YESTERDAY & TODAY

Gilder & Chapman (pages 28-9) offer this description of the GOP in 1966:

Far from being idealistic, most right-wing politicians share with Democratic-machine liberals the belief that it is not important to appeal to the minds of the voters, only to their prejudices and appetites. Goldwater's campaign, a brute assault on the entire intellectual world, was based on the assumption that intellectuals are dispensable and that the people are heart-feeling rightwingers. They oppose foreign aid and immigration because they resent foreigners; they oppose civil rights because they fear Negroes; they oppose welfare programs because they begrudge public charity for the poor; they oppose the Supreme Court's prayer decisions because they are sanctimonious fundamentalists; and they oppose international negotiations because they see the cold war as a test of barroom virility. When the Republicans contrive a campaign designed to appeal to suspicion, xenophobia, fear, resentment, religiosity, and barroom virility,they need not be surprised if the intellectuals turn to the Democrats.

Not much has changed in almost 50 years.