Is the Iran issue going to explode into President Reagan'sVietnam or Watergate? Hopefully not.
Our Vietnam-era president decided not to seek re-election;re-election is not our president's problem. Our Watergate-erapresident had to resign. Some more National Security Councilresignations will clear the air, but a major Cabinet or higher levelresignation ought not occur. It is not healthy symbolism. The badmarriage need not end in divorce, the baby ought not be thrown outwith the bath water. Something is broken; we should try to fix it.
The Nixon and Carter administrations seemed to share anunhealthy trait: almost complete inflexibility and arrogance. Theiradministrations broke rather than bent in the face of crisis. Thecurrent administration appears to be practicing some openness,letting some people go, making certain admissions of fallibility andthe like.
The silver lining of the weapons-deal cloud can be theopportunity for reworking our ideas about power and the people whowield it. While we wish to forget Vietnam and Watergate's ugliness,we can do something positive now to remember a rebirth in democracy.Michael Kazanjian, Edgewater New style lobbying
Obviously the Nicaraguan contras have been going about theirbusiness all wrong. Here they've spent years lobbying Congress foraid, and what do they have to show for it? A measly $100 millionworth of American war materiel. They've probably spent that muchjust for lunch with a few high-placed Washington lobbyists. Thecontras should take a lesson from their Shiite brothers-in-terror:Pick up several stray Americans, show them some enforced hospitality,release a few bitter letters and videotapes, then sit and wait for"Bud" McFarlane to fly in bearing gifts. Perhaps $150 million ingifts, and all without this messy business of winning the approval ofthe American people or their representatives. If the "freedomfighters" of the world adopt this new style of lobbying, they mayeven grab some cynical White House strategists and do us all a bigfavor. Kate and Paul Buckley, Matteson The worst casualty
It is indeed a tragedy that the most possible and worstcasualty of the Iranian arms flap will be the ongoing, bipartisannational effort to stop the proliferation of Russian influence inCentral and South America. The now-to-be-expected polarization ofsentiment in Congress over aid to the contras will mean the Sovietshave carte blanche to flood the Third World countries at our backdoor with every conceivable kind of weaponry, knowing full well theywill now be able to get away with almost anything they choose to do.And destabilization of nations, as they have proved convincingly inevery part of the world they chose to do so - Africa, Nicaragua,Afghanistan - is what they excel at.
Our legislators know full well the power of Soviet propagandaand arms gifts in this field. So we can now contemplate a lot ofdebating among members of Congress on this subject, and even morelooking-the-other-way from an incipient crisis right in our ownbackyard. Ed Chensky, Riverside Just turn the knob
I may not have all my priorities in order, but I sure cannotunderstand the uproar caused by the showing of black-and white moviesin computerized color on TV.
The solution to this "problem" is very simple. I have yet tosee a color television set that did not have a color level adjustmentknob. Anyone who is annoyed by computerized color should simply turnthe knob to the minimum color level position to watch these films orany other programs in black and white.Joseph R. Havelka, Ashburn All play, no work
One of the vivid childhood memories that remains with me is thetired appearance of my father when he returned home from work eachlate afternoon. This memory was reawakened in me after an incidentwith a school custodian who was under my supervision.
This custodian had a keen eye for labor-saving devices. If anyother school in our district acquired a labor-saving device, he wouldask me when we were going to get one of the same type.
After hearing his requests for certain appliances several times,I asked him if he believed in work.
He replied, "Listen, man, I want to have energy left for playingafter I leave here."
I think that his response points up one of the importantdifferences in attitude - an attitude that has contributed greatly tothe poor American economy - between labor of my father's generationand that of today. Too many employees are saving themselves for playafter they leave the workplace. Ferd Bronzell, Evergreen Park
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