Edwards arrived at political consciousness during the transitional period from the stability of the '50s to the turbulent '60s, when John F. Kennedy '40 became President amidst a spirit of optimism about the future of America and Americans.

But unlike many other young thinkers of the time, Edwards became a conservative and a supporter of the far-right Barry Goldwater.

Edwards can't explain why he opposed the general political flow of his times except to say that it was due to his family. "I was a cradle conservative," says the newspaperman's son. "It was a natural thing for me to be attracted to Goldwater."

But Goldwater lost in a landslide, dealing a hard blow to the conservative movement and leaving the young Edwards leaderless.

Edwards did not seem to have been daunted. He and others turned toward journalism and Ronald Reagan in an attempt to bang out a cogent conservative philosophy. The philosophy, he says, has won the hearts and minds of American society in the '80s.

Working for the current president during his California gubernatorial campaign and founding and editing The Conservative Digest, Edwards says he slowly evolved his politics to accept many governmental responsibilities of the New Deal.

The problem with the liberals, according to this Republican, is not the New Deal, for "FDR's ideas had a heck of a run," but the excessive doling out of money and rights by Great Society liberals. His complaint is echoed by many neo-liberals.

But Edwards probably differs with the neoliberals and progressives of the 1980s over how to provide New Deal services to the public. He still believes "the government which governs least, governs best."

A staunch supporter of the recently developed philosophy of New Federalism, Edwards believes states and local governments should pick up some of the tab for the social programs Americans desire.

He also says a new trend toward "privatization," wherein local governments contract out public services to private companies, will succeed in changing the way government meets its responsibilities to its citizens.

Edwards likes to stress how the New Right has developed a compassion for the less fortunate which was not previously present in conservative philosophy.

He points to the concept of the safety net and the supply-side trickle-down effect, both introduced by Reagan, as tangible results of the new compassion among the right. "You cannot totally eliminate poverty," explains Edwards, "but you can do your best to eliminate it."

Yet economic issues are not the only ones on the New Right's political agenda. Foriegn policy and social issues are close behind.

Edwards says the Star Wars defense plan is a creative way to alleviate tensions of Americans about nuclear war. "MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) is mad," Edwards says of the United States' current policy toward the Soviet Union.

In fact Edwards claims a basic tenet of his conservative philosophy is "a realistic view of the Soviet Union," its aims in the world and policies toward America.