Reagan, Iran, Contras and Breaching the Public Trust

I’m really quite pleased to see the Reagan Administration actually have to suffer for one of its mistakes. So often they have gotten off the hook by glossing over facts and twisting stories to conform to their own versions.

The problem with these scandals or crises is that they divert attention from other important issues. Senators and representatives are so busy trying to hog the limelight on their respective investigatory committees in order to get on the evening news or in the morning paper that they forget about other crucial issues.

Does anybody remember the budget or trade deficits? Aren’t those fairly important? It’s obvious another recession is on the way. They occur with a certain cyclical regularity. Why are we preparing for it by racking up record deficits? Maybe if we tied our elected officials’ salaries, and/or jobs, to how well the economy was doing they’d spend less time trying to figure out how to get on TV and more time trying to fire up the economy.

PAUL DOTTLE

Hermosa Beach