In a May 21 letter to the editor, the writer said that “Our country needs to be run like a business.”

Our government is not a business. A business exists to make money for owners and shareholders. Corporations are quick to say they exist to satisfy shareholders when they are called to account for damage to the environment or harm to communities.

Our Constitution lists six tasks for the government: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”.

It says nothing about making money.

The people of our country can and do disagree about how to accomplish these tasks. However we go about this, we need to make these tasks our priority. There is no room for the government to focus on making a profit. And profit should never be the goal of elected officials who serve us, not themselves. We often have disagreements about the scope of government and what it means to be financially responsible.

Nonetheless, I hope we can agree that the government is not in the business of making a profit for itself or its officials.

Kathy Kellison
Windsor