Get serious about governing

The 2016 presidential election illustrates, perhaps more than any other, that our form of government is at risk and could be in the process of failing. This is not because our founding fathers created a defective constitutional structure, but rather because they placed too much faith in the intelligence, honor and common sense of our citizens and the representatives and senators they elect.

An alarming number of citizens either don’t know or care about the election. An also alarming number of citizens are planning not to vote, or to throw away their votes, because they think the candidates are not sufficiently ideologically committed to the narrow interests upon which they are focused. And, too many representatives and senators seem to think that they owe their allegiance to their party or their financial backers.

We, the citizens of the United States, need to get serious about governing. We need to educate ourselves about the problems that need to be solved, to nominate and elect representatives and senators who will collaborate to achieve solutions, and to punish those who would shut down the government rather than compromise. We also must summarily reject unqualified and unsuitable candidates such as Donald Trump.

Charles Kocher

Spokane