DOLE, KEMP AND THE G.O.P.

"Bob Dole used to be a competent moderate. How did the G.O.P. transform him into a tax-cutting, budget-busting snake-oil salesman?" JAMES E. FREDETTE San Marcos, California

Jack Kemp is just the remedy for Bob Dole's struggling campaign for the presidency [THE REPUBLICANS, Aug. 19]. Kemp offers the vitality the Dole campaign needs to defeat the charismatic Bill Clinton. A longtime supporter of Reaganomics, Kemp is well liked among conservative Democrats. His record with minorities will help Dole attract the minority votes he needs. As the election approaches, Kemp will prove to be the wisest choice Dole could have made. SETH FINCK Jacksonville, Florida Via E-mail

This combination of Dole and Kemp shows two men so eager, so desperate for power that each has jettisoned his most deeply held ideas. This ticket offers the worst of both worlds: Kemp's economic ideas and Dole's social agenda. ROSALIE L. TARABINI Fort Bragg, California

Americans love tax cuts. The politicians who offer reduced taxes seem to collect the most votes. Just look at the past: Walter Mondale in 1984 said a tax hike might be necessary, and lost to Reagan in a landslide. George Bush's 1988 "Read my lips, no new taxes" pledge earned him the White House. Clinton's 1992 offering of a middle-class tax break all but assured his victory. Dole's promise of a 15% tax cut is unachievable. Its only purpose is to garner votes. For the sake of American politics, let's hope that this ploy doesn't work. RAJU GOYAL Phoenix, Arizona Via E-mail

The plan for a 15% tax cut will supposedly work because this extra money in people's pockets will create new jobs, increase productivity and still make possible the elimination of the deficit by 2002, as scheduled. Well, hey, if this is not voodoo economics but will really work, why not cut taxes 25% or even 30%, thereby doubling the number of jobs created and productivity, and making possible the elimination of the deficit in three--maybe even two--years? This tax-cutting idea has endless possibilities. JOHN R. MAYER Melville, New York

Although I'm a Democrat, like many others I was genuinely enthusiastic about the choice of Kemp, a man who stands by principle more often than most. However, while he has many fine qualities, the rush of excitement should not blind us to the fact that he is no saint. Remember his endorsement of Oliver North's Senate candidacy? Clearly, there are times when party means most to Kemp. GARY WEINMAN Briarwood, New York

Kemp represents inclusion, compassion and ideas. Together, Dole and Kemp represent victory, and will send Clinton and Gore packing. GERRY DICKINSON Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

The Christian Coalition-controlled Republican Party reminds me of the early Puritans. All that's missing are the wooden stocks and the burning of the witches. I've been a dyed-in-the-wool Republican since 1928, when I voted for Herbert Hoover, but no longer. ROBERT R. HELMERICHS St. Louis Park, Minnesota

Dole seems to be a decent, caring, hardworking man. We should all have his perseverance. Will he win in November? Probably not. It's not very often that a nice guy finishes first. CHRIS GRAVES Manakin-Sabot, Virginia Via E-mail

Having closely followed the making of the President since 1956, I am appalled by the dramatic rise of pointless hoopla during the national political-party conventions and the increasing lack of debate on important issues. The nadir was reached by the disgusting staging of a public-relations film by the G.O.P. It showed Dole in a small Italian town near where he had been seriously wounded in April 1945. This injury does not make him a war hero but a war casualty, and is certainly no guarantee that 50 years later he'll have a successful presidency.

Add to this the convention's invocation of the spirit of Ronald Reagan and the resurrection of supply-side economic theory, and you get a concoction that is fit only for the 1980s. Times have changed but apparently not the G.O.P. The disastrous effects of 12 years of Reagan and Bush administrations on the economy seem to be easily forgotten. KLAAS B. VAN DER POEL St. Jean de Muzols, France

SO, WHAT'S NEW?

I recently reviewed the platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties [THE REPUBLICANS, Aug. 19]. Among the planks I looked at there was a statement arguing for campaign reform; a charge that certain tax-relief proposals were primarily for "those with the largest incomes"; a warning that the use of narcotics, especially the rise in heroin addiction, was a "grave peril to America"; and criticism about the delays in our legal system. Other issues addressed were natural resources in Alaska, the need for increased power for the states and reduction in arms. The platforms I was reviewing dated from 1912 and 1924. The more things change, the more they stay the same. We shouldn't let the rhetoric of the next few months worry us too much. RANDY CLEMONS, Professor Department of Political Science Mercyhurst College Erie, Pennsylvania

IT WAS JUST AN EXPERIMENT

I must agree with Calvin Trillin's comment in "High on Experimentation" [NOTEBOOK, Aug. 19] on the silliness of Republican Representative Susan Molinari's disclaimer that she only "experimented" with marijuana. The only sillier statement would be "I didn't inhale." BOB BERRY Hillsborough, California

LIFE ON MARS

We don't know for sure now, and we may never know, whether microscopic organisms existed on Mars billions of years ago [SPACE, Aug. 19]. I for one don't give a damn. What we do know is that billions of creatures, both human and animal, exist here on Earth, and millions, if not billions, suffer needlessly from the effects of starvation, disease, pollution, war and other disasters. I wince with shame to think of the money that has been poured into the black hole of space exploration instead of being used to benefit the lives right here on this planet that we know, without a doubt, need help. JOEL STOVALL Susanville, California

Has anyone considered that the "life on Mars" discovery may be a carefully rendered hoax, not unlike the cold-fusion misadventure of a few years ago? After all, NASA is threatened by major budget cuts. The world's interest in space has made a giant leap forward, and many churches are nervous about attacks on creationism. Scientists have not claimed they have found definitive proof of extraterrestrial life, yet the microscopic evidence is being treated as such by most of the media. Even if scientists did find a bacterial fossil that was truly from Mars, that's still a long way from E.T. phoning home or from aliens blowing up our major cities. Darn. ROBERT BRENNEMAN Muskogee, Oklahoma

I suggest that we send astronauts on a one-way trip to Mars. A station staffed by volunteer scientists would certainly have before it a lifetime of exploration and investigation not limited by a short layover. Resupplied periodically by unmanned rockets from Earth, the station would flourish and eventually grow to become the Earth colony on Mars--science fiction materialized as science fact. If one considers the major risks and astronomical expense of a return trip, not to mention the limited benefit of a short visit, a permanent stay on Mars is not so radical an idea. ALLAN I. PRESSER Fort Lyon, Colorado

The question should not be, "Is there life out there?" but rather, "Where the heck has it been all these years?" YUVAL COHEN Cape Town, South Africa

While scientists should continue their search for absolute proof, the preliminary evidence of past life on Mars could hardly have come as a surprise to most people. It would be infinitely more surprising to me if scientists were somehow to prove that extraterrestrial life does not exist. For us on Earth to be alone in the galaxy would indeed be stunning. If other life does exist, what we might find is something else: not in the context of little green men or bug-eyed monsters, but in the perspective of where we are now in our development.

What if we discovered beings millions of years more advanced than us? We may be no more than raw material, food or vermin standing in the way of their exploiting our resources. Why should we expect them to be benign and kinder to us than we were to the now extinct dodo? Perhaps the vast distances of space and the limits of relativity are a blessing. We might be better advised to listen more and broadcast less. RICHARD MARSHALL Tongaat, South Africa

We spend billions of dollars on missions to planets. If we do discover life in space, what then? Do we invite the space microbes (which is all that's determined to be in the rock) for a visit to the White House? Call me a wet blanket if you wish, but I'm not impressed. PREMNATH KUDVA Mangalore, India Via E-mail

THOSE "MARTIANS"

When I saw your cover juxtaposing the headline "Life on Mars" with the Bob Dole-Jack Kemp ticket [Aug. 19], I knew it! Those pesky Republicans had to be from another planet. LORI A. MEYERS San Diego

I'll never again be able to see Dole and Kemp as just ordinary down-to-earth politicians! BRENT E. WHITE Bainbridge Island, Washington

NO MONTE CARLO CONNECTION

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