To the Editor:
The race for the Presidency of the United States reflects the feel of a daytime TV game show. Thinking people realize that voters are getting the process they deserve. If it is not the process they want, it is because voters never demanded a satisfactory process at a timely moment.
Voters are often described as not being engaged until the last few weeks of a campaign. By that late moment in the process, voters are permitted to vote for a candidate from Column A or from Column B. The "idea set" these candidates represent is fixed. Your ideas and need for solutions may not be included in Column A or Column B.
The people with other ideas, which solve your actual economic, political, and military problems, are not in the race, on the ballot, or at the debates because you, a free citizen, sat it out. You failed to perform a basic responsibility. It was your job to find a like-minded citizen to run for office in your stead. It was your job to convince your neighbors that the policies which benefit them are worth fighting for. You failed to put your candidate forward. You decided to pick from Column A or from Column B a candidate chosen for you by people you don't know.
Lee Presser
Edwardsville