An Open Letter to Kimit Muston
.....by Richard Koss
In response to Kimit Muston's "Three Popes and Jerry Falwell"
Kimit:
I am an admirer of your work and have told you so in the past.
However, I must take exception to your most recent piece.
First of all, you refer to your friend's being a Republican as if she were
Mrs. John Rocker. I know you're younger than me but the 'old" or radical
Republicans you refer to would have been considered just plain old
conservatives thirty years ago.
I don't consider myself a radical but I admire those who are trying to bring
this country back toward the center. And I do believe we need something
more than "moderate" tinkering to make any appreciable changes. Of course
the liberals think everything is just fine and we need only pass more
legislation and put more pressure on the John Rockers of our society to keep
us on course.
And speaking of our wonderful, liberated society, which now places
individual rights and freedoms above any institution that would attempt to
suggest the application of some form of morality code, let's take a look at
how far we have come.
The so called sexual revolution brought with it an unprecedented record of
illegitimate births and sexually transmitted diseases which threaten to
reach epidemic proportions, while the liberation of women no doubt
contributed to an all time high in the divorce rate.
The drug and alcohol abuse problem is completely out of control and our
children are now more sexually active and violent than any previous
generation. They have also reached a low in academic achievement and our
public educational systems are in shambles.
The internet has given us unlimited access to a multitude of information,
including pornography, and our children are learning more each day about
everything that will help accelerate the destruction of their lives.
The entertainment and professional sports industries have given us Icons who
are the epitome of decadence. Most of them are a valueless lot who
aggrandize themselves with wealth and stature at the expense of a naive core
of groupies which include children and adults alike. Look at the sitcoms on
television. They mock any and all forms of traditional moral values. They
emphasize the crude, rude, self-gratifying behavior which perhaps at times,
we have all been guilty of. Unfortunately, such behavior is commonplace on
nearly all of these shows.
The real question is what do we really fear from the radical right. Perhaps
we are afraid they will attempt to restrict our right to continue on in this
glorious age. If the radical Republicans are the enemy, then the Democrats
must be the ones who really care about us. After all, haven't they given us
Bill Clinton and Al Gore and Hillary and Monica and the parade of cabinet
members who resigned and all the scandals and Kosovo and Haiti. They even
entertained us with the impeachment hearings and security breakdowns and
missing tapes and files etc.,etc. We should be so proud that we live in
America where we are witnessing a new genre in politics and will be able to
celebrate the flamboyant legacy of a President who was not only impeached,
but will also be disbarred from practicing law before he leaves office.
Anyway, who cares if the President practices law or not.
Of course we all know none of this stuff was true. It was basically all a
conspiracy perpetrated by those radical right wing Republicans.
Richard A. Koss
P.S.
I still think you're a hell of a writer.
Ed Note: Please see the Editorial Page
