Madam, – Michael Cullen (March 29th) feels we should set aside “Party prejudices and preferences for colourful independent candidates” in this year’s presidential election in favour of someone who he has already deemed to be the candidate with the “best” credentials .
Unfortunately for Mr Cullen, others in this Republic of ours may not quite concur with his evaluation of what is best. Accordingly, might I humbly suggest that we would all be better off engaging in a little something that democratic countries like to call an “election”? It involves the placing of anonymous ballots in boxes, marked so as to indicate one’s preference for the winner, followed by the counting of same and, finally, tabulation of the results. Its great benefit is that it facilitates accommodation between divergent views, legitimised by the absence of presumptuous diktat on the part of those who would claim to know “best”. – Yours, etc,