#306: “The Most Hellish Tyrannies”

“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.”*

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*Barry Goldwater as quoted in https://academyofideas.com/2021/12/is-government-the-new-god-the-religion-of-totalitarianism/

Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909[1] – May 29, 1998) was an American politician, statesman, businessman, United States Air Force officer, and author who was a five-term Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States in 1964. Goldwater is the politician most often credited with having sparked the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. Despite his loss of the 1964 presidential election in a landslide, many political pundits and historians believe he laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow, as the grassroots organization and conservative takeover of the Republican party began a long-term realignment in American politics which helped to bring about the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s. He also had a substantial impact on the libertarian movement.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater