Altruism vs Greed

   For the past one hundred years and more, every president of the United States has had a background and experience in politics, government, or the military.
   The exception is the current occupant of the Oval Office, who has experience in none of the above.
   Beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, experience in politics and government was the primary background for presidents. Harry Truman served as governor of Missouri and as a U.S. senator before being elected vice president with FDR, then was elected to the presidency in his own right.
   Dwight D. Eisenhower had a distinguished military career, then became president of Columbia University before being elected president in 1952.
   John F. Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy during World War 2, later to become a senator, and was elected president in 1960.
   His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, spend many years in the Senate and as vice president under JFK, moving to the presidency after Kennedy was assassinated.
   Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter each had successful political and government careers before moving to the presidency.
   Ronald Reagan, at first an actor, became active in politics and was elected governor of California before moving up to the White House as president.
   George H.W. Bush first served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency before becoming vice president under Reagan and then elected president himself.
   Likewise Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who each had long and successful careers in politics and government before moving into the White House as president.
   In between those two was George W. Bush, who grew up in a political family and served for years in government before being elected president.

   Now we have a salesman and developer who amassed a fortune in real estate before moving to a reality TV show and then deciding to use his skills as a pitchman to sell himself to the American public as a politician and expert in government.
   "Only I can fix it," he has said, and "I'm  the only one that matters" when it comes to making foreign policy decision. Not the career people in the State Department.
   Persuasive rhetoric is one thing. Successful sales pitches is another. Neither is an adequate substitute for experience in politics and government, especially when perched atop an ego the size of Mount McKinley (with apologies to the president after whom that mountain was named.)