Negativism

* In his article, “Nabobs of Negativism” (Opinion, May 12), Gregg Easterbrook fails to recognize that negativism is a result of optimistic progressives (liberals) creating a bureaucratic monstrosity trying to manage society in their image. This has cost a great deal of money and after 40 years, one must conclude that it has not worked.

Anyone who is objective enough to look at such massive waste and faulty ideas can only embrace an attitude that says, “Enough is enough.”

The pessimism that I see is that of liberals who are trying to defend their past behavior of adhering to a political philosophy that simply does not work. If you want to listen to optimists, listen to Jack Kemp, Bill Bennett, Newt Gingrich, Tommy Thompson, etc. If you want to listen to the negativists, I suggest Al Gore and Richard Gephardt.

Easterbrook would do well to listen to positively oriented conservatives to balance out the negativism he sees.

DAVE FISCHER