_______________AMERICAN GERONTOCRACY BY CHRISTOPHER SHEA (01/15/99)

Christopher Shea's suggestion that we offer elderly senators and representatives economic packages as incentives to resign, infuriated me -- not because I disagree with the general gist of the article, but because these coddled and powerful, but increasingly out-of-touch, relics are already so steeped in money and benefits that they have completely lost all empathy for the rest of us who pay through the nose for nonexistent health "care," worry there will be absolutely no safety net for us when we are elderly and are pretty certain we will not be allowed to totter around corporations or other places of work when we are losing it, but will likely find ourselves forced into redundancy. Shea, Maureen Dowd and all the rest of us are forced to accept the realization, when tuning into the impeachment proceedings, that our rights, entitlements and beliefs are being abrogated by old gray men who are, because they come from an entirely different age, irrelevancies. But pay them to move on? How about an article on just what retired congressmen and ladies already get? Wretched excess, that's what. My idea is to strip them of all their benefits and then see what kind of legislation they enact. -- Barbara Lace We already have seen the disasterous results of having a president who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. President Reagan was already well down the path of illness when his aides careened out of control creating the Iran-contra mess. He could honestly say he knew nothing about what was going on in the White House because he barely understood what he was doing there in the first place. I have watched with agony the great mind of New York Sen. Daniel Moynihan deteriorate. Luckily, since he still stands above many mortals intellectually even now, he also understands he needs to retire and he is going gracefully. One wishes other senators could follow his fine example. All his long life he has tried to do the right thing and he continues this tradition. I salute you, Senator. Long may you live! -- Elaine Supkis Petersburgh, N.Y. The only thing that made this whole last year worthwhile was the thought that at the end of it I'd get to see Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., propped up in his chair, reading from his cue cards, asking Monica Lewinsky questions that had the word "blow" in them. Imagine my disappointment if the American people were deprived of the old guy's last (we pray) hurrah. -- Barbara Altfest It is so typical of the runny-nosed, sniggling, Hollywood, Hustler radical left crowd to portray the elderly as incompetent old fools. Perhaps if some of you had learned to respect your elders instead of spitting on and mocking them you would have gotten more from them than the narrow eye. Your greatest loss is that you have learned, and are still learning, from each other. Serves you right. -- Jim Freas Christopher Shea is right to question the media's unwillingness to deal with the problem of aging politicians, but he overlooks the most egregious example -- Ronald Reagan. Last fall PBS broadcast an in-depth profile of him as part of its series on recent American presidents. Although I was aware of the gossip that Reagan was not quite "with it" during his presidency, I was stunned to learn of the extent of his mental decline. In the documentary his official biographer relates stories of Reagan's confusion, including entries in his diary of events that didn't occur. Howard Baker states that when he took over as chief of staff from Don Regan, Reagan's staff told him to be prepared to have the president declared unfit and replace him with Vice President Bush. (According to Baker, Reagan was able to snap out of it well enough to finish his term.) How bizarre that the media feels free to harp on things like Dan Quayle's inability to spell but they are unwilling to seriously analyze the mental fitness of our aging leaders. -- Dora O'Shaughnessy Charlotte, N.C. N E X T+P A G E+| Lamott's piffling musings; dissecting medical school admissions