Letters to the Editor

Find a better way to elect presidents

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To the editor:

It is strange that so many voters make a selection for dubious reasons.

A substantial number vote for a U.S. president mainly on the basis of personal likeability, as if they were seeking a drinking companion. They also harbor the belief that prior political experience is a negative, not an asset.

Closely related is the belief that success in getting rich endows someone with a high capacity to do any job better. It doesn’t. If it did, NASA and people needing brain surgery would preferably select astro-scientists and surgeons on the basis of business success.

Others mistakenly believe that great personal wealth mandates honesty and altruistic behavior. Maybe it discourages petty corruption. 

But for a super-rich president to turn his back on self or class interest is the historical exception, not the norm. On the rare occasion when it does happen (as in the case of Franklin Roosevelt), that president is reviled by the very rich as a traitor to his class.

ALAN SAKS

Alan Saks, NASA, Franklin Roosevelt,

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