To the editor:

Traveling by air is an amazing thing. Thrust into the sky in a metal box propelled by fuel and physics, I’m still awestruck as a passenger each time the plane lifts off. That’s why it’s so important that people highly trained and experienced in flying, navigation and airplane mechanics are the ones in charge of transporting us through the skies. All of us who fly depend on their expertise. They literally hold our lives in their hands.

The president and vice president are no less important to our well being (and the well being of many others around the planet), but recently it appears that we are holding them to a lesser standard than we do pilots and navigators. When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate whose knowledge of geography, foreign policy and science would not pass in most high school classrooms, we as passengers/voters would be wise to not board their plane.

Dave Loewenstein,
Lawrence