Letters:

National Review, June 5, 2000

THE POWER OF THE FEW

Peter VanDoren is quite right in pointing out that powerful, if often narrow, interests are behind the seemingly endless flow of regulations emanating from Washington ("Strangulation by Reg ulation," May 1).

And yet for all the time, energy, and resources spent in drafting and enforcing federal regulations, the government lacks the analytical tools and empirical data to demonstrate whether the whole effort is worthwhile. This is particularly true in the areas of health, safety, and the environment, where the Office of Management and Budget recently acknowledged that "it is difficult, if not impossible, to estimate the actual costs and benefits of existing federal regulations with accuracy. We lack good information about complex interactions between the different regulations and the economy."

This admission came from the Clinton administration's OMB. All the more reason not to stand idly by and allow Leviathan to continue to grow and prosper.

Bonner R. Cohen

Arlington, Va.

ARGUING THE SIMPSONS

Jonah Goldberg's article on The Simpsons hits the mark ("Homer Never Nods," May 1). I am an evangelical pastor who has 205 episodes on tape. I use examples from the show all the time with my parishioners and friends, pointing out the Biblical, moral, and cultural references that we can all learn from. As Mr. Goldberg implies, The Simpsons touches on almost every facet of American life and can be used as a medium for us to better understand ourselves.

Ryan Rupe

Pearland, Tex.

I have a bone to pick with Jonah Goldberg. Considering that Simpsons creator and primary writer Matt Groening is a Portland local and his political leanings are far more obvious to Portlanders (best evidenced by his Life in Hell strip) than to an East Coaster who may have seen only The Simpsons, I think the article is a bit off base. If anything, it may suggest a better way to watch The Simpsons: not as most liberal elitists who think they know middle America do (the American Beauty syndrome), but rather as open-minded people who can clearly distinguish between the reality of middle America and the myths that surround it.

Steve Seitz

Portland, Ore.

IN A GRAND TRADITION

John Derbyshire, in "Still Useful, and Idiotic" (May 1), writes: "Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy."

Quite simply one of the best lines ever written in NATIONAL REVIEW. No small praise, that, especially considering that this is the publication that brought us O'Sullivan's Law and has printed William F. Buckley Jr. for almost half a century.

Jason Fetchik

Duarte, Calif.

A MEDIA OASIS

I want to express my profound gratitude for the excellent articles that have appeared in your magazine concerning the Elian Gonzalez case. As a Cuban American, I have found in NATIONAL REVIEW a refuge of wisdom and true patriotism from a biased media which for the most part has not only distorted the truth about Elian, but demonized Cuban Americans.

It is one of the most ironic aspects of the Elian case that the community of Cuban Americans in Miami, which has had a very clear record of patriotism, has been accused of anti-Americanism by many who in the past have criticized as naive its defense of this great nation. What many Castro-friendly liberals, such as New York congressman Jose Serrano, cannot tolerate about us is that the socio-economic success of Cuban Americans constitutes the failure of the Left's political agenda. With their allies in the media, they are trying to convince the public that the Cuban-American community is the obstacle preventing normal relations with Castro's Stalinist regime. After all, most of them minimize the difference between Castro's murderous oppression and the U.S. as a matter of different, legitimate political systems.

Antonio Lopez-Villalta

Boynton Beach, Fla.