Correspondence

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Dec 25, 2000

Quest for Power, Voter Apathy Yielded This Political Morass

Paul M. Rodriguez's comments concerning the 2000 presidential election were spot on [Letter From the Editor, Dec. 4]. What is disturbing, however, are two trends that have emerged in American life.

The first is the unquenchable thirst for power that politicians such as Bill Clinton and Al Gore have. Politicians love power and they play hard to win. There was a time in U.S. politics when constant political warfare and demonizing policy differences were frowned upon -- not any longer. Gore will say or do almost anything to get elected; nothing is sacrosanct.

Second, the public is unwilling to play the role of good citizen. Most people have no idea about the basics of government. To them, the Electoral College is a big surprise.

Finally, there is in the republic a general sense that knowledge and erudition are quaint and a bit comical. Competence and pride are not qualities that most people prize. I could never imagine my parents or my grandparents complaining that a ballot confused them and that they were too dumb to figure it out. That generation won two world wars and survived the Great Depression.

Prosperity has a price. It seems that the diminution of personal responsibility is part of that.

Patrick Jones via the Internet

The Education Department Has Nothing to Brag About

An inability to recognize erroneous procedures is the only excuse U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley may have for his absurd justifications [Symposium, Nov. 20]. Concerning his statement, "Finally, the federal government has a long tradition of strong support for improved higher education that dates to the administration of Abraham Lincoln," while it is probably true that the current administration has aided public education about as well as Lincoln, it certainly is nothing to crow about.

New England, which had set the tone for liberating the slaves in the South, was "improving higher education in their states" as follows: In 1853, Rhode Island set 12 years of age as the minimum for factory work; in 1856, Connecticut prohibited the employment of children under age 9; and by 1866, the year after Lincoln was assassinated, Massachusetts set a minimum age of 10 for child workers in their cotton mills. In the midst of all this, good ole "Honest" Abe made a speech while running for his first term on March 6, 1860, to those very same states. He said, "But here in Connecticut and in the North slavery does not exist, and we see it through no such medium."

He was talking about Negro slavery, but the subject here is "slavery" and education under the "administration of Abraham Lincoln." His legacy: In 1870, the first time the census reported child laborers, there were 750,000 workers age 15 and under, resulting in widespread absence of education for children in the United States.

Please, Mr. Riley, don't use Lincoln's administration as a goal, though your Democratic administration is well on the way to emulating it.

Robert B. Hallett Spotsylvania, Va.

Convincing Evidence of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat

I really enjoyed "Anomaly or Noah's Ark?" [Nov. 20]. I have read much about this subject over the years. One author wrote that if the anomaly on Mount Ararat is not Noah's Ark then someone must have driven a boat up there. The Russians conducted a major operation at the site around 1917. When the Russians went up there, they reportedly entered the Ark and found cages inside. The investigators wrote an extensive amount of literature on this, but when they returned to Russia the 1917 revolution hit the fan and the documents sadly were lost.

The IKONOS photographs were excellent. What is the U.S. government trying hide?

Jeremy Compton Wellington, New Zealand

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.