Republicans: This President Thing

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A Matter of Direction. Being human, and far from a fool, Barry Goldwater is fascinated by what he repeatedly calls "this President thing." He is also a bit baffled by it. "Sure," he says, "the intensity of this President thing has surprised me. I still say that it isn't me, really, as much as it is a deep-seated frustration on the part of Republicans everywhere, and a lot of Democrats too. Among Republicans, it's a feeling that the party has no direction."

Goldwater could certainly give his party direction-solid, outspoken, conservative direction. For he is nothing if not straightforward about his views. Take, for example, Cuba. The island, says Goldwater, should be quarantined. "We should aid anyone who wants to go in there and let Castro have it-overtly or covertly-and we ought to do all this in conjunction with the Organization of American States. If we did all this, I think we could avoid an invasion. And if it hurts Mr. Khrushchev's feelings, that's just too bad. If the Kremlin should react by heating up Berlin, that's just a risk we have to take. The darn trouble is that this Administration won't take risks. Now I don't mean we have to go to war. I just say the world's strongest nation doesn't have to go around acting like the world's weakest nation."

Then there is tax policy. The graduated income tax, says Goldwater, is wicked; everybody, regardless of income, ought to be taxed an equal percentage: a man earning $100,000 and one earning $10,000 would each pay, say, 10%. He insists that advocates of "World Peace through Law" are mere dreamers who would subject their freedoms to the whims of a world court. "It is perfectly conceivable that the world court might go even so far as to declare null and void some sections of the U.S. Constitution." He wants to wipe out all farm subsidies "and let the farmer stand on his own two feet." He wants an end to federal aid to education and to urban-renewal programs; such matters, he says, should be left up to the states.

The Episcopal-raised son of a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, Goldwater sincerely believes in equal rights for the individual. He is a former member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. But he thinks the Federal government should nonetheless keep hands off. "If I were a Negro," he says, "I don't think I would be very patient. I'm opposed to discrimination in any form. But I hold very dear the right of assembly and association. And the issue in the South, you know, is not integration. It's states' rights-they just like to run their own business down there . . . I don't think it's my right as an Arizonan to come in and tell a Southerner what to do about this thing."