Dear Dr. Meyer,
I am an avid reader of the Medical Sentinel, and want to compliment you on your recent contribution. Your book review of Sobel's Coolidge, as published in the January/February 1999 issue of the Medical Sentinel, is the best book review I have read in recent memory. In a concise manner, you conveyed a powerful message about the benefits of political inactivity. Your statistical references about Coolidge winning 17 out of 19 elections and using an average sentence length of nearly one-half that of Wilson were fascinating.

Interestingly, the English language lacks a proper word to describe the Coolidge approach to government. Walter Lippmann reluctantly used the term "political inactivity," while recognizing that Coolidge "worked hard at inactivity." Two other English words, forbearance and quiescence, more closely describe Coolidge's approach, but they also constitute imperfect descriptions.

The lack of an English word to describe Coolidge's political philosophy speaks volumes about the misguided historical attitudes towards government. While Sobel calls Coolidge an "enigma," the real enigma is mankind's irrational thinking about government.

Andrew L. Schlafly, Esq.
AAPS General Counsel
Wayne, NJ

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Dr. Meyer Responds:

Dear Mr. Schlafly,
Thanks for the kind note. I appreciate the opportunity that the Medical Sentinel has given me to write about things that are dear to me. I'm able to review books with a slightly different perspective than I can for Sacramento Medicine. You can read my Sacramento Medicine reviews on my web page: www.delmeyer.net or you can review my previous three years of editorials on my family web page: www.groupemeyer.com/del.

I enjoyed meeting you and finding out your relationship to a woman I admire and that she's doing well. Look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Delbert H. Meyer, MD
Carmichael, CA

[We presume, of course, that Dr. Meyer is referring to Phyllis Schlafly, Director of Eagle Forum and the great vanquisher of the ERA.---Editor.]

Correspondence originally published in the Medical Sentinel 1999;4(3);77-81. Copyright©1999 Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).