Court to Review Rights Ruling

I was pleased to read the trenchant observations made by The Times regarding the Supreme Court and civil rights (“Ominous Move on Rights,” editorial, April 26). The political jingoism of the Reagan Administration has succeeded in shifting our perceptions of things conservative and liberal. Indeed, it seems to me that the conservative agenda has been to discredit liberalism to the point where it is perceived as a social evil second only to communism. This agenda has been implemented so effectively that anyone or anything associated with the word “liberal” is thought of as being subversive, amoral and un-American. As your editorial points out, however, the restraint and pragmatism preached by conservatives is, in truth, reactionary and regressive.

The sooner the American public realizes that the solutions to our problems lie in thinking that is progressive and innovative, the sooner the concept of liberalism will be absolved of its alleged impropriety.

DAN GERRITY

Los Angeles