‘King of the Right’ Headed the Wrong Way

As a 19-year-old, maybe I have luckily escaped the scheme of William F. Buckley Jr. (a.k.a. Dr. Pangloss) to force 18-year-olds into some sort of an indoctrination program a la the Chinese Communists so they can learn the error of their ways and dutifully worship their country.

Having grown up with The Great Communicator, I find I now must cope with The Great Hallucinator.

You state: “William F. Buckley Jr. . . . is best known for sparking an intellectual movement that eventually swept Ronald Reagan into the White House. . . .”

Any teen-ager who can read should know that with Reagan came deregulation and with that (came) Michael Milken and lesser lights, and $500 billion kind of disappeared from the savings and loan associations. I disagree that this generation has not been called upon to make sacrifices. We’ll have to cough up that $500 billion for one thing.

If any generation needs reorientation in its sense of values, it would seem to me to be Buckley’s.

Why doesn’t he organize a senior citizens’ corps (with appropriate sanctions, of course, for noncompliance). If grabbing a shovel and attempting to ameliorate the damage his generation is doing to our environment is not to his taste or physical condition, maybe he can use his vast mental powers and vocabulary to sway the Charles Hurwitzes of this country not to saw the nation’s redwoods and the Neil Bushes not to give away other people’s money.

NATHAN GOFF

Reno, Nev.