LETTERS: TELL THE EMPORER THAT HE'S NAKED

To the editor:

I am a housewife. Actually, I am privileged to be a housewife. In this day and time, one feels like a dinosaur in that profession. I am not an accountant nor an economist nor a political scientist, though I do have somewhat of an education. I am interested in politics and follow the Washington, D.C., soap every day.

The situation there reminds me of one of my favorite childhood fairy tales that I passed along to my children, "The Emperor's New Clothes." If your aren't familiar with the tale, it goes something like this:Bored with his life of riches and power, the emperor was continuously looking for something new to entertain himself. A tailor came to court selling his handmade clothing. Nothing he had pleased the emperor. But being an enterprising sort, the tailor showed him the newest and latest thing on the fashion scene: a beautiful new robe trimmed with the rarest of fur and jewels. And, to go with it, a suit so light in texture that the emperor could not even feel its touch upon his royal skin. There was none like it in the kingdom, and another could not be made as the material used was so precious. I suppose the emperor wondered why, for a moment, that he could not see these lovely things, but he was the emperor, after all, and with special sight. He rewarded the tailor handsomely for the outfit and wore it every day. The ladies and gentlemen of the court declared it to be the loveliest outfit ever worn by an emperor. All was well until a small boy entered to see the king's marvelous accouterments. He looked at the emperor on the throne and said simply, "The emperor is naked."After listening to the State of the Union address the other night, I could not help but think the same thing. Who sold this president his new set of clothes that he, in turn, is selling to the nation.

Inflation is down. OK. If it is down, why has my house doubled and almost tripled in value since we bought it 20 years ago? Why does a trip to the grocery store make me happy I no longer have five mouths to feed? Why has the cost of a new car doubled in 10 years.

Crime is down. We are losing a good part of a generation to drugs. Has anyone noticed? Has anyone noticed spouse, elder and child abuse, which has reached epidemic proportions? Children are killing children. Does anyone care.

Unemployment is down. But service jobs are up. Universities and hospitals are building a growing gargantuan sizes, full of empty desks and beds, begging for minimum-wage folks to come care for the sick and underpaid teachers to teach our youths who go into the world with a worthless diploma, some unable even to read.

The emperor speaks in glowing terms of family. Has he met the single mother working two jobs begging for her child support each month, praying every night that one of the kids doesn't break an arm and that they will be safe until she gets home from work and falls exhausted into bed? Quality time? College? Family.

And, as a mother, I must not forget the emperor's world living in peace. Bosnia and the scuffles in the Mideast hardly make the 6 o'clock news. There's even talk in Washington and some very small articles in the news and on TV testing the waters of public opinion on a new missile defense program to defend us against Iraq and North Korea.

Please. Someone needs to tell the emperor he's naked.

NOEL ERLBACHER

Cape Girardeau