Overview of Great Society
Stanley Meisler’s overview of the Great Society concept did not confront the issue of the individual moral bankruptcy that such programs frequently foster (“Can L.B.J’s Great Society Ever Exist?” Part I, July 14).
Most of these government-funded programs lack direct accountability from the recipients. Student loans and subsidized housing are classic examples that resulted in millions in defaulted loans and many housing projects having to be destroyed because of vandalism.
The school dropout problem and the increasing, unfulfilled need for skilled labor are major causes for our inability to produce quality products at competitive costs.
Management is not without responsibility, what with its proclivity to improve the bottom line with little desire to invest substantially in research and development for the benefit of mankind.
If there is a lesson to be learned from history, it is to provide the individual with the freedom to choose between the difficult and self-rewarding road of hard work and achievement and that of the self-appointed victim.
The problem, Dear Brutus, is within ourselves.
BOB COSTES
West Hills
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