Editor,

If I were to participate in a national poll and be asked if I thought the country was going in the right direction, I would have to truthfully answer “no, it is going in the wrong direction.” And a certain segment of our population would interpret this as an anti-administration comment and add me to the percentage of folks that would welcome a Republican administration claiming to change things for the better.

How wrong they would be. I believe the country is going in the wrong direction for many reasons. Among the most significant are congressional Republican policies of obstructionism, fiscal strangulation, opposition to universal healthcare, personal religious belief imposition on the individual, impediments to voting rights, support for unlimited money in politics, etc. Without asking why one thinks the country is going in the wrong direction, the question is ambiguous and the answer possibly misinterpreted.

And many Republicans claim to adhere to a strict interpretation (their interpretation) of the Constitution as the founding fathers intended it, and not as a living document that should guide the country through inevitable change. But the mere existence of Article 5, a process for change embedded in the Constitution, and 27 amendments demonstrates the folly of this position.

Furthermore, the preamble to the Constitution clearly states that one of the reasons for its very existence is to “promote the general welfare.” What better way to promote the general welfare than with universal health care. How hypocritical it is for some to ignore parts of the original founding documents and then profess to revere the documents. Maybe they think the preamble is not part of the Constitution.

Have saner heads prevailed in the 2016 election?

CHARLES BIEBER

Clinton