Debate issues, don’t attack
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
2 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
“One party is as bad as another.” Is it? The Republican Party is still the party of less government, stronger conservative values and free enterprise. The Democratic Party upholds its tradition of big government, liberal values, high taxes, and regulations that strangle economic growth. Norman Thomas, who ran six times as the Socialist Party candidate for President, said in 1944, “I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform.”
Perhaps the parties need to adopt names that better describe their philosophies: the Republican/Constitution Party and the Democrat/Socialist Party. Their platforms are very different. The Republican Party understands the necessity to protect the U.S. Constitution.
When elected officials arrive in Washington, their hands are tied. They are left at the mercy of the biggest contributors. Both parties are victims of this system. It cost more than a billion dollars to elect the last president. Until organizational funding of elections is eliminated, we will not have integrity in government or the best interests of the people served. Big money from out-of-state sources is destroying the spirit of representative government. The candidate with the most money wins. Is this necessarily the best representative?
Senator Tester’s latest e-mail states that he is supporting a Constitutional amendment to undo the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. That decision gave corporations the same power that unions have always had, i.e. to contribute to elections.
Gentlemanly debates, focused on issues of concern to all, have turned into nasty exchanges of insults influenced by unlimited and uncontrolled PACs. This must be eliminated if we are to restore a government of the people. The system is broken.
Hopefully Senator Tester will legislate to remove all monetary forms of influence that have flawed the system. We learn much more from debates focusing on the issues than from attack ads costing millions of dollars. Let debates be the venue for educating the public.
Mimi and Irv Milheim
Dayton
