Perot’s Candidacy

I compliment Robert Dallek (“Against All Odds,” Opinion, July 21) for his recognition that “there seems to be little question but that Perot is a spokesman for current public discontent.” However, he goes on to say, “The deficit is not quite the problem [Perot] says it is.”

I find it astonishing that Dallek would make such a statement when the cost of interest alone for the national debt, which is largely the consequence of the deficits over the past 16 years, is approximately $260 billion per year, or $30 million an hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year! Many people in this country consider this an enormous problem. People such as Warren Rudman and Paul Tsongas, Bob Kerrey and John Danforth, as well as a large segment of society, consider the deficit, ergo the debt, to be the major problem facing our country today.

I agree with Dallek that no one person should be looked upon as an answer to our problems. The responsibility rests with us, the electorate. Ross Perot deserves praise rather than derision for bringing the deficit/debt problem into discussion. Many of us believe that a third party is the quickest and best way to solve these problems, whether the candidate be Perot or Richard Lamm or yes, even Ralph Nader.

BILL GIORGI

Brea