We’re squandering our nation’s principles

Our democracy is not a commodity, and it is not only cynical but also selfdestructive that we treat it as such. From our campaign finance system (akin to bribery) to our trade policy (cursing their anti-democratic policies publicly while supporting them with our purses), we treat our republican principles as if they are synonymous with supply-side commerce.

America should mean more. We have the ability to feed every man, woman and child and for everyone to have productive work, adequate housing and health care. We do not do so because we are a society in which the people are expected to serve the economy, which translates into serving the people who control the most resources, instead of the economy serving the greatest number of people. The generation of wealth through mass consumption, depleting natural resources and the need for a cheap labor force is the driving force.

I am frustrated with the disparities in access to health care as well as its expense. I am equally so with the income disparities that have developed over the past 40 years as well as the continued racial disparities that have haunted this nation for hundreds of years. Mostly, I am frustrated because these and other issues are solvable, but our leaders continue to lack the resolve to do so.

I am frustrated that the Senate has become so dysfunctional because of a power-obsessed leader wielding the filibuster to block the will of the majority of voters and senators as well as disenfranchise millions.

James Cimino

Schenectady