Hmmmm... Well, I guess if I were honest about it, I'd say that I'd
trust other academics speaking from their respective fields of
expertise--i.e., I'd trust people like myself. We all look to our
relevant reference groups--the ones that give us a sense of pride
in belonging, as it were--and there are sooooo many such groups in
our diverse country. The letter described here reaches a relevant
constituency I imagine--i.e., people already convinced that the
person writing the letter belongs to the "right" reference group
and so expresses a "correct" opinion. Perhaps I'm being overly-
cynical about this?
Robin