An admonishment.

Initially, Ramesh Ponnuru's words in "The Way Back" (Dec. 4) seem harmless. He closes his piece by admonishing conservatives to "maintain their principles" as they react to November's electoral thumping. But the rest of the article is dominated by a discussion of shallow political tactics.

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We all know winning elections is important, and always urgent. But along that path, NR can't allow us to lose sight of the bigger picture. Years ago, Whittaker Chambers felt compelled to remind a young William F. Buckley Jr. that, "in defining positions in principle, one always risks losing, anticipates losing, the fuzzy, the foggy, the fainthearted, the geese, etc. But in this matter, I have never abandoned Lenin's phrasing of it: 'Luchshe menshe, no luchshe'--Better less, but better. Besides, the best of those who fall away at first impact, reconsider and return, clarified and strengthened on the point of principle. And that, precisely, is a function of a journal of opinion."

NR must continue uncompromisingly to articulate the principles that founded and have sustained this nation.

Gerald K. Masters

Newark, N.Y.

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