Congress should pass McCain-Feingold Bill

Congress should passMcCain-Feingold Bill
EDITOR:
This month, the McCain-Feingold Bill will be debated in the U.S. Senate. Never before has it been so important for American voters to stand up and be heard. Perhaps these cold winter eve nings have served to awaken local citizens to the realization of what campaign finance reform can mean for them.
Living in Ohio, we have all recently experienced the unfortunate effects of the successful and powerful oil and gas lobbies. While in Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration, I had the pleasure of attending the very elegant Ohio Reception hosted by a gas and oil lobby. Simply put, they flipped the bill. I do not wish to single out any particular lobbying group, union or PAC because they basically all operate the same way.
While I was enjoying my complimentary cocktails and caviar, I should have known it was too good to be true, but my ignorance escaped me until I arrived home and received this month's heating bill.
Seeing the lobbyists wine and dine politicians made me grasp why change is desperately needed. An unfair advantage is built into our political system.
Another example is Bill Clinton, who should be used as the poster boy for campaign finance reform.
The Clinton team took campaign fund-raising to a new level, renting out the Lincoln Bedroom, the White House coffees, Charlie Trie and the latest fiasco of selling presidential pardons.
Current campaign-finance laws enabled the Clintons to pimp out our most sacred institution, the U.S. presidency. Do we really believe that our Founding Fathers intended this grievous flaw to dominate our political system? I believe they would have rewritten the Constitution to protect our liberties from this form of financial tyranny and unjust influence. But they didn't, so it is up to us. Every voter in America should be calling his or her representative and senators to demand support for the McCain-Feingold bill instead of allowing ourselves and our country to continue to be sold so cheaply.
HOLLY HANNI
Boardman
X The writer is president of the Mahoning County Young Republicans.
Area has potential, but opportunity is wasted
EDITOR:
Wow. What a difference 15 years make. When I graduated from The Rayen School, it was in a shambles and in dire need of a serious facelift. Guess what? It's gotten worse. I know I'm no rocket scientist, but a few years traveling to other destinations throughout our great country have given rise to my desire to speak up as a son who just might return.
I notice that money is still wasted on caring for schools that have seen their first students buried already.
I see we have become the prison capital of the United States. That's something to brag about. My friends would be so thrilled and envious. Why would we bring in criminals from Washington, D.C., when we have plenty of our own?
But we keep electing the same people. Why? Maybe there is a lot of bipartisan talk, but it seems to have missed the unions and special interest groups in Youngstown.
We have a waterfront that begs for business development, but it still sits idle. Youngstown has the infrastructure in place. It just needs a push in the right direction. We could have a city worthy of being called a crown jewel if we just weren't so shortsighted.
MICHAEL J. REILLEY
San Diego, Calif.
X The writer now serves in the U.S. Coast Guard.