LET FREEDOM ROCK

In Dennis Hunt’s article on Rush (“Rush Is in No Hurry to Call It Quits,” Feb. 2), he wrote that in 1982 Neil Peart’s “lyrics, which frequently hammer out an Ayn Rand-like passion for the rights of the individual, were mired in pretension” and that now his lyrics “have much less of a pseudo-intellectual tone.”

What condescension. Why is it that the social consciousness of a liberal viewpoint makes rock lyrics valid? The Boss gets his time, and that’s fine. But Rush’s libertarian perspective, I believe, offers a fresh and lucid statement on the way our society should work. Peart is no Friedrich Hayek (1974 Nobel Prize-winning economist), but he does provide an intriguing and melodic alternative.

Please remind Calendar’s rock critics that life does not revolve around an F.D.R. mentality. Thomas Jefferson is not enshrined for nothing.

CECIL N. WIDDIFIELD

Venice