READERS REACT: TAKING ISSUE WITH TIMES’ STANDS : Note: Many letters writers support our views; many do not. In the spirit of vigorous discussion of the issues, here is a selection of letters that disagrees with us. : Term Limits: PROPS. 131, 140

I read with interest your editorial debating the merits of Props. 131 and 140, which would limit the terms of state legislators. While you take a stand against Prop. 140 because it is too harsh, you support Prop. 131 as it “offers a fresh system of ethics” for our elected officials in Sacramento.

This position, however, may be idealistic in that both initiatives address a symptom and not a problem. A lack of ethics is not just the problem of the Legislature, it may be a problem of the times that is reflected in all walks of life.

In a sense, I wish that you were right: that we could fix government by limiting the terms of officials. Because then we could fix education by making teachers quit after 12 years or members of the clergy or real estate agents. That way we’d be rid of English teachers who spend too much time goofing off rather than correcting essays; priests who abuse altar boys, and the real estate agent who talked me into buying my house at an inflated price.

I want either Prop. 131 or Prop. 140 to work, too. But the problem is more likely us than them.

WILLIAM MALE

San Diego