Sexual Conduct

Rep. Bob Livingston should not have resigned (Dec. 20). President Clinton should definitely not resign. To do so would be to surrender to the current abhorrent practice by which the careers of popular public officials are destroyed because of their purely private sexual conduct.

No other nation is so adolescently naive in matters of sex. When will the Congress display the level of maturity apparently already attained by the voters, who have repeatedly said that private sexual conduct should not be a matter of public concern?

LOUISE D. LILLIARD

Los Angeles

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The resignation of Livingston was exactly the wrong decision because it represents a tacit admission that an important part of the political agenda in Washington can be set by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt. Those of us opposed to the impeachment process offer the same complaint about the undue influence on that agenda by the actions of Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp. Let’s hope that Livingston’s successor exhibits greater strength and wisdom.

OLIVER SEELY

Lakewood

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The second casualty of the Lewinsky affair? Livingston! Merry Christmas, Democrats.

ANU SOOD

Cerritos

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As a lifelong Democrat who believes the rightists now in control of the Republican Party entrapped President Clinton and are seeking to destroy him at any cost because they hate him, my first reaction to the impeachment vote is to say that if they want war, let’s give them war and see if we can destroy them politically. But my second thought is a hope that leaders on both sides will come together and settle this matter in a way that most people can accept, and let the country return to normal.

JOHN MAYS

Malibu

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The widely proclaimed assertions that the House vote for President Clinton’s impeachment ensures him an infamous historical legacy are about as convincing as arguments that FDR was a failed president because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

JOHN POHLMANN

Seal Beach

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Sorry, but I believe that something as serious as removing a twice-elected president from office through the impeachment process should be accomplished on a bipartisan basis (as would have been the case with Richard Nixon).

LOU COHAN

Cypress

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From 1989 to 1994, Presidents Bush and Clinton were scorned for being too poll-driven. Since 1995, Congress has been derided for not listening to the polls. What’s left?

JAMES KUSHNER

Los Angeles

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You can call the Republicans every name in the book and not get an argument from me. But there’s a word for an electorate that keeps them in power and whines in the polls when they act like Republicans. Dumb.

GARY DURRETT

Glendale