Talk:Central Arizona Project

Goldwater Hagiography
The article asserts that Barry Goldwater "teamed up" to secure passage of the bill establishing the Central Arizona Project. This seems doubtful in the extreme. First of all, the legislation was enacted in 1968. Goldwater was not in the Senate from 1965 to 1969, so with whom did he "team up" to secure passage of the bill? As the cited article from the Arizona Republic points out, Goldwater's political philosophy was "Individual liberty, free-market economics and a reliance on individual initiative," which makes it unlikely that he would have supported anything like the Central Arizona Project, no matter how much good it would have accomplished for the benefit of the people. Probably, the "bipartisan compromise" consisted of an agreement between Democrats and enlightened Republicans to keep Barry under wraps so that he would not interrupt the discussion with statements like "if we needed water when I was a boy, we did not ask the federal government, we dug ourselves a well."John Paul Parks (talk) 15:22, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

Read more: http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/01/01/20090101goldwater-centennial0101.html#ixzz4otWX9izn


 * Although I agree that it seems odd that someone like Goldwater would have supported this type of project, apparently it is true. See https://www.myheraldreview.com/opinion/central-arizona-project-once-had-a-provision-for-the-charleston/article_cd6f5392-1137-11e8-b4f5-bbfa23f7593a.html

Twirlnhurl (talk) 02:16, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

The editor of the newspaper does not seem to have sure of Goldwater's support until after their exchange of letters, does he? 71.223.159.39 (talk) 05:13, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

And the editor also appears to have exposed Goldwater as a politician of convenient recollections.Hansel von Schnitzel (talk) 17:41, 2 January 2021 (UTC)


 * And the article does not mention the Central Arizona Project at all. Alexander Springstea (talk) 01:17, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

Untitled
I liked this so much I listed it on Featured picture candidates. Mackerm 07:55, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How is this the largest aqueduct when the California Aqueduct System is 444 mi long? User:Kionchi 17:45, 12 Mar 2007 (PST)

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Goldwater's Stance on Reclamation
It's true, as John Paul Parks mentioned, that Barry Goldwater was an ardent supporter of libertarianism and that would make him an unlikely friend of the reclamation programs. Actually, his stance on that issue was not so different from many other Western politicians in the early 20th century, who were known for their unshakeable belief in federal the virtues of federal reclamation including dams, canals, aqueducts, pumping stations, and so forth. For Goldwater (and many other anti-statist Republicans), not only could such project economic growth but it also could meet the ever-growing demand for water and cheap energy as a result of the growth. "Reclamation was not pork or a government handout, western boosters replied to critics... It was simply a helping hand for honest, hard-working folks in a severely arid environment, folks who would build the West up to glorious heights of free enterprise if only they could surmount its environmental obstacles." Therefore, Barry Goldwater, especially in his early days, had always been one of "the best friends" of the Bureau of Reclamation and voted for many important reclamation schemes, including Colorado River Storage Project and Central Arizona Project. As for the assertion that "Barry Goldwater 'teamed up' to secure passage of the bill establishing the Central Arizona Project", well it's true that Goldwater was in Senate at the time this project was approved. But CAP was not something that was instantly approved, it took a decades-long effort to gain enough support. Central Arizona Project Association was found in 1946 to promote this project. And Senator Goldwater did team up with Senator Hayden, the Udalls Representative Morris Udall and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall to help this project. In that sense, he did contribute to the passage.