‘We Fixate on a Flaw’

My congratulations to Carol Tavris for her column (“We Fixate on a ‘Flaw,’ and So Overlook a Greater Evil,” Op-Ed Page, Nov. 15) on the public obsession with finding any moral mistakes, large and small, made by our recent political candidates. I understand the need to know all about the people we elect to office, but it seems lately the public has turned into a lynch mob.

I was personally quite upset with the way Judge Douglas Ginsburg’s nomination to the Supreme Court was handled. I realize that smoking marijuana is not something we would want our political officials making a habit of, but if somewhere in their pasts they have “succumbed to peer pressure,” as we all have at one time or another, I feel it is unfair of us to judge their whole life’s work and accomplishments because of a wrong moral choice made years ago.

I agree completely with Tavris’ statement, “There is a moral and behavioral chasm between the occasional social use of marijuana and habitual use, that affects job performance, just as there is between social drinking and alcoholism.”

KIM HENDRICKSON

Orange