The Conscience of a Conservative

The Conscience of a Conservative
Senator Barry Goldwater

It has been fifty years since Senator Barry Goldwater's political manifesto, The Conscience of a Conservative, was published in 1960. The book was a big seller in its day, and did much to help Goldwater's bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964.

The book outlines many standard conservative positions on the issues of the day. It covers the Constitution, welfare, education, civil rights, 'states rights', and the Soviet Union. Most of the content holds up pretty well a half-century later. Some specific figures do seem pretty quaint (a federal budget of 100 billion dollars!). Conscience is mostly correct, but does contain a few errors (for example, rising wages do not cause inflation).

The Conscience of a Conservative remains an important book in the history of conservatism.

Google Books: The conscience of a conservative