Population Control, Religion

In his diatribe condemning forced abortion as a means of population control (“Column Right,” June 3), Pat Buchanan quotes the U.S. cardinals’ commandment to the President: “Do not allow our country to (trample) the rights and religious values of people around the world.”

Until now, self-righteous religious zealots have consistently advocated trampling the rights of others to force unwanted pregnancies. Could Buchanan be signaling their conversion to the pro-choice position? Or is he merely exercising his boundless hypocrisy?

DONALD E. WATSON

Santa Ana

* I love it when you run Alexander Cockburn and Buchanan on the same day; it gives idiocy such sublime symmetry. On June 3, for instance, one thinks Clinton ought to be celebrating the end of World War II in Leningrad (or whatever they’re calling it these days) and the other thinks Clinton ought to be drawing up his social policies at the Vatican.

Is it possible these two knuckleheads were separated at birth?

DAN RILEY

Thousand Oaks

* Buchanan asked why the Clinton Adminstration has “outraged and provoked the Catholic hierarchy” with the Administration’s family-planning policies.

While I cannot speak for the President, I can venture a guess. The traditional values that Buchanan defends were formulated several thousand years ago, when it was difficult to maintain population size and wars were won by the side with the biggest army.

Now world population has grown to a size that the ancients could scarcely comprehend. We are forced to steal irreplaceable natural resources from unborn generations, and we are wrecking their environment. To top it off, the value of the individual’s vote continues to be eroded by our burgeoning numbers. The voice of the individual is drowned by the din of the masses and government becomes more and more remote.

Clearly, the advice of the ancients regarding population growth is no longer relevant. Regardless of the motivation of the current Administration, it is correct to challenge values that seek to promote population growth.

WILLIAM THWAITES

San Diego