A REAL LOSS

Letter To The Editor

It is unfortunate that Tom Alciere's irresponsibly expressed views have
caused New Hampshire to lose one of the few legislators in any state to
propose legislation aimed at eliminating the government's efforts to
reeducate our children in public schools, incarcerate law-abiding citizens
in jails, mental hospitals and nursing homes, dispossess the elderly of
their life savings and property and employ totalitarian police tactics
against the general population in the name of preventing drug addiction,
alcoholism and crime.

Alciere may well be a troubled individual. But judging only from his
proposals, like Sam Adams, Paine, Henry, Lincoln, Wilson and a host of
other "troubled" figures from history, Alciere sees more clearly than those
around him and knows the public school system, protective custody laws and
the war on drugs for what they really are.

Those complacent with the status quo can never provide true leadership. New
Hampshire is free from an "embarrassment" at the cost of one of the only
(potentially) true leaders to have gained elected office in decades. We
should be less sensitive to embarrassment (or intimidation) and more
sensitive to critical and objective thinking.

Bruce Chaffee

Boston