To the editor:
American politics has degenerated into a type of football game where the driving force is “whatever it takes to win.” Politicians and their staffs plot and scheme to devise negative ads, hints to talk shows and manufacture facts and disinformation for all forms of media.
In the vicious free-for-all there is no integrity, honesty or empathy for the people involved or the population affected.
That same lack of integrity, honesty and empathy continues on in the representatives who were elected. We have a government that places political winning first and treats people only as dollars to be manipulated and sometimes sacrificed for the win. Even ideology is sacrificed for the win as evidenced by Republicans abandoning their touchstone of fiscal responsibility.
We need a revolution of ordinary people.
We, the people, need a fair tax system, a fair health system and a fair employment system. We need a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Our representatives need to have integrity, competence and discipline and cooperate and compromise to get things accomplished for ordinary people.
Conservatives and liberals have failed us. Socialism has failed everywhere and free-market capitalism is failing us daily. Ideology and winning at all costs are killing our democracy and our society. I pray daily that God will help us find and support men and women of integrity, capability and willingness to stand firmly in the middle of the road, reject the football game and work for ordinary people. The ballot box and the free press is the only way out of the football game and the domination of corporate money.
Donald A. Smith
Franklin
