Letter to the Editor
Akron Beacon Journal
Thursday, October 4, 2012
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-oct-4-1.339124
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Before voting, Ohioans have a unique opportunity to help shape the outcome of the federal elections for president and members of Congress.
It’s time to stop being mere spectators of staged presidential visits and consumers of often-inaccurate media ads, and time to start being citizens who demand that candidates share their positions on significant issues.
What issues? The ones candidates of both major parties largely haven’t discussed.
• Increasing poverty. Do candidates support a living wage and sufficient housing and food for all?
• Corporate dominance of our democracy. Are candidates for a constitutional amendment ending the legal doctrine that corporations are “persons” with inalienable “rights” to influence elections, write laws and shape regulations?
• Money in elections. Do candidates favor a constitutional amendment reversing the legal principle that “money is speech,” meaning those having the most money have the most speech?
• The Trans Pacific Partnership. Will candidates vote for this proposed trade agreement, providing corporations new powers to directly challenge nation states on rules and laws they don’t like?
• Banks causing financial bubbles. Do candidates support barring banks from being able to create money out of nothing and limiting them to lending only what they possess in assets?
It’s up to us citizens to demand candidates address these issues.
Greg Coleridge
Director, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
Cleveland Heights
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