An echo from the 1964 Republican National Convention has reached Illinois. The state’s Republican right controls the party podium; voters face a clear ideological choice in the U.S. Senate race; and, though there is little doubt as to the outcome, the campaign promises to become one of the more fascinating set pieces in Illinois’ already-storied past.
It was partly a matter of chance.
Seizing the day, the conservative majority on the Republican State Central Committee decided to import ultra-right talk show host Alan Keyes from Maryland to fill the vacancy that opened on the ballot opposite liberal-leaning Democrat Barack Obama. In the process, they sideswiped the moderates who make up the majority of the state’s GOP leadership.
And this brings to mind the 1964 convention.
True, Keyes is no Barry Goldwater. He and the late Arizona senator were both outspoken — and they might have enjoyed firing off a few military-style rounds together, literally and figuratively — but it’s likely they would have aimed salvos at one another, too.
They would differ, most obviously, on the social issues that make up today’s conservative litmus test. Keyes likens abortion to terrorism. Goldwater supported abortion rights. Keyes calls gays selfish hedonists. Goldwater was tolerant: “You don’t need to be ‘straight’ to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.”
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. - Barry Goldwater Republican National Convention, 1964
Fundamentally, they would disagree about mixing religion and politics. Keyes, a member of what has come to be called the Christian right, believes the states are free under the U.S. Constitution to establish state churches. He also claims he’s privy to Jesus’ ballot preferences. In his later years, Goldwater pledged to fight religious factions trying to dictate moral convictions to Americans in the name of conservatism. From the Congressional Record on September 16, 1981: “There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But, like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly.”
He told Washington Post reporter Lloyd Grove in 1998, “When you say ‘radical right’ today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.”
Such differences reflect four decades of not-insignificant cultural change within the Republican conservative movement. But, whatever its direction now, that movement was launched, indisputably, by Goldwater, known as “Mr. Conservative,” when he allowed his supporters to boo the moderates off the convention stage, then began his uncompromising race for president with the slogan “a choice, not an echo.”
That was a turning point in the national Republican Party, a moment, in fact, that formed a leitmotif of the historical commentary from this summer’s GOP convention.
Though the nature of conservatism has evolved, the spirit of the 1964 Republican convention is alive and well — and it arrived in Illinois with a vengeance in August when conservatives sidelined moderates by inviting Keyes to be their candidate for the U.S. Senate.
The Goldwater campaign was trounced at the ballot box in 1964. Yet the truest of true believers seemed more interested in being right, as they saw it, than in winning. In losing, they stockpiled ammunition for a longer and wider war. And, as we know, conservatives solidified their grip on the national Republican Party, moving in the process ever more toward its heart — and, arguably, the nation’s. Had he lived long enough, Goldwater might well have come to be known as “Mr. Mainstream,” if not ushered politely off stage.
What are the intentions of Illinois’ Republican right? Listen to Thomas Roeser. A Keyes supporter, he told Associated Press reporter Mike Robinson that Keyes is “going to talk about issues that are of transcendental importance rather than political importance.” Roeser, an activist who operates far to the right of the state GOP, went on to tell Robinson: “I’m convinced he’s going to lose by a landslide, but that’s OK because his campaign is going to be very rewarding in a number of ways.”
In part, Republican strategists, as we point out in this issue, hope Keyes will convince conservative Republican voters — who carry less weight in Illinois general elections — to turn out and support GOP candidates farther down the ticket.
But Roeser may have something grander in mind: an ideological revolution waged with words.
And who’s to say this isn’t another one of those turning points?
The decision to bring Keyes into the mix does carry risks. His ideas, not to mention his style, seem so out of scale with Illinois politics that it’s difficult to imagine he can be of any help to the conservative cause here. In fact, moderate Republicans must be hoping secretly that this gambit will fall so flat conservatives will be forced to fall back, giving the main GOP column time to regroup after the drubbing they’ve been taking from Democrats and prosecutors.
Then again, perhaps conservatives will, as they have with the national party, inch inward until — well, until they are the party.
Illinois, it should be remembered, has been home to a cadre of intellect-uals, activists and elected leaders who have, and do, play key roles in shaping the national conservative agenda. Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum tops the list. As do U.S. Reps. Phil Crane and Henry Hyde, as well as U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. And, of course, Donald Rumsfeld, is helping President George W. Bush advance his war in Iraq.
In Illinois, GOP conservatives have, of necessity, resorted to guerrilla campaigns. This state is mostly moderate politically, despite the social conservatism of its southern region. Illinois has been trending steadily more Democratic, too. And electoral strategists estimate only about 30 percent of Republican primary voters in this state can be counted on to support candidates from the right.
Yet there have been some notable skirmishes — and advances — for the conservative cause in this state. Illinois Issues has kept tabs on this political history for some 30 years now, and it’s worth re-reading.
Illinois conservatives have made the most headway on fiscal policies. As an example, they began pushing to limit property taxes in the 1970s. Pressures from the right on the moderate Republican administration of former Gov. Jim Edgar culminated in approval of those limits in the 1990s. But, in reality, it had taken two decades of grassroots efforts by conservative activists. Donald Totten, the former lawmaker from Hoffman Estates who sponsored the original tax cap proposal, told Illinois Issues in 1992 that conservatives should focus on issues first and let the candidacies arise from that platform.
And that may be the real message from 1964.
Peggy Boyer Long can be reached at Peggyboy@aol.com.
Illinois Issues, October 2004
