Your Earth Day reprimand of those of us who do not wish to surrender our freedoms for the environment made me suspect that you would actually prefer a more fascist environment, full of cleanliness, poverty, and a lack of individual rights (Urban Journal's "Sacrifice? Who, us?" April 23). Can it be so? You actually bash the selfish notion of individual rights, while promoting more government planning - both very fascist elements.

And how can you honestly talk about how much we are wasting and polluting? We live in an era of incredible cleanliness and efficiency, compared to when Earth Day was originated; or weren't you alive back then, and therefore are almost excusably ignorant of the difference between now and then? And free men and women, unfettered by your loathsome government planners, will continue to provide more efficient and clean environments. This is arguably something that your government planners are incapable of.

But of course, the idea of making people walk and squishing them together in densely populated, and hence more polluted, areas, is so tantalizing to the new fascists.

The solution to the energy problem is more nuclear power and modern, efficient coal-burning power plants. But these don't fit into the larger Greenie scheme of a crippled society, managed by more and more government, and fewer and fewer individual rights.

BRAD GILLESPIE, WEBSTER