Everyone’s a Winner, or at Least Equal

Re “In Las Vegas, ‘I Do’ Is Short for ‘I Do Anything I Want,’ ” by Hal Rothman, Commentary, Jan. 6: Admittedly, when my family goes to Las Vegas for a few days every year, we see only what meets the eye, but that indeed is quite fascinating. No, it is not just the cheaper hotel rooms. As one of many who has serious reservations about where America is going, I am unashamed to admit that there is something compelling about what has been done with public spaces there (whether one takes it seriously or not) and how people of different backgrounds, both American and foreign, are drawn in together.

What else could corporate America do, if suitably motivated? I wonder if some who consider themselves well bred or well educated object not so much to the gambling and the glitz but to the egalitarian flavor of the place. Unfortunately, some would regard whatever appeals to working people as, by definition, tacky.

After making the obligatory donations to the casino, we get out to walk in the spectacular deserts and mountains close by and indulge in yet another fantasy -- that America may not be quite as overcrowded as we have been led to believe.

Hyman J. Milstein

Studio City

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Rothman neglected to mention that Las Vegas is the place where the state pays a college professor to indulge his own middle-class fantasy of being an anti-establishment wit and critic, too obviously bad-mouthing the house whose chips rattle in his pockets.

Daniel Zara

Winnetka