Harvard Intellectuals Defended

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I think it is time for a liberal to answer the self-righteous charge of political thoughtlessness levelled by David D. Friedman '65 in his column in the Oct. 30 issue of the CRIMSON. If we tend to ridicule Senator Goldwater, it is our best answer to people who listen to no arguments but their own. If this tactic has wronged the mental elasticity of any supporters of Senator Goldwater, if they are in fact open to persuasion, I should like to offer the argument of one liberal against the conscientious conservative.

Goldwater is a threat, not because he moves counter to the stream of American life and thought, but because he represents a strain woven deeply into the American mythology--the self-sufficiency of the individual. Belief in the individual is essential to any liberal society, but Goldwater extrapolates this concept from its social context and makes it all-important. Society becomes a mere collection of atomistic units, each an island unto himself. It is regarded as they, not we. It is the individual's lack of identification with society that enables him to excuse his irresponsibility by saying 'Society is responsible.' But society in its truest sense is the embodiment of the common responsibility of its members for themselves and for each other, and it is only in a social context that the individual can be responsible at all.

Senator Goldwater's ideology is inadequate to deal with the problems of a very complex society composed of groups of individuals, and leads him into the ambiguous positions that lay him open to ridicule. He emphasizes morality, but denies that it can be legislated. He affirms the absolute right of individuals to equal rights, but will not permit the establishing of a framework to implement equal rights. In short, he maintains that the individual must be allowed to stand by and for himself, but that society may not help him find a place in which to stand.

Goldwater is a strong voice from the depths of American tradition, and the problems he poses are ones which our lack of political sophistication must learn to solve. The answer is not Barry Goldwater. Elizabeth J. Latzer '65