To the Editor:

Back when the founding fathers were trying to decide what form of government this new country should take, there were a few who felt that the only citizens who should have voting rights were the wealthy landowners. They were sure that those pseudo aristocrats were the only ones qualified, by virtue of their success, to govern the great unwashed. Fortunately, common sense prevailed.

Those few would be very happy to learn that they were going to some day get their wish. The United States Congress has become a millionaires’ club. If they weren’t rich when elected to office, they soon would become so. They promised that, if elected, they would do good and they ended up doing very well. We are now governed by a pseudo aristocracy whose constituency is made up of the wealthy and corporations, those whose campaign contributions have bought public office for the incumbents.

Now there is a multimillionaire running for president. He believes that because he is rich he must be smarter than the rest of us. He says that if you want to start a business that you should not rely on government help; just borrow money from your parents. Because his parents were rich, he thinks that potential business owners must also have rich parents. He states that almost half of us feel we are victims who want the government to support us. How can anyone so out of touch with how most of us live feel he is qualified to lead us?

After the debacle of the last four years of partisan obstructionism, anyone who votes for an incumbent must not have been paying attention. It is time to turn the rich out and put people in public office who are more concerned about the people of this country than they are about enriching themselves. Perhaps public service should be like jury duty and eliminate elections altogether.

WAYNE R. ESAROVE

Hampton resident