The Oct. 13 letter from a functionary of the local "Tea Party" gang is remarkably simple-minded on two counts. First, the right to bear arms, which is indisputable, is not at issue. The Constitution protects several kinds of behavior which still may reflect poor judgment when engaged in out of context or with boorish intent. To flaunt a firearm at a public gathering in the context of threatening hate language, aimed at our president from the fever sewers of the far right, is one such instance. Bad judgment is the issue, irrespective of Constitutional rights.

Second, and even more worthy of our alarm, is the in-your-face assertion that we should fear our own government more than we fear an armed lunatic at a public gathering. One has to believe that if the very people who need government the most are duped into shouting anti-government epithets they must enjoy being manipulated by wealthy and powerful interests whose ends are served by eliminating government as a check on their avarice or on white collar crime generally. Where would we be today if Lincoln and the two Roosevelts had not believed in government?

I have always known I get more value from my tax dollar than from my consumer dollar. The knee-jerk attitude in this country that the private sector does everything right and government does everything wrong grows tiresome. And those who make this mistaken belief a part of their primitive ideology are irksome.

Lawrence K. Pettit

2567 Overlook Blvd.