DEAR EDITOR:

I believe Donald Trump and his enablers must be voted out of office to save our republic from becoming a police state controlled by oligarchs and bogus conspiracies.

I also believe that Donald Trump was elected by voters desperate for an outsider to repair a government seemingly incapable of doing anything useful for anyone outside Congress and its cronies. Both situations result from having “the best government money can buy,” as a cynical old joke goes. It’s not good; it’s gotten worse under Trump, and it must be corrected.

Officials no longer appear to believe they are elected to serve all the nation as directed by the Constitution. They seem to function as employees of those who support their party and their policies with cash. That must end, and a lot more be done, even after this crucial national election, if we are to return integrity to the world’s leading democracy.

Democracy and capitalism are not joined at the hip, nor are they mutually exclusive, but both require the electorate to have a firm grasp of their workings for us to build “a more perfect union.” Our democracy must function under law written by Congress. If money influences Congress, then the “rule of law” becomes a corrupt enterprise that ignores the civil liberty, health, safety, education and general welfare of those without sufficient wealth to influence it.

Capitalism is a financial system often misrepresented by politicians who love to point to a soaring stock market and positive job reports as proof of a strong economy. At best, these are over-simplified rough measures of economic performance, not an accurate indicator of how the economy is or is not performing for the majority of the electorate. They falsely represent going back to work after a layoff as creating a new job and claim available gig jobs for individuals permanently out of solid careers as evidence of recovery.

Dislodging Trump and his sycophant Senate and Cabinet is, to me, the primary opportunity offered by the upcoming election. As always, though, the price of freedom is constant vigilance. We must be vigilant, then, about where the money comes from, where it goes and the purposes to which it is put, regardless of who is in power. Then raise our voices and cast our ballots to cut out the rot that love of money causes in government.

JIM CARTWRIGHT

Canfield