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Reagan does not deny having expressed similar views in the past. Says he ruefully: "Maybe I have been a Johnny One-Note on the conservative philosophical trend. But people have tried to plant a right-wing label on me when really I have been saying over and over that there is no quarrel about the goals between people of good will." In fact, on many of his key views, Reagan jibes better with the liberal wing of the G.O.P. than with Goldwaterites.
Questioned last week about 17 major issues—ranging from social security to the minimum wage—on which Goldwater based his most extreme views.
Reagan expressed limited agreement with Barry on only three. Reagan opposes some—not all—civil rights legislation, notably open-housing laws, which in his view infringe on a citizen's right to dispose of his property as he sees fit. Second, he is critical of Medicare —the compulsory aspects of the Administration program, not the principle. In fact, Reagan says he favors a system that would give financial aid to all Americans—not only the elderly—who need medical care. Third, like Goldwater, he opposes farm subsidies, but reasons—unlike Barry—that they could be dismantled only very gradually.
Indeed, Reagan's most deeply held conviction goes to the very heart of modern moderate Republicanism. He believes—echoing Dick Nixon—that the ro!e of Government in the nation's life should be to invigorate and assist individual effort, not, as he fears, to supplant it.
Philosophical issues aside, Reagan has combined a mastery of specifics and statistics with a drumfire attack on the Brown administration's record on sensitive issues. He points out that California's welfare recipients have increased 21 times as fast as the population in the past five years. "The state constitution says that you have to be a resident for five years in order to run for Governor," he observes. "But you have to be here only 24 hours to get on welfare.""
On state agricultural problems, he reminds California farmers that they produce 25% of the U.S.'s table food, offer 33% of the state's jobs, represent 70% of the state's cash transactions. Yet, he remarks, "Farmers are being forced to conduct a social-welfare experiment for the Federal Government." The hottest issue among California farmers is the U.S. Labor Department's cancellation of a longtime arrangement whereby Mexican braceros entered the country without visas to pick crops. When they did not appear last year, California farmers were badly hurt by the scarcity of labor. The Governor, Reagan charges, "didn't even use his prestige to appeal to the Federal Government. He raised his voice in agreement: so summer ripened into fall and crops ripened—and rotted."
California Postcards. Zeroing in on urban problems, Reagan points out that in California murder is up 14.4% in one year, robbery 9%, rape 5.3%, narcotics arrests for juveniles 34.9%, and that for every dollar spent on education $1.11 is spent on crime. He asks: "How do we explain the ugly fact that there's twice as much crime in proportion to our population as there is in the rest of the nation?"