Monitor leaders' credit, not their taxes

Recently it has been reported that some members of Congress may not be reliable credit risks. Revealing presidential tax returns is of no interest to me. What should be of interest to voters and all Americans represented by elected officials is credit scores.

If you are human and have papers to prove it, your credit score is evaluated and decisions are rendered about you frequently with and without your knowledge. One of the first qualifiers for anyone to run for anything that involves fiduciary responsibility of taxpayer dollars should be credit history.

Anyone who has borrowed money to buy a car or opened a credit card has a credit history and score that determines credit risk. Banks will not lend money to anyone that has demonstrated an inability to manage their finances responsibly.

Before any person should be considered a candidate for any office they must have a credit score above a certain level of mediocrity. If you have borrowed money and have demonstrated an unwillingness or inability to repay, there should be no consideration allowed.

It is clear that an uncomfortable number of politicians on all levels believe that the government is an endless supplier of money with no accountability. Those days are numbered. The sustainability of our system is based on the "full-faith and credit of the United States of America." Since the elimination of the gold standard in the 1970s, nothing backs the value of our currency or that of any nation.

Dollars are nothing but paper if the people in power convince the world that they are unwilling or incapable of managing debt.

It is not American history that should concern Americans. The history of Babylon is what we do not want to repeat.

Brian DeValk

Palatine