Whether Trump or the Democrats, we are being dragged in a never-ending race to the bottom

July 14, 2026 — 11:29am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

When I was a much younger man and had figured out far more about the world than I know now, there was an old Republican saying that appealed to me: “Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Some of you may remember the source. It’s a condensed version of a very similar line from Barry Goldwater’s 1964 convention speech in Daly City, California, a moment when an ideological revolution captured the Republican Party.

I grew up a Reagan Republican, and many of us traced our movement’s origin to Goldwater’s nomination. Yes, he got trounced by Lyndon Johnson. Yes, he was harsher than Ronald Reagan. His libertarianism was just too hard-edged. But something about the zeal in those words spoke to me.

After all, when you’re absolutely certain that you’re right – that the policies you advance will defend liberty and defend justice – then isn’t zealotry called for? Wouldn’t it be a horrifying shame if, for example, injustice metastasised across the United States because we lacked conviction?

Astute readers have already identified a number of problems. Why are you so certain that your policies will advance liberty and justice? The world is complex. What makes you think you’ve figured it out? And if you’re wrong, isn’t your zealotry actually destructive?

Worst of all, when you’re convinced that you’re righteous – and you are surrounded by fellow zealots – it is easy to see yourself and your allies as inherently virtuous and your opponents (no matter how much they may profess good intentions) as fundamentally corrupt, perhaps even evil.

Tweak the saying, and its current application becomes clear. Extremism, the left might say, in the pursuit of universal healthcare is no vice; moderation in opposition to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip is no virtue. Or, from the right, extremism in defence of the border is no vice; moderation in opposition to abortion is no virtue.

This brings me to three of my least favourite........

© The Age