THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996 TAG: 9608260307
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 31 lines
I read with interest (news, Aug. 22) that the controversial former dean of Regent Law School, Herbert W. Titus, is to be the vice-presidential candidate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party. All I knew at that moment about the party was that it was a conservative fringe group, small in number, and expresses ``way out'' ideas about government, etc.
C-SPAN broadcast the U.S. Taxpayers political convention, and I felt compelled to watch and listen to speaker after speaker. I was fascinated: Could these people be for real? The presidential candidate, Howard Phillips, along with Titus and the other notables in the party who spoke from the podium share one trait: They are all frightening to listen to! They state that this country will be turned upside down after they are in control.
People who perform abortions will themselves be put to death; government will be reduced to little more than a shell; the IRS will be done away with; party members will rule using the Constitution and the Bible to guide them, etc.
Listening to these ``way out'' folks, makes the likes of Pat Buchanan, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Ralph Reed sound less radical and more mainstream.
Each speaker was a little more weird than the one before him. The prize package was the presidential candidate himself, Howard Phillips.
These guys seemed to me to be militia-men in business suits.
HUGH J. COFFIELD
Virginia Beach, Aug. 22, 1996 by CNB