But we pledge - we pledge that human sympathy - what our neighbors to the South call that attitude of "simpatico" - no less than enlightened self'-interest will be our guide.”

He may have been swept up in the idealistic tide when predicting that national “misunderstandings” would be drowned in “a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence,” but he was not far off. Europe and Asia are freer today, they are linked much closer to the Americas (politically and economically), and central political and philosophical tenets beyond “human sympathy” and “enlightened self-interest” unite the regions – representative constitutional governments, English as a necessary language, respect for the individual, and the cultivation of creative talents. In fact, the Iraq War has drawn those Eastern European countries under Soviet domination in 1964 firmly into the Anglo-American orbit.

Goldwater’s Anglospheric “mighty system” has come to pass. For more information on the idea of an Anglosphere, see:

http://www.pattern.com/bennettj-anglosphereprimer.html