Letters, Nov. 20, 1978

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Contrary to what Frank Trippett says in his Essay [Oct. 23], the "very heart of American democracy" is not a "spirit of accommodation and mutual respect." Rather, it is the protection of the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the Constitution. It is precisely these rights that differentiate the democracy of the U.S. from the "democracy" practiced in Communist countries where the rights of society always come before those of the individual. Thank God for factionalism because, Mr. Trippett, it is democracy.

L. David Silver, M.D.

New York City

The National Rifle Association's position is based on Article II of the Constitution and has nothing whatsoever to do with popular support. The Bill of Rights was put there by the founding fathers specifically because they did not trust what you refer to as overwhelming popular support. The overwhelming-popular-support boys would deprive us of the protection of Article I, freedom of the press, just as they would deprive us of the other nine articles, provided the circumstances were right.

John Pascal Paddock

Oklahoma City

Single-interest groups are needed because particular dams, freeways and threats to civil liberties have particular victims who do better by organizing a particular response. Without the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, the nonEstablishment majority would have no one to defend them against the single-issue groups in and around the Government.

Susanne Jerome

Phoenix

Plastic Bombeck

I am one of those who made Erma Bombeck's book a bestseller, and I can tell you I am no canned laugher [Oct. 30]. Carol Burnett's character was far easier to identify with than some cutesie bleached blond whose only problem in life is deciding on how little she wants to wear. And Frank Rich calls Bombeck plastic.

Nina Arant

Cucamonga, Calif.

Thank you, Frank Rich, for your indictment of Erma Bombeck. Her humor is trite, repetitious and chauvinistic. It is frightening that such a recipe can be mistaken for genuine satire.

William Hammett

New Orleans

To attack Erma Bombeck is not only un-American but antimotherhood and antifamily. Fie to the person who would deprive me of a good chuckle while I try to civilize my children.

Eva Logan

West Palm Beach, Fla.

Barbaric Massacres

With all this hullabaloo about defending the rights of the people of the small and nonaligned nations by the so-called superpowers and the U.N., no one has had enough conscience to do something effective about the devastating war that has been going on with its barbaric massacres for almost four years in a peaceful country like Lebanon [Oct. 23].

Kahloun Hamameh

Beirut

Considering the number of people they have killed and the damage they cause, how can you continually call them the Syrian peace-keeping force?

Hubert J. Kaliski

New York City