THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, August 31, 1994             TAG: 9408310012
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   43 lines

MAJORITY RULE IS MOB RULE

Thomas Sowell's Aug. 20 column was appalling! Does anyone read these columns before you publish them?

``Expansive rights for criminals, vagrants and AIDS carriers. . . .''? What a disgusting display of overt sensationalism. To equate the rights of criminals to those of the sick and the homeless in such hostile terms is reprehensible. I applaud the framers of our Constitution for having the forethought to have given us a Supreme Court that is not inextricably tied to the demands of whichever group raises the most money.

The system may not be perfect, but this is the design of our Constitution. If the laws of our land were based solely on the things elected officials would dare to do, as implied by Mr. Sowell, our country would be in pandemonium. The elected officials of today have sorely proved time and again that they are interested only in supporting or opposing those issues that they believe will assist in their next election bid. Thankfully, the justices of the Supreme Court are not bound to the whims of the so-called majority.

I believe that there are few among us who would be willing to live in a society presided over by the opinions of the ``majority.'' Majority rule is mob rule. Sooner or later, everyone is at odds with the majority on some issue. Without the conscience of the Supreme Court, our lives would be at the whim of the ``monetarily elite.'' Give me the cultural elite any day.

The total reversal of editorial policy in this newspaper saddens me. Demographics have obviously won out over conscience and community spirit. Your readership may have increased, but your sleep has surely been troubled. When did pandering to the assumed majority in this area become objective journalism? Will there be yet another shift in editorial policy if the senatorial elections in the fall fail to prove the ``RIGHTeousness'' of this area's electorate? I can only hope.

DON L. KING

Norfolk, Aug. 22, 1994 by CNB