Political parties lack ethical candidates

When Americans go to the polls, we most often don’t know who or what we are voting for. We have little knowledge of candidates or of history, problems our founding fathers and mothers did not have.

Our ancestors read serious books of political science, history, and law, and read sophisticated newspapers daily. Not even our college graduates do these things today. What those books would teach us is a sense of responsibility to participate in government well beyond just voting.

Turning the country over to the American electorate every two and four years is analogous to asking elementary school c...