LETTERS: BIG GOVERNMENT STILL THERE

To the editor:

Conventional wisdom now has it that President Clinton's second inaugural address was less than outstanding, even banal. I didn't hear it or read it. Nevertheless, one set of sound bytes was extraordinary: "Government is not the problem," he said.

Here he confronted head-on the most devastating mindset that has been perpetrated on the citizenry of our republic. Then he continued: "Government is not the solution," puncturing that balloon.

Further, he issued the rallying cry, "The people are the solution." After that he could have said "Amen" and sat down.

The era of big government is not over because the era of big everything else is in full swing. Neither major political party, nor those parties aborning, have a grasp of what's really ahead for America. Mindless cliches will only confuse. The future will be gratifying. The road to it and into it will not be easy and painless. Americans have been nurtured to seek the easy, the painless, the quick fix.

The rewards for tenacious struggle can be great. Dwight Eisenhower once said, "The prize is in the quest." It remains for leadership to step forward that can inspire such rebirth. None seems to be evident. Perhaps Ross Perot crimped the edges, but he promptly defaulted with his various machinations. Newt Gingrich? That scenario has yet to be played out.

Welcome to the approach to the bridge to the next century.

GILBERT DEGENHARDT

Cape Girardeau