‘Way Out of Step in Orange County’

I just read with interest Del Olmo’s column. The excuse given for the guards is so ridiculous that I want to scream. Don’t all voters have to be registered and sign in before even getting a ballot? Or is it different in Orange County?

But I really wonder if it comes as much of a surprise to most folks, including Republicans, that these tactics were used.

After all, we just finished a very ugly campaign in which, despite lies, distortions and shallowness, we still elected as the next leader of this great nation a man who espoused such emptiness.

I am busy trying to raise a 14-year-old who is at a most impressionable time of life. I’m trying to teach him to be honest, responsible and respectful of others. And so what did this great 1988 presidential election contribute to my teen-ager’s view of life and success? Perhaps something similar to what the Latino-American citizens felt when they approached the Orange County polling places and were harassed by those guards.

Basically, he’s confused because . . . what’s the message, America? Could it be that nice guys finish last? Or that if you’re mean-spirited and a liar, you’re a winner? Or could it be that our “democratic� system isn’t quite so democratic after all?

DIANE BERNARD

Burbank