Congress and Administration Sidestep Long-Term Problems

While I share in the general disappointment over the “loss of leadership” in the federal government, let me suggest that it is unfair to blame our elected officials for doing no more than looking to their own survival.

At all levels, our representatives have gotten the message--we will vote them out of office if they sacrifice the slightest part of our material comfort today so that our children might live in physical and emotional health tomorrow. Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, with her emphasis on the environment, children and the taxes necessary to protect both, bucked this tide for three terms. Rather than compromise, she has chosen not to run again (“It’s Best to Keep One Foot Out the Door,” by Ellen Goodman, Op-Ed Page, April 11).

More credit to her, but most politicians simply reflect the values of those who elect them. In spite of all our grousing about the serious problems confronting us, it is clear that most of us are gamblers at heart, hoping the game will last our lifetimes, and that somehow, our children will manage to avoid the pollution, violence and poverty that surely await them.

For years now, in anticipation of exactly the gloom and doom that now clouds the rosy forecasts of the supply-siders and government-bashers, I have kept the words of Walt Kelly on my wall:

“The gentle journey jars to stop,

the drifting dream is done;

the long lost goblins loom ahead,

the deadly, that we thought were dead,

stand waiting, every one.”

BILL BECKER

West Hills