‘Why Not Negotiate?’

Why expect negotiations?

Your editorial demands a response from a concerned public, which should immediately begin to ask the same questions of our Administration. Unfortunately, it is unreasonable and, in fact, illogical to expect a positive reaction to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s “showy moratorium,” given the way our leaders think about war. Even though President Reagan has said that nuclear conflict is “unthinkable and unwinnable,” he continues to act out of a mind-set that says, “we can continue to prepare for war and support war on this planet and, over time, survive.”

The reality is that humankind cannot continue to war and survive (just count the ever-growing stockpiles, ponder the very real possibility of technological accidents and observe the cavalier posturing of the adversaries). People need to respond to this reality and adopt a whole new way of thinking, which recognizes that we must drop war as a means to resolve conflict. It is just too dangerous!

If the public truly knew the extent of the danger that the current mind-set has led us to they would rise up and force, through the political process, a response from leadership consistent with survival.

So to expect our Administration to respond positively to the unilateral moratorium of the Russians is ultimately naive. Until leadership gets the message loud, clear and consistently from the people we can expect a continuation of the nuclear brinkmanship currently being imposed on all mankind. And honest fruitful negotiations are unfortunately out of the question.

DAVID HARDWICKE

Pacific Palisades