Time was when a young person could dream of someday growing up and becoming President of the United States. If he or she studied hard, got good grades and was willing to travel to the Midwest. anything was possible.

No more. Today, a young person who even thinks of becoming President had better forget about being a great scholar and just concentrate on taking two courses: Fund - raising I and Fund – Raising II. It’s all about raising mucho dinero) ( if you want to know what that means in English, press ‘one’). Another good course is How to Raise your Charisma Level. An expert in the field, a former President, says it’s no longer about kissing babies: it’s been elevated to kissing babes.

Becoming President is big business today and corporate sponsorship of a candidate is not based on ability but rather it is an arrangement that is quid pro quo. (If you want to know what that means in English, press ‘two’). Being born into a wealthy family may lessen a candidate’s dependence on the corporate world but by no means eliminates it. To restate, a President is no longer chosen by the people for the people, he/she is selected by the corporation for the corporation’s interests and ne’er the twain shall meet.

Interestingly, at the dawn and early morning period of our country, although there were candidates who were wealthy landowners in addition to being statesmen, it cost a lot less to run for President than it does today. You could place ten thousand signs on ten thousand lawns in New Hampshire for the smallest fraction of what it costs today for a 60 second Television spot on cable for seven days, not even prime time.

Where is all this leading? Well, it appears that years ago, money or the ability to raise it was not the prime quality by which a candidate was chosen; such peripherals as education, scholarship, leadership, moral values, and humanitarian concerns were often the deciding factor. Religious issues and a belief in God were practiced with as much consistency as they were preached and that in itself is a departure from what is taking place today.

From some of what I have read, * the Jews were given a fair shake by many early Presidents, starting with George Washington, who, at his inauguration, included Rabbi Gershon Seixas among the city’s clergy. The following year, in a landmark letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI, Washington wrote, “May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants……. While every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid” (4th chapter of the Book of Micah).

President Truman, of more recent vintage, gave his first speech to Congress shortly after President Roosevelt’s death. “At this moment I have in my heart a prayer. I humbly pray Almighty God in the words of King Solomon, ‘Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge the people that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?’” Truman’s choice of scripture, it was believed, referred to Solomon, God’s beloved son of David, and the fact that many Americans felt- as many Israelites may have when the great King died – uncertain, worried, and somewhat skeptical of the man who had assumed the throne. *

Today, religion and religious groups have also become big business and are seemingly political stepping stones. Not surprising when Presidential aspirations hinge on a new Bible and chapter and ver$e is found in the bankbook.

*Meecham,Jon, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the making of a Nation.