Letter: Restrict who can be U.S. president

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.

In these days of supposed enlightenment, it seems timely to finally place restrictions and establish rules as to who may be eligible to run for the office of the president of the United States, the most powerful position in the world. For instance, it would be prudent to make sure that the candidates have absolutely no interests or investments in oil, pharmaceuticals or weapons of mass destruction. And we must make certain that none of the candidates' relatives have ever held the office of president either.

If we do not take these precautions now, there may be dire problems in the future affecting the peace, prosperity and safety of our country and the rest of the world. For instance, loyal Americans may otherwise find themselves in the grip of a president and his chosen Cabinet who deliberately risk igniting a nuclear World War III simply to enhance their personal oil company portfolios. Or they may keep citizens on edge, constantly warning of a biological warfare attack in the form of a terror color chart, urging them to undergo immunization shots despite extremely risky side effects.

And it would even be possible for such a president to engage in an unprovoked preemptive attack on a defenseless, oil-rich country, risking the lives of our young military members and thousands of innocent civilians in an effort to jack up oil prices and to exact revenge for a relative's personal vendetta with the hapless country's leader.

These terrible, almost unimaginable, events would be the worst disasters that could ever happen to our nation and the world. Wouldn't they?

RUTH DIMAGGIO