Hey Ishi. I really have to smile when I hear you describe Barry Goldwater as “mellowed out” in his later years. Goldwater was anything but mellow. In fact, he was a genuine conservative who felt that the Republican Party was being hijacked by the religious right and their agenda as represented by the Moral Majority under Falwell and the 700 Club under Robertson. He raged against the influence of a particular religious viewpoint on the Republican Party and challenged the religious right’s view that conservatism was based upon holding this view. As a conservative who was very much a libertarian at heart, he opposed making opposition to abortion a litmus test for Republicans, feeling that the individual was capable of making moral decisions without government interference. He also opposed an anti homosexual stance on the part of the party and felt that the Repblican Party should not even involve itself in questions such as should Gays be allowed to serve in the military. He felt it was an ignorant question considering that many of the great military forces throughtout the ages, such as the Roman Army, had many homosexuals serving in it, probably including Julius Ceasar himself. He felt that such questions had less to do with conservative thought than with a religious viewpoint that was attempting to suppress true conservatism. Now, when we look at the Republican Party today and watch the candidates bend and twist to meet the requirements of the morality police in the party, we can see that Goldwater was correct to fear the influence of the religious right. The agenda for the Republican Party was recreated by the religious right and is now so identified with conservatism, that many so called conservatives think it is perfectly acceptable for a conservative to overrule individual conscience in the name of morality. Goldwater warned against such an identification for conservatives and the Republican Party and even wondered how he and Bob Dole, after years and years of being conservative champions in the Senate, were, in the light of the religious right agenda, were then considered to be on the left wing in the party. Barry Goldwater and his warning may have been ignored by Republicans, but he was not mellow about it. He raged against it to the bitter end.