It's time that voting public, not big money, took control

It's time that voting public,not big money, took control
EDITOR:
Is the American Dream starting to fade? The American experiment in democracy gave great promise of equal opportunity for all citizens and a government elected by the people to serve the interests of all citizens. What has happened?
Capitalism, which was originally harnessed for the good of all, has broken through restraints, so that we now find the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Among the top 11 developed countries, America stands last in terms of distribution of wealth. Money is also destroying our representative democracy. It is now almost impossible for a politician to run for major office without a large campaign chest. And where does the money come from? Mostly from wealthy or corporate donors, who hope that the politicians they put into office will repay them with legislative favors. And it's working! The special interests are plundering our natural resources, giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy, giving vast sums to the military, and the list could go on and on.
Our democracy is also being undermined by the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about. There's big money to be made from military contracts and contracts for the reconstruction of countries we have bombed to rubble. Using our military power to dominate has made us very unpopular with the rest of the world. Power corrupts, and we are seeing its effect on our country. And what has happened to the fiscal responsibility? In the face of huge deficits, we are still giving those big tax cuts to the wealthy. We have the dubious distinction of being the No. 1 debtor nation in the world.
What to do? As a first step, we should use our voting power to remove the president, who is doing so much to undermine our democracy. Next we should go all out to reform our electoral system, limiting candidates' spending to a modest amount provided by the taxpayers. Thus our representatives would owe their allegiance to the voters rather than to corporate sponsors. Impossible dream? Not if enough voters really cared deeply about preserving our democracy for our children and grandchildren.
PAUL and ANNA MARY GAMBLE
New Wilmington, Pa.
Columbiana County needsY & amp;S Railroad in operation
EDITOR:
Leave it to those ignorant few to tell us that this area doesn't need the old Youngstown & amp; Southern Railroad. The Y & amp;S helped build towns that were along the line, from hauling residents with the trolleys of the old day to supplying industries, some of which still remain.
Yet, everyone wants to see it abandoned and a bike trail made. Why? The railroad could take many trash trucks off the local roads and prevent many repairs. The dumps aren't going to go away, and that is because of the many strip mines still in Columbiana County. The United States is afraid of waste incinerators, so we just have to deal with it. These dumps and the railroad do hire local individuals.
I mean there is not much business in our county, and they would put up a housing development in a heartbeat if there wasn't a dump, and that is a spit in the face of us middle to lower-middle class individuals.
I also don't agree with the residents' complaining about trash dumped into a very, very small part of their property. What would hurt the creek more is maybe the & quot;fertilizer & quot; that your horses deposit. So I hope the railroad survives. There is now state and federal money in the railroad, and it is hauling commodities again, even with track that needs to be desperately replaced. I think the Port Authority is doing a great job; and keep up the good work, Mr. Drake.
JUSTIN OATES
East Palestine