Maggie Mops Up

To the Editors:

Margaret Thatcher should serve as an example to America [June 20]. She represents many of the virtues that have faded in our nation. She is hardworking, thrifty, self-reliant and not afraid to believe in herself and her ideals. Britain's Iron Lady is as classically American as Superman.

Peter M. Etcher

New York City

Thatcher's Victorian values--duty, hard work and self-reliance--are great if you are working and financially secure. But if you are poor and sick, what then do Victorian values offer you? Despair?

Stanley Kowalski

Nuneaton, England

Your assertion that Margaret Thatcher won by a "landslide" is true if one looks at the distribution of seats in the new Parliament. But if one analyzes the popular vote, it is clear she has no mountainous mandate for her program. Fifty-eight percent of those who voted, over half, rejected her and her party's platform. Whether her proposals will harm or benefit Britain in the years ahead, they certainly do not now enjoy the support of a majority of the British people.

Michael L. Hughes

Ames, Iowa

Your story on Margaret Thatcher's huge election victory in Britain ought to be a warning to our Democratic Party in 1984. The parallels between the left-wing Labor Party in the United Kingdom and the socialistic viewpoints expressed by some liberal Democrats in this country will lead to a resounding defeat for the Democrats next year.

Robert Douglas LeNeve

Mount Clemens, Mich.

According to you, Margaret married the wealthy Denis by the time she was 25, which enabled her to "quit work," study law, and so on. I had no idea that "Victorian self-reliance" was the equivalent of marrying money.

Shannon Hoffman

Berkeley, Calif.

Just over a year ago, the Conservative Party was trailing in the polls, and Mrs. Thatcher languished a poor third in the count by party leaders. The government then dispatched a task force to fight a war in the Falklands; whereupon Thatcher's popularity soared, and the Conservative Party has now been swept back to power. This is a terrifying lesson to give to the leaders of the world.

Terence P. O'Brien

Selsey Chichester, England

Grading Education

President Reagan's Ronnie-come-lately interest in the dismal state of American education is certainly heartwarming [June 20]. After all, Reagan once bragged on national television that he never tried to make grades higher than Cs. since Cs were the minimum necessary to be eligible to play sports.

Thomas A. Prentice

Austin

Glenn for President

It is refreshing to see a politician like John Glenn who rejects the "wheeler-dealer" approach to a national election [June 20]. So far, he represents the most responsible candidate for President. Insisting on making your own decisions and cautiously establishing political allies is an asset in my opinion, not a liability. Unfortunately, Americans are increasingly electing Presidents because of their personality. Instead, we should reconsider and vote for those candidates who, like Glenn, show the best leadership qualities.

Timothy G. Willard

Wilmington, Del.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an entire Senate composed of nothing but John Glenns? There would be no deals with other Senators, no PACs, no lobbying or influence peddling. We would just have a Congress that was dedicated to the national good.

Frank Pickelsimer

Thomasville, N.C.

Fiddling with Genetics

The recent proposal by U.S. clergymen to prohibit research in human genetic engineering is ill-founded [June 20]. Such work, carefully monitored, can benefit man. What's more, there is no way that it can be effectively banned. Imprisoning Galileo did not put an end to studies in astronomy. Passing laws to prevent American scientists from conducting genetic research will not put an end to the matter. The action will simply shift somewhere else. It is our relatively humane, caring society that should be leading the way in this field.

Anthony F. Spicciati

Malvern, Pa.

Man has used his mind in both good and evil ways. He has placed civilization on the brink of annihilation, and has also made wondrous discoveries in genetics and biotechnology. Now we can use these advances to improve our lot. Certainly we should be cautious in our endeavors surrounding this new frontier of science, but let us not shackle ourselves needlessly as the clergy would have us do.

Bruce T. Glasscock San Francisco

The clergymen seem to be saying:

Protect your child's right to have cancer.

Multiple sclerosis is God's way.

Help support sickle-cell anemia.

Down's syndrome is part of God's plan.

Louis Pasteur was an Antichrist.

Thomas E. Armstrong

Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

The L.A. Magnet

TIME's report "Los Angeles, America's Uneasy New Melting Pot" [June 13], which discusses the recent influx of immigrants to Los Angeles, and in particular the concentration of Asian Pacific people, was so negative as to be both unfair and inaccurate. The story, which dwells on the animosities among the various immigrant communities, is affected by a worn-out view of the world dating from the 1920s and 1930s. That was the time when Asian and Western cultures were judged in terms of each other's superiority and inferiority; when East and West were viewed as adversaries.

TIME fails to recognize that a new world view is forming, and the Asian Americans of Los Angeles are among its creators. This new attitude allows for diverse philosophies, cultures and religions to exist side by side, enriching each other.

For the first time in history, immigrants from the Asian Pacific have come together in a single metropolis, infusing both Los Angeles and its citizens with renewed life and vision. These new immigrants are unlike any others. They are educated, skilled, financially resourceful, industrious and dedicated to the American way. This great gathering of immigrants from many lands is a magnificent example of how prejudices have been reversed, not fostered. Asians have set aside their ancient enmities against each other, and Americans are ridding themselves of their prejudices against Asians.

Los Angeles has benefited enormously from the new influx of Asian Pacific people. The city is fast becoming the greatest cosmopolitan metropolis of the world: a gateway for trade and peoples from all over the Pacific. This commerce and immigration will eventually eclipse the magnitude of the movement that crossed the Atlantic earlier in this century. Los Angeles is not so much an uneasy new melting pot, as TIME calls it, as a modern miracle in which the joining of East and West has revitalized the city.

David Hyun, Chairman

Korean American Coalition

Los Angeles

Like many Angelenos, I was born outside California and moved here only 15 years ago. From my first day in Los Angeles, I was impressed by the nonexistence of the ethnic-group conflict I had often experienced in my native South. Naturally there are problems in our city. But visitors to Los Angeles will not see the negative interaction you incorrectly described in your story. Rather, the observer will walk away with a sense of the contribution these new Americans are making: the small ethnic shops, often adjacent to one another, the community groups full of recent arrivals, eager to understand and participate in civic affairs. The latest immigrants have been welcomed into our local economy and have provided an exciting boost to Los Angeles.

Mike Roos, Majority Floor Leader

Assembly, California Legislature

Sacramento

Hurling Invectives

Thank you for Hugh Sidey's delightful column on political invective [June 20]. Unfortunately, a half-page summary cannot do justice to America's considerable contribution to the art of insult. One of the best flamethrowers in our early House of Representatives was the brilliant Virginia Congressman John Randolph. He once described a political foe as "a man of splendid abilities, but utterly corrupt. Like rotten mackerel by moonlight, he shines and stinks."

In more modern times, probably no one's tongue cut deeper than that of Franklin Roosevelt's Interior Secretary, Harold Ickes. The Secretary accused Huey Long of having "halitosis of the intellect," but saved his sharpest darts for Thomas E. Dewey. When the New York Governor announced for the presidency, Ickes commented that "Dewey has thrown his diaper into the ring," and steadfastly refused to listen to Dewey's speeches because, he explained, "I have a baby of my own."

A few years ago, Senator Pat Moynihan seemed prepared to revive the dying art of insult, but in this age of television, even his sharp tongue has succumbed to the dictates of "good taste."

James M. Bellarosa

North Grafton, Mass. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.