To the Editor:

Re “ ‘Only Morons Pay the Estate Tax’ ” (editorial, Nov. 21):

The editorial cites Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1935 statement that “the transmission from generation to generation of vast fortunes” is “not consistent with the ideals and sentiments of the American people.”

In that same message to Congress, however, F.D.R. dug deeper into the 18th-century roots of the American experiment. He explained that both “inherited economic power” and “inherited political power” are antithetical to the democratic principles of the founding generation. Though he himself was born into an elite, privileged class, he rejected the very notion of privilege.

The Republican scheme to sanction a hereditary plutocracy betrays the founding values of our Republic. Contrary to the belief of Gary Cohn, President Trump’s chief economic adviser, that “only morons pay the estate tax,” it is patriots who pay the estate tax.

SUSAN DUNN

WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.

The writer is a professor of humanities at Williams College and the author of several books about F.D.R.