Rational Review is a wonderful place, if not precisely a conservative site. This message is directly applicable to some readers. For the rest of you, the following is a message to forward to any conservative sites you know, because some conservatives already have been saved. They just need to learn where the pearly gates are located.

Let me draw a few comparisons:

Barry Goldwater wanted to reduce the size of government.

George Bush conservatives offer “big government conservatism” and the largest expansion in welfare since Lyndon Johnson.

Barry Goldwater supported a balanced budget.

George Bush conservatives offer the largest budget deficits, funded and unfunded, in our history.

Barry Goldwater said that “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”

George Bush conservatives give us extremism, just not in the defense of liberty: extraordinary rendition, detention without trial, and torture.

Barry Goldwater knew that secret police who listened to phone calls were Commies working for the KGB and Chairman Mao.

George Bush conservatives bring us bigger and better American secret police, who use computers to listen to every single phone call and Internet message.

Barry Goldwater was in love with technology. He was a jet pilot. His home was filled with high-tech gadgets. He ran for President of a country that strove to be the world leader in technology and science.

Modern conservatives oppose stem cell research. When asked about evolution, four Republican Presidential candidates expressed disbelief. Worse, the other six did not burst into laughter.

Barry Goldwater believed in personal privacy.

Bush conservatives want to introduce state identity papers.

Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative viewed overpopulation as a problem. Planned Parenthood in Arizona was founded by Republicans, including Mrs. Barry Goldwater.

George Bush conservatives believe that when we tell teenagers not to think about sex they do as they are told.

Barry Goldwater desegregated the Arizona Air National Guard, because all airmen are the same color — Air Force Blue — and we should have one military for all Americans. In June 1993, Goldwater said that the military should admit gays and lesbians. He condemned workplace discrimination.

Bush conservatives are against gays. Period. Bush conservatives at the Air Force Academy harassed cadets who did not belong to the right Christian sect.

Barry Goldwater Conservatives are real American Conservatives.

George Bush “conservatives” are everything but conservative. And they own the Republican Party, lock, stock, and barrel.

My message to Barry Goldwater conservatives:

In 1989, Goldwater said the Republican Party had been taken over by a ”bunch of kooks.” He was right.

You, the Goldwater conservatives, have lost control of the political party that you reformed. Your party is under the control of authoritarians who stand against everything that Barry Goldwater stood for. The only similarity between the 1964 Republican Party and the 2007 Republican Party is: They both spell its name “Republican.”

When you support the Republican Party, you are lending legitimacy to the party of bridges to nowhere, highways to nowhere, skyrocketing national debt, corporate welfare, warrantless wiretaps, warrantless searches, detention without trial, and torture.

Barry Goldwater, pilot, could have told you: It’s time to bail out and get a new airplane.

You should find a new political home, a home that supports the causes and positions that Barry Goldwater supported. That’s the opposite of the Bush conservative Republican Party, the Party that opposes Barry Goldwater’s causes and positions.

We’re the Libertarian Party. We stand for small government, low taxes, and the entire Bill of Rights. We want to keep government out of your wallet, out of your bedroom, and out of your gun locker.

If Barry Goldwater were alive today, there can be no doubt: Barry would be a Libertarian.

Please join us.

We’re the Libertarian Party: The Party of Barry Goldwater’s principles.

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George Phillies is a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. His campaign web site is located at www.phillies2008.com. As a matter of course, Rational Review will publish, unedited, the submissions of libertarian presidential candidates. For more information, or for assistance, contact us at info@rationalreview.com.