Life Under the GOP

Jonathan Freedman’s Column Left (Dec. 20) demonstrates that the liberal revisionists are already out in full force. Rather than decrying a government that has yet to take power, Freedman should join those who wish to seek real answers by examining the facts.

There is no factual dispute that federal, state and local government spending programs for the poor have grown exponentially over the past three decades. Coincident with this rise has been an equal increase in the numbers of poor. To anyone with an understanding of statistics, these two facts indicate that these programs, while good-intentioned, have failed to produce the results for which they were intended.

Maybe Newt Gingrich and his newly appointed lieutenants in Congress do not have the complete answers to all of society’s problems. But at least they are determined to eliminate old programs that have failed to produce anything more than a vested bureaucracy and a class of individuals who feel entitled to, and have become dependent upon, a series of government handouts.

DREW PHILLIPS

Carson

* According to Freedman, “The spirit of Christmas ’94 is dampened by a mood of meanness.” The only meanness I see has come from the media’s coverage of orphanages these past few weeks. These organizations deserve a fair shake from the press. Freedman would do society a favor if he would tackle that issue through his forum.

Christmas is about giving; personal giving, not federal giving. Freedman should get off his higher-education horse and find out what works in our troubled communities. The Christmas spirit can be found in local nonprofit organizations (try any local church) that are addressing the needs of families. If he could see the effectiveness that local organizations have with limited funds, he would join the crusade to shrink the federal government.

Our problems need a local common-sense approach that is efficient, effective and flexible. These are attributes not commonly associated with the federal government.

DAVE SCOTT

San Juan Capistrano

* Re “Getting the Big Boys Off Our Backs,” Column Right, by Mickey Edwards, Dec. 20:

Edwards tells us that the new Republican government will restore the old federalism that the Founders, in their infinite wisdom, conceived over 200 years ago. This federalism was on target in 1790, when the 10th Amendment was passed. Our country has changed quite a bit since then. We no longer see people as inferior because of their skin color or their sex. We also realized that when states possessed too much power they took advantage of it, they ‘created a tyranny of the majority. Hence, the Civil War occurred and the 14th Amendment, which gave the federal government the power to protect the abused minority.

Before we learned that local power made local prejudice king, the Articles of Confederation taught us that too much local power was a threat to the economy and unity from which we derive much of our power and comfort. The Republicans would do well to learn the lessons history has taught us instead of repeating them.

SARA PALERMO, Age 15

Anaheim