He was against the 1964 Civil Rights Act though he kept INSISTING he was against discrimination of any kind. Talk is cheap. Actions count. He voted against it.
He said he would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam and would CONSIDER pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the Soviet Union and China. Warmongers do not make good presidents.
His slogan was "In your heart you know he's right". The counter argument to that was "In your guts you know he's nuts"
Was he nuttier than Trump or does Trump out-nut him ?
By today's standards Goldwater was a libertarian, so yes, I would have voted for him (had I been alive and thirty years older). :-)
BTW, Barry Goldwater was Reagan's political mentor. Too bad Reagan didn't follow his teacher's instructions.
Many libertarians were against aspects of the civil rights act because it violates the right to free association. They felt it was a dangerous legal precedent to force anyone to associate with anyone. They were especially concerned with business owners being required to serve anyone. Involuntary servitude (slavery) is just not the way libertarians operate. We prefer to take the softly softly approach.
