When I was a kid the Republicans, with the exception of the Goldwater-ites, were all Chamber of Commerce, 'good government' types. In Washington State some of them were early environmentalists. We had a Governor Dan Evans, who was loved by everybody: young, smart, handsome, forward- thinking. (He was later briefly appointed Senator during the Reagan years and quickly sold out all his values and credibility, becoming a mouthpiece for the Reagan agenda.)

Those Republicans are all gone now, and what remains of the GOP would be unrecognizable to most of them. The remaining GOP party structure has to answer to the uneducated, reactionary Tea Partiers and so has had to move farther right than ever before.

One suspects that even Barry Goldwater would be ashamed at how corrupted his vision of a conservative America has become, with its billionaire financiers and unprincipled 24 news cycles stoking unfocused rage and cynicism.