THE MAJORITY cynically mourns not a lost life, but a lost opportunity to capitalize on the ensuing political confusion. Beyond this callousness, impressive for its own sake, lurk even more deeply disturbing political misconceptions.

The late Yuri V. Andropov headed the KGB, true enough. To see this as sufficient cause for a graveside jig, however, is to prove oneself blind to the glaring irony of this new diplomatic development. Reagan sent Bush because he would not stoop to any act, regardless of its diplomatic or humane merits, that might further detente's evil cause. But Bush is far more than a mere executive flunkie. We should all remember, now more than ever, that George Bush ran the Central Intelligence Agency.

The KGB and Andropov were tools of vicious repression, again true. Our government is quick to supply us with examples of Soviet ruthlessness and brutality. All the more reason, therefore, we should turn a fearful countenance to our own "Big Brother." Unfortunately, documented examples of CIA spying and murder are more often fed to the paper-shredder than to the media. The car-bombing of Cuban diplomat Orlando Letelier, however, is certainly attributable to the CIA during Bush's tenure. There are other examples, equally frightening, which space will not allow.

Bush conveying U.S. condolences over Andropov's death is thus more significant than a flubbed diplomatic opportunity. It is a reminder that the United States shares the worst of the Soviet Union's faults. Bush serves to express our sympathy, and his own, for the Soviet man who most closely resembled his own repressive function. It will be a sobering scene in Moscow, for all of us, as one Big Brother steps forward to lament the other's passing.