White House Security

Re “A White House Moat: The Clear Symbolism,” editorial, May 22: I predict a more optimistic future than you, and that the White House “moat” is only a five- to eight-year fixture.

Yes, we have too many guns, too many seriously disturbed people, too much hate talk, too many people appealing to the baser motives of people and succeeding. The fanatic lurch to the right in religion and politics is no accident. It happens every thousand years.

By the turn of the century, the right-wing wackos will realize that Jesus didn’t arrive, the end of the world they predicted was upon us didn’t happen and they will return to the dark holes of fear and superstition from whence they came.

With the din of division behind us perhaps, we can hear the clear and always uplifting speech that comes from the likes of a Bill Clinton--that speech and action which appeals to the best in us. Put down the guns, take down the spiritual and physical barriers which divide and dispirit. Then we can get on with the politics of the possible and the religion of reason. MARY CARR MELKONIAN

Woodland Hills

The greatest threat of terrorism to this country is the loss of our freedoms which we champion throughout the world, and the alteration of our way of life through our leaders kowtowing to that threat. President Harry Truman would never have allowed the blockading of Pennsylvania Avenue.

ROBERT L. RAAB

Rancho Palos Verdes

The latest attack on the White House (May 24) renews my fear for the lives of both President Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich.

As a nation we must come together with a renewed respect for the discourse and divergence of our democracy. We must also unite against the power of the gun to make policy. If we don’t, then we are surely doomed.

RANDALL E. MOORE

Saugus