"Untitled,'' by HELEN PAYNE, in the "Helen Payne: Becoming Four Women'' show at the New Art Center, Newtonville, Mass., Nov. 21-Dec. 20.

Rhode Island politicians are falling over themselves to pander to the high-voting elderly by promising them that they'll pass a law to exempt the old folks (I'm one of them) from having to pay state income taxes on Social Security and pension money.

This means another goodie for the most affluent part of society and another transfer from those who earn their income to those who live on investments of various kinds, in which I'd include pensions and Social Security.

The lost tax revenue will have to be made up by younger, poorer people. If more of the latter bestirred themselves to vote, there would be a lot less of this growing inequity between the age cohorts. Serves them right.

This is what you get in a country where in the election last week, only 36.4 percent of eligible voters bothered to vote and the national outcome was decided by about 20 percent of eligible voters.

-- Robert Whitcomb