Merck is a bitter pill.

• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

The idea of so-called incentives (cover story, April) has brought about a lot that is plainly false and wrong. Among these, the involvement of favor and advantage seeking in partisan politics, the terrible waste and misuse of public funds, contingency lawyers who are able to make all involved feel like something good is happening and the worst snow job to ever impose itself on society. It is because of the wisdom of our forefathers, who 150 years ago had experienced the abuse and failure of incentives, that they required in our state constitution that public funds be used only for "public purposes." We have now, today, distorted this language to the point that the...