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Article reflects problems in politics

To the editor,

I found the commentary article "Big Macs, Heart Attacks and Bill Bradley" very disturbing. Throughout the article Ms. Bapat declines to face the real issues that should be discussed when assessing political candidates. Instead of asking the important questions about a candidate, she states that a "decent" candidate would have a past of minimal drug use, no prior record of infidelity and plenty of money to campaign. While I agree that these may be important, there are more pressing issues. Next she states, "less significantly" are the qualification of the candidates that are running. This implies the disturbing trend in politics today, that people are more interested in the candidates past that his/her qualifications or issues.

One perfect example of this trend was when George W. Bush, Jr. was giving a campaign speech and at the end a reporter asked him if he has had any prior drug use. Mr. Bush replied to the question saying he would not justify the question with an answer because it has nothing to do with the important issues of today. Did the media accept this answer? Of course not, they went on to blow it out of proportion by saying that Mr. Bush is a former drug user and an avoider of questions. The only purpose I can find for the preceding question is media ratings. Once again the important questions are ignored and the "exciting" questions are highlighted.

Now don't think this is the media's fault. The fault rests right here at the heart of the people. The people decide what is important, the media just prints it. The people need to make the decision that "charisma and the past" are not the important issues of a political campaign, but issues such as health care, poverty, budget, unemployment and others should be examined.

One also must remember that these candidates also lived in the '60s and '70s, and if you can find me a candidate that has no past use of drugs I would be surprised. After all, everybody makes mistakes in their past, and the candidates don't need us to drudge it up for entertainment.

In conclusion, articles such as Ms. Bapat's just lead to more political divergence when the people are already heading the wrong direction. If we want a candidate that will perform for us in the future, we as the people have to stop digging up their past.

Tim Alfred

Pharmacy senior