U.S. Politics

Walter Russell Mead’s column (“Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” Opinion, June 28) confirms what I thought was only my private fear when he writes that U.S. political conditions are beginning to resemble those usually found in a “banana republic.” I knew that the gap between the First and Third Worlds would have to end someday, but I always believed they would be lifted up to our standard of living.

Our way of life, with its waste and inequality, cannot be exported without eventual irreparable destruction in a generation or two of the planet’s resources. We need to distinguish the American way of life from the American dream. Always a poor approximation of the dream, the reality must give way to it. The American dream is of freedom from violence and exploitation, and that hope belongs to the whole world. Politicians who will not help us learn that more is not always better (unless you are a cancer cell) do not deserve our support.

REXFORD STYZENS

Long Beach