THE PUBLIC MIND: PEROT MAY BE CATALYST TO ALTER THINKING TO PRESENT REALITY

Dear Editor:

With financial bankruptcy facing our country, there is still more serious bankruptcy facing us. It is intellectual bankruptcy ... and it may be a root cause of the former.

Many, if not most, "would be" leaders persist in casting virtually every idea, every group and every person simplistically as "conservative" or "liberal."

Now comes the puzzling Mr. Perot ... it seems difficult for such leaders to define him in their usual convenient terms. For whatever reason, he has unquestioningly captured the support and accolades and imagination of the American people, much to the distress of the "oversimplifiers" and "polarizers" of our country.

Mr. Perot is no messiah, miracle-worker or magician. However, if he can be merely a catalyst ... if his candidacy and even possible election to the presidency can turn our thinking from the fantasies of the 80s and beyond and point us to the realities we now face ... it will be well worth the trip.

Gilbert Degenhardt

Cape Girardeau