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Half-Baked Bill?
Sir / Your article about a measure for public financing of presidential campaigns [Dec. 17] sponsored by Senators Kennedy and Mondale portrays Senator James Allen as a villain because of his efforts to scuttle this bill—a bill opposed even by Senators Ervin and Weicker. You can't seem to recognize a piece of hurriedly prepared, half-baked legislation sneakily attached to an important bill that was assured of President Nixon's signature. I believe that Senator Allen deserves a lot of credit for his efforts.
F.A. GEHRET
Norristown, Pa.
Sir / The defeat of the financing plan for presidential elections is yet another thorn to prick the moral indignation of millions of Americans. The nation now has cause to wonder why the Senate should shy away from a bill that would eliminate illegal corporate contributions, political extortions, and the type of rank criminality that stemmed from a $60 million campaign fund in 1972. The congressional record stands at 0-1 on attempts made to ensure against future Watergates.
CHARLES AGEE ATKINS
Ashland, Ky.
Analysis and Analogy
Sir / TIME contends that gunboat diplomacy is anachronistic [Dec. 24]. You cite Viet Nam and the resulting catastrophe of intervention in that civil war as proof of your thesis. It was our mistaken use of "We don't want another Munich" that led us to catastrophe in Viet Nam. It could be that the cry "We don't want another Viet Nam" will lead us to further, more serious mistakes. Our foreign policy should be governed by careful analysis, not careless analogy.
BILL BAHNKE
Monticello, Ill
Ancient Wisdom
Sir / Your Essay "Patients' Rights and the Quality of Medical Care" [Dec. 17] brings to mind an ancient Chinese custom. The Chinese, it is said, used to hire a doctor on a retainer and made regular payments to him as long as they remained well. When they became ill, they were guaranteed treatment, but the payments stopped until health was restored.
We might be considered a backward society for not devising a better system than giving our doctors a handsome vested interest in our prolonged ailments rather than our good health.
DEWEY YODER
Lewisburg, Pa.
Sir / The article ignores the millions of people in this country who have been indoctrinated by television programs and magazine articles to demand useless procedures and excess surgery. A corps of highly ethical and conservative physicians could not begin to satisfy their wants. As I lie down to sleep every night, it is with the contented knowledge that those people who demand more drama and reassurance in their lives than I can give them can find it in the clinics and flamboyant physicians in the vicinity.
CHRIS L. MENGIS, M.D.
Santa Fe, N. Mex.