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Americans must fight corrupt politics

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Editor,

This headline just grabbed my attention: “Halliburton continues to flood lawmakers with contributions after oil spill.”

With all the arguing and finger-pointing about every problem facing our nation, how can we expect our federal law-making system to function fairly if these obscene financial contributions are allowed to flow from major corporate interests into the hands of our elected lawmakers?

Is this what our Founding Fathers were conscious of when forming the Constitution and Bill of Rights? Could they see that this sort of selfish, biased, and totally dishonest conduct of national affairs could actually be the usual?

I don’t think so. And I’ll bet you don’t think so either.

But, then the real question emerges: If this is the way things are done, what can be done about it? Other than head shaking and complaining about all this around coffee tables, social gatherings and family dining tables, we move on to the next event in the day and think about other things.

And Washington lawmakers know exactly how ineffective we really are, or seem to be, when it comes to changing the system. Aside from the few honest legislators sticking to what is truly right for America, there is the bulk of the entire legislative crew who are beholden to the next campaign contribution, who are most concerned about the next election, who are most energized by trashing the other party, and who have little to be worried about in their political and family lives because they are well taken care of and will be well taken care of for the rest of their lives. 

The answer, in my opinion, resides within each of us. And by this I mean, we are the power. We can be empowered as a people to absolutely insist on basic changes in our political system.

Bob McClellan
Polson

 

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