I’d like to congratulate Mihran Kalaydjian for submitting such a well-written letter (Feb. 20) regarding the mayoral race for the city of Los Angeles. He speaks of current L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ failures and how their effects are felt beyond L.A. itself, not to mention the future uncertainties that her challenger, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, presents (better stick with the devil you know than switch to the devil you don’t know?), but he hits “the nail on the head” by highlighting the root problem at the core of all of our current woes, which are affecting not just cities, but the nation as a whole. Mr. Kalaydjian used the word “ideological” twice, which is in fact the “virus” causing the “disease” from which we are experiencing all of these “symptoms.”
I will quote from one of our Founding Fathers and our second president, John Adams. “Ideology” was one of Adams’ “hate-words.” The word itself was first coined by the “enlightened” French aristocrat and philosopher Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836). De Tracy seems to have been an “ideologue” on steroids, and his “charm” seems to have been exceeded only by the size of his ego (some things never change). Anyway, here are Adams’ thoughts on that man and that word:
“What is this new piece of French rubbish? … What does ‘ideology’ stand for? … Does it mean Idiotism? … The science of Non Compos Mentisism? … The Art of Lunacy? … The Theory of Deliri-ism?”
To Adams, anyone espousing an ideology, ANY ideology, had sold his soul to the devil and allowed his mind to become enslaved by mythical powers and supernatural entities, apostate from rational thought and sound reason. Keep such “madmen” far away from the wheelhouse of your ship lest they steer it off course and run you aground.
Arthur Saginian
Santa Clarita
