Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.–Barry Goldwater
Barry was right on target. This sounds like a description of our current administration and their un-American policies. Ironically Barry was the icon of modern conservatives, back when conservatives stood for less government intrusion into private lives of its citizens. I wonder what Barry would have thought of our misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a strong advocate for national defense but I don’t think Barry would have been for the invasion and occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan.