‘The Queen’s English’

David Gelernter tells us that “the queen’s main business is not to wow tourists; it is to exude stability” [“The Queen’s English,” Opinion, May 24, 2005]. I must disagree. Instead of ruling, the monarchy satisfies the public’s need for scandal. When royal families have no power, as in Britain, they lower the quality of political life, as Prince Harry did recently.

What would have happened had Edward VIII not abdicated because of a scandal? There would have been a pro-Hitler king. He could not have been removed from office. Would that have brought stability?

Given the choice, we must prefer scandal to real power. Monarchies are created by brutes who seize control and then bequeath their countries to their sons. When we consider the cases of Haiti’s Papa Doc and North Korea’s Kim Il Sung, it is clear that hereditary succession makes no moral or political sense.

Democracies, which do not fight wars against other democracies, provide the most stable and prosperous form of government.

GEORGE JOCHNOWITZ
Manhattan

Sharon in the City

Re: “Sharon, in City, Breasts Protesters,” Meghan Clyne, Page 1, May 23, 2005. Your article says that the polls in Israel show that Mr. Sharon’s plan for Gaza enjoys support of a majority of Israelis.

What you do not mention is that the polls have gone down from 78% to 54%. Some endorsement. The fact is that as time goes on, more and more Israelis have come to realize that this is not a plan for peace but a recipe for disaster.

RABBI YOEL SCHONFELD
Kew Gardens Hill, N.Y.

If your reporter had listened, she would have noted that the speakers answered the demographic slander of preserving Israel democracy by the Gaza ‘compromise,’ as 9,000 Jews live in 12% of Gaza on a sliver of coastline with 2,000 Arabs, and Prime Minister Rabin had in 1994 already given away 88% of Gaza to 1 million Arabs.

Further, the prayer rally refuted Prime Minister Sharon reasoning that Israel will remain intact, certainly not East Jerusalem, which is soon to be on the chopping block with the same reasoning and “compromise.” And finally, the color orange has been adopted by Gush Katif not “as a symbolic hue” but as the color of the global pro-democracy movement, as enunciated in the Ukraine.

MARVIN BELSKY, M.D.
Manhattan

I was at the prayer vigil-rally against disengagement on Sunday, and “Chasidim dancing in the streets shouting ‘Death to Sharon’ ” wasn’t exactly how I would describe it. When I was there, the weather was awful and people were huddled together under canopies of a theater and other storefronts, constricted by metal police barricades, and no one was dancing.

It wasn’t a celebration of death where protesters burned flags because someone flushed a Koran down the toilet and speakers wished death to the Israeli prime minister. It was a civil protest by Jews against a bad policy for Jews.

DANIEL TAUBER
Staten Island

‘Miller’s Transit Proposals’

Re: “Miller’s Transit Proposals Include a Commuter Tax,” Jill Gardiner, New York, May 13, 2005. Gifford Miller of the City Council is extremely shortsighted, as he thinks any system can be overloaded indefinitely, and that includes subways.

As of right now, London (a city of comparable population and transit size) has built and put into service some six new subway lines, plus one still being built. (The time span is that of the infamous 2nd Avenue line – 50 years.)

Even Chicago has not one line to an airport but two (respectively, O’Hare and Midway). And these are one-seat rides from downtown, not two as in New York.

Simply put, a Second Avenue line (and hopefully a Third Avenue line), would relieve the Lexington and 6th and 7th avenues, for a much-needed rehabilitation. However, that is a 20- or 30-year project and politicians only think ahead two or four years. There has been no political vision since Hyland on public transport, and now it is beginning to show.

The bankers have gotten 10 times the cost of the 2nd Avenue subway, to what avail, and the public has paid dearly for their profiteering.

To say that New York is a “world-class city,” is a misnomer. Just look at Europe, their public transportation. New York is a poor third or fourth on that scale.

Why have the pols not learned from the example of others?

ROBERT HURON
Locust Valley, N.Y.

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