Insurance agents don't use tactics of political polls

To the editor:

In your June 25 editorial, "Faulty strategy: How not to sell political ideology," you wrongly equate the sale of life insurance to political push polls. I sold life insurance for 37 years and managed a team of professionals in the field for eight of those years. By all objective measures, I became quite good at it. This activity generated many millions of dollars of tax-advantaged and tax-free wealth for thousands of area residents and their families.

Life insurance agents are not permitted to "use every marketing maneuver that works." The life insurance business is an honorable profession and has become one of the most over-regulated businesses in the United States. There are things that can be said, and there are words and illustrations that are prohibited by regulatory mandate, both state and federal. Political push polls, on the other hand generate nothing other than politically biased propaganda and bad-mouthing of the political opponents under the guise of market research or polling.

It is a well-known fact that very few people could successfully sell life insurance for any long period of time. However, it takes no such special skill to do negative political ad campaigns. These are the types of low-life activities that actually need state and federal regulation.

ROBERT T. KRONE

Cape Girardeau