Correspondence

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 27, 2000

McCain Receives Support From Conservative Reader

Your attacks on Sen. John McCain of Arizona culminating in the March 13 issue ["Bush vs. McCain Tests Toughness," "McCain's Senior Team," "McCain Plays Both Sides" and Fair Comment] have me reevaluating my conservative inclinations.

Raised a Roosevelt Democrat in the South, I switched to the Republican Party after the 1992 elections. I chanced upon Insight in a hospital emergency-room waiting room and became a subscriber several years ago. I consider myself a fiscal and social conservative.

I was very happy to have McCain declare for president. As a 30-year Navy retiree, I was aware of his experiences in Vietnam, along with those of Jerry Denton, Jim Stockdale and others who I later came to know personally. My interest in McCain the man was enhanced when I read The Nightingale's Song by Robert Timberg, an excellent biography.

I would like to have a man in the presidency who would do what is right. Thousands of weasel-worded promises specifying what would be done to solve all the terrible problems in society is not what I am looking for in a candidate. Regardless of what the problem is, I would like to feel that the person who leads this (still) great nation will act in a manner that is best for all the people and not just what is best to ensure reelection.

Fortunately, I know where the McCain Website is located and am listed as one of the patriots. I would have discovered Texas Gov. George W. Bush's Website from your illustrations on page 9 of the aforementioned issue of your magazine, but the McCain address is nowhere in sight. A small oversight perhaps, but I doubt it. Worthy of George Stephanopoulos in his best days.

I truly believe that I can trust McCain to do what is best for this nation. I see Bush as a conservative (albeit much more honorable) Bill Clinton who would govern by the polls.

Be aware that there undoubtedly are others like me who gratefully live far from Washington -- that center of power, confusion and corruption -- and have a much different slant on things but love watching you boys play your games. Let us at least think that you are playing them fairly.

Paul Dickson Pensacola, Fla.

Term Limits Would Limit Competent Legislators

I read the fine article by Stephen Moore "Congress Must Say `Hell No' to Clinton on His Budget" [Fair Comment, March 6] with interest. I agree that the Republican Congress must discard the Clinton budget and develop one that supports our free-market system. But I sharply disagree with one of the suggestions made by Moore for solving the budget problem: term limits.

In a free society there is nothing more important than for the people to be able to elect whomever they want and for as long as they want. In the final analysis, the ability to elect freely is the crucial element of freedom.

Former Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren wrote: "The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government."

In our system of government, the people are responsible for improving the quality of their politicians. To have it any other way is to diminish freedom. The objective is to vote incompetent politicians out of office, but it is equally important to keep effective, honest people in office. Term limits distort democracy and allow the American people to abdicate their responsibility.

The ballot box is the ultimate reflection of the sovereignty of the people. This means voting in primaries and giving financial support to the candidates you want elected to office. This method also is the purest form of campaign-finance reform.

An act creating term limits would simply be a law that limits freedom.

Robert Previdi Manhasset, N.Y.

Write: Insight, Correspondence Editor, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20002. E-mail: Insight@wt.infi.net. Fax: (202) 529-2484. Please include an address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space.