02/23/2021
March’s VDARE Book Club Pick: A Choice Not An Echo by Phyllis Schlafly. Raffle winner to be announced Monday March 1st!
We pretty much categorically reject silly appeals to diversity via national holidays (i.e., Black History Month–Harriet Tubman: Who Started The Myth, And Why?). But Women’s History Month is something we can get behind simply because it gives us the opportunity to feature the late Phyllis Schlafly.
Schlafly is one of the most important and accomplished movement conservatives in American history. She was a sound advocate of sensible immigration patriotism until her death, continuing to pen columns at 90-years-old. And Michelle Malkin referred to her as the “godmother of America First.”
Before “Stop The Steal,” there was Schlafly’s A Choice Not An Echo: The Inside Story of How American Presidents Are Chosen.
The title, A Choice Not An Echo, is a direct reference to 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater’s famous declaration, “I will not change my beliefs to win votes. I will offer a choice, not an echo.” But Goldwater faced enormous opposition by moneyed Northeast elites whom Schlafly refers to as “the kingmakers.” Today, we might use the terms Conservativism Inc., or the “donor class.”
Schlafly offers examples of how these “kingmakers” artificially limit the scope of choice Americans have in presidential candidates by limiting the distribution of information on some and reporting favorably on their favorite.
What would Schlafly think about Big Tech censorship? Or “room-service journalism” on the Biden-Harris administration? If she were alive today, she might discover A Choice Not An Echo is just as relevant today as it was in 1964.
We urge you to pick up a copy of A Choice Not An Echo here and read along with us in the VDARE Book Club. (Join here!) Stay tuned for discussion questions and our monthly raffle winner announcement March 1st!
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.