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1. This is arguably one of the most important, foundational texts in the history of modern American conservatism. It was a huge hit in 1960 and contributed greatly to Goldwater's victory in the 1964 GOP primary. But here's an interesting factoid to consider... 
2. The book's author, L. Brent Bozell, Jr. (Wm. Buckley's brother-in-law), was a big admirer of Franco's. In fact, he wrote some of the book in Spain. He liked Franco's regime so much that he relocated his family there in the 60's & founded a magazine devoted to Francoist ideals.
3. The screenshots in the previous tweet don't come from some liberal professor, rather they were published by a conservative website and were written by a historian at a conservative Catholic college who shares many of Bozell's commitments. frontporchrepublic.com/2012/03/freedo…
4. So what do we make of the fact that the ur-text of modern American Conservatism was written by a man who thought Franco's authoritarian regime was an ideal to be emulated?
5. I'm not trying to go for a simple "guilt by association" argument as in..."Bozell thought Catholic authoritarianism was good, therefore Goldwater and all of his supporters were *really* authoritarians hiding behind a libertarian mask."
6. Rather, given the recent Sohrab/French debate within the ranks of American conservatism, it's worth remembering that there's long been a more statist and culturally nationalist thread within the American conservative movement.
7. @HeerJeet noted the resurgence of a more authoritarian-friendly conservatism in September 2016 and wrote this piece pointing out the sinews which have long tied American conservatives to right wing Europeans. newrepublic.com/article/136784…
@HeerJeet 8. I'm of a demographic (middle class white American male who came of age in Reagan's America) that was socialized to think that it was grievously hyperbolic to call another American an "authoritarian" or a "fascist."
@HeerJeet 9. There were, I think, some good reasons for this. After all, many of Goldwater's admirers were true believing libertarians who spoke out against various forms of illiberalism. Barry himself famously became an advocate of gay rights late in his life. washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politic…
@HeerJeet 10. And there's also this famous quote attributed to Goldwater in which he expressed dismay at the theocratic direction he saw the GOP going in the 1980s and 90s as evangelicals became a stronger force in the party.
@HeerJeet 11. The once canonical take on American conservatism was that it fused together the competing traditions of libertarianism and social conservatism in the 1950s and 1960s by finding common ground in anti-communism. This book pioneered that argument.
@HeerJeet 12. Goldwater has long been held up as a champion of the more stridently libertarian thread of the American conservative tradition...so again, I'm led to ask, what does it mean that the book for which he's most famous was written by a Francoist?
@HeerJeet 13. As with many aspects of American history, being attentive to race helps us make sense of things.
14. Goldwater himself claimed to be an opponent of segregation, yet it was his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act that attracted many white voters to the GOP while driving black voters away.
15. And as we see in this 1959 Goldwater interview with the white Citizens Council of Jackson, Ms; small government libertarians and pro-segregation localist authoritarians easily found common ground in the civil rights era.
16. Those states' rights southerners weren't so much opposed to government power in the abstract, rather they were opposed to federal power that threatened the power that white people wielded within their localities.
17. This was the alchemy that allowed advocates of white supremacy to also think of themselves as philosophical advocates of liberty. It was racism that did the work of dampening the obvious contradictions.
