When Corporate Power Dominates Democracy

Re “The Role of Contributed Dollars in Democracy,” letters, April 30:

Letter writers opposed to tax-funded election campaigns might consider that, with rare exceptions, the winners of elections are recipients of the biggest special-interest donations, which are predominantly from corporations and their advocates.

Our Declaration of Independence states that to secure the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, governments must derive their power from the consent of the governed, not the consent of the biggest special-interest election campaign donors. Do we have democracy, or corporatism, defined by Benito Mussolini as the merger of government and corporations -- usually referred to as fascism?

Nicholas V. Seidita

Northridge