Republicans and Duke’s Election
According to Jason Berry in Opinion (“A Master Racist Jumps Parties to Land in the Louisiana Legislature,” Feb. 26), former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, now Louisiana state legislator David Duke has learned the strategic necessity of political deception. His National Assn. of White People News advises that since the public regards white supremacy as immoral, racist activists should conceal their opinions and only talk about racial differences. Duke characterizes his group as a “civil-rights organization.”
In the same section of The Times, former Reagan Administration war planner, now right-wing think-tank member Fred C. Ikle declares that the Reagan Administration had us on a fast road to democracy in Central America when the Congress interfered by stopping military funds for the Contras and now may even cut military funds for El Salvador (“Sell-Out in Central America,” Op-Ed Page).
Ikle is more circumspect than Duke, but if he were equally frank he might advise that since the public regards terrorism, death squads, and massacres as immoral, war advocates should be careful to speak only of the fast track to democracy.
WILLIAM H. FORTHMAN
Northridge
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