A Choice Not An Echo Analysis
Introduction
The election of Ronald Reagan to United States presidency in 1980 marked a departure from big government and the rise of modern day conservatism. Characterized by lowered taxes, praises of the free market, and a strengthened military, Reagan’s presidency left a lasting impression that revolutionized what it meant to be conservative in the United Sates.
Before the 1980 election, the Republican Party was greatly divided by fierce ideological warfare and marred by the persistent efforts of liberals, moderates, and pragmatists to dismantle the Grand Old Party (GOP). After decades of festering dissatisfaction with a progressive government, a grassroots conservative movement was brewing below the surface of blue-collar America that …show more content…
In this book, Schlafly promoted her traditionalist message and denounced the “Rockefeller Republicans” in the Northeast United States as “secret kingmakers” controlling the Republican Party.
She self-published the first edition with the intent of breaking the hold of the liberal “eastern establishment” over the Republican Party and to bring the more conservative wing of the party into the limelight. Schlafly hoped Republicans would nominate Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, an extremist outsider, rather than moderate candidates that readily swayed their opinions to reflect consensus, which had generally been the party’s practice for decades.
More than fifty thousand copies of A Choice Not an Echo were handed out at key sites in California polling stations during Goldwater’s campaign and later reports showed that Goldwater led over Rockefeller in many of those areas. A private donor also made sure that every Republican delegate at the national convention had this book. This meant that Schlafly’s words and ideas were spreading to thousands of voters and delegates in efforts to secure a Goldwater nomination and win the
The election of Ronald Reagan to United States presidency in 1980 marked a departure from big government and the rise of modern day conservatism. Characterized by lowered taxes, praises of the free market, and a strengthened military, Reagan’s presidency left a lasting impression that revolutionized what it meant to be conservative in the United Sates.
Before the 1980 election, the Republican Party was greatly divided by fierce ideological warfare and marred by the persistent efforts of liberals, moderates, and pragmatists to dismantle the Grand Old Party (GOP). After decades of festering dissatisfaction with a progressive government, a grassroots conservative movement was brewing below the surface of blue-collar America that …show more content…
In this book, Schlafly promoted her traditionalist message and denounced the “Rockefeller Republicans” in the Northeast United States as “secret kingmakers” controlling the Republican Party.
She self-published the first edition with the intent of breaking the hold of the liberal “eastern establishment” over the Republican Party and to bring the more conservative wing of the party into the limelight. Schlafly hoped Republicans would nominate Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, an extremist outsider, rather than moderate candidates that readily swayed their opinions to reflect consensus, which had generally been the party’s practice for decades.
More than fifty thousand copies of A Choice Not an Echo were handed out at key sites in California polling stations during Goldwater’s campaign and later reports showed that Goldwater led over Rockefeller in many of those areas. A private donor also made sure that every Republican delegate at the national convention had this book. This meant that Schlafly’s words and ideas were spreading to thousands of voters and delegates in efforts to secure a Goldwater nomination and win the