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Lacey Rayner, age 15 Modesto, California I am increasingly frustrated with our tendency in North America to pander to the lowest common denominator, a practice known as participatory democracy. Both U.S. and Canadian democracies are supposed to be based on representation by principled leaders. The Achilles' heel of today's North American political environment is the demand for the government to be slavishly obedient to the mass of ``empowered'' individuals, neatly packaged among a multitude of special-interest groups. In everyday matters, our expectations of government are limitless. Yet we hamstring its ability to act freely with propositions, referendums and excessive public-opinion polls. The environment we've created is at best incapacitating, and at worst suicidal, for effective leadership.
Don H. Caplan Edmonton, Canada Hyperdemocracy was an excellent article about an important issue of our time. Congress is becoming a poll-watching, poll-taking Babel, far from the independent deliberative body envisioned by the Founders. We are witnessing the decline of representative democracy to a level not unlike that of rabble- led assemblies in Revolutionary France.
Duane Robertson Orangevale, California
YELTSIN'S NASTY WAR
The Russians are going to win the civil war in Chechnya [Jan. 23]. Interference by other countries would prolong the period before an inevitable Russian victory and cause more deaths and unnecessary suffering.
John Q. Webb Derry, New Hampshire It's too late for Yeltsin to learn any lessons. Before invading Chechnya, he should have remembered the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan and the fact that it took czarist armies nearly 50 years to subdue the Chechens in the mid-19th century. Yeltsin should seek a peaceful and humanitarian solution in Chechnya now. The Soviet invasion and defeat in Afghanistan led to the fall of the Soviet empire. Similarly, the invasion of Chechnya could eventually unravel the Russian Federation. Furthermore, the events in Chechnya raise serious questions about peace and stability in central and south Asia. Is the cold war really completely over?
Ahmed S. Kahn Lombard, Illinois Why has the U.S. government decided to sit on the sidelines instead of helping the Chechens? Because this is truly an ``internal affair,'' or because there are not sufficient financial interests for the U.S. to take action? I believe America takes military steps only for economic gain or to test new equipment. The Gulf War is an excellent example.
Nicolas Canadas Liverpool, Australia It is incredible that Western leaders could give a free hand to a state in its transition period by accepting Russia's wrongheaded policy. The West is playing the same wrong politics with Yeltsin's Russia as it played with Hitler's Germany before World War II.