To the editor:

I read the Feb. 14 commentary, "Christian coalition holds firm," by Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed. Many may view Reed's musings as just short of revealed truth. Not me.

Reed referred to Newt Gingrich as a visionary leader. No doubt about it. But what's the vision? There are lots of legitimate concerns about Gingrichism.

A recently published article in The New Yorker magazine alluded to similarities in the philosophies of Reed and the godfather of communism, Karl Marx. Both see history as proceeding through distinct, even inevitable, phases. Both see progress as inevitable. Both have utopian visions.

A key phrase in Reed's column was "traditional ends can be achieved by libertarian means." Whoa! If he means by that that the virtual withering away of the state (national government) will lead to a society similar to post-Civil War America, I agree. The reigning philosophy and practice was called Social Darwinism, a belief that natural laws governing the animal world should be applied to humans. The essence of it was a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Libertarianism is a euphemism Reed and others use (when convenient -- for example, not when discussing abortion) for what is in large part a late 20th century version of the same thing.

Reed has surprising faith in the essential goodness of human nature for a self-proclaimed Christian conservative. So did atheistic Marx.

STEVE MOSLEY

Sikeston