Funny thing I noticed about the Goldwater Institute
Posted by: Donna
Or, more accurately, haven’t noticed about them. I rolled out of bed at 8:25 this morning, just in time to catch the wrap-up of “Sunday Square Off”. The panel was Sen. John Huppenthal, AZ Guardian publisher Bob Grossfeld, and Starlee Rhodes from the Goldwater Institute. Rick DeGruhl asked them about the recent court stay of the abortion legislation signed by Gov. Brewer this past session. Hupp went first and said something along the lines that the decision was an indication of liberal judges run amuck. Rhodes was next and said that the Goldwater folks were knee deep in City North lately and she didn’t want to comment on an issue she wasn’t following.
Really, Starlee? You mean to tell me that an organization “committed to expanding free enterprise and liberty” that focuses its work on “protecting the rights guaranteed to Americans by the U.S. and state constitutions” doesn’t have an official position on something that, you know, pertains to liberty and rights in a big way? Seriously? Obviously, Goldwater neither joined nor opposed Planned Parenthood in their lawsuit to stop women from being forced to wait 24 hours before receiving a legal medical procedure, but it’s quite amazing that they’ve never even gotten around to formulating a statement on a hot button polarizing piece of legislation having to do with an issue that a lot of people consider pretty important. I mean, yeah, City North isn’t small potatoes but how hard is it for them to come up with an easily regurgitated talking point on abortion that aligns with their libertarian world view?
Or maybe they don’t want to go there. Which is interesting because the Institute’s namesake, Barry Goldwater, didn’t shy away from the issue. From numerous accounts he opposed abortion personally but felt it was a matter of personal choice and warned against the GOP’s anti-abortion stance. Ol’ Barry had some definite opinions on gay rights late in his life, too:
Having spent 37 years of my life in the military as a reservist, and never having met a gay in all of that time, and never having even talked about it in all those years, I just thought, why the hell shouldn’t they serve? They’re American citizens. As long as they’re not doing things that are harmful to anyone else. … So I came out for it.
I have a strong feeling he would have opposed Prop 8 in California and Prop 102 here. And where was the Goldwater Institute on that? Are those mighty libertarians at 500 East Coronado Rd. that scared of Cathi Herrod? I think they might be, as evidenced by their recent assessment of state constitutions across the country, where they just so happen to rank Arizona’s near the top. ASU law professor Paul Bender thought that was kind of odd:
While he hadn’t read the full report, Bender cited Massachusetts’ No. 48 ranking among states as an example of how the Goldwater Institute’s conservative politics could influence the results. He said that a court ruling determining that gay marriage should be legal under Massachusetts’ constitution could be seen as a victory for individual rights.
(Nick) Dranias, however, said the report didn’t consider individual rights outside of what he called a classical liberal approach to law rather than a libertarian perspective.
Sure Nick, “classical liberal approach”, that’s the ticket.
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That ‘report’ was one of the biggest pieces of garbage I have read and, since I read most all of the Goldwater ‘reports’, that’s saying a lot.
It was clearly setup in such a way to skew the results towards their desired outcome. Many of the progressive things in the state constitution, like education, universities, mental hospitals, schools for blind and deaf, were totally ignored.
Oh yeah — the Goldwater Institute is totally afraid of p*ssing off the CAP crowd. Why? I don’t know…especially when they did some good work exposing Arpaio.
Goldwater opposed civil rights legislation. Please don’t use his quotes as if he were progressive. He wasn’t. Our country forgets too quickly.
Huh? Where did I say or even imply that Barry Goldwater was progressive?