Hook Replies

In his article (Editorial Pages, July 16), “New Patriots Heap Abuse on America,” Michael Kinsley refers to my presumed belief that democracy and liberty “are debilitating self-indulgences in the fight against the forces of evil in the world.” His evidence?

“At a recent conservative conference, the philosopher Sidney Hook mourned ‘about how fragile and self-governing democratic society is . . . For its very own rationale encourages a constant critical approach that its enemies can exploit to weaken it.’ ”

Kinsley stops short of quoting the sentence that immediately follows: “The moral here is not to abandon the critical approach--we could not do it without becoming like our enemies--but to employ it intelligently.” Kinsley did not quote the sentence because it would have exposed the misplaced and lying irony of his account of what I wrote. What we should truly mourn is the absence of journalistic integrity in Kinsley’s reports on the views of others.

SIDNEY HOOK

South Wardsboro, Vt.