In U.S. Politics, Money Talks

Chalmers Johnson’s article, “My Congressman Stands for Money, Not for Me” (Opinion, Sept. 26), is yet another reason why we must have publicly financed political campaigns. Otherwise, our elected representatives will never represent their constituents as a whole, but only those who pay their way. The public needs to buy its elected officials instead of big money/special interests buying them.

Mary Carlson

Ventura

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As a Democrat in Los Angeles County, I can only say, send Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and those good-paying defense jobs he brings home up to my 34th District. Wake up, California, it’s about good-paying jobs, and if it takes Cunningham (a Republican) to bring them home, so be it.

The one common factor for the middle class is you will need to work at a job.

The Southern (red) states have captured the majority of the defense contracts in the last 20 years because they get it. Their representatives understand what their job is. A representative’s No. 1 job should be to deliver the bacon.

Pete Alberini

La Mirada

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My eyes were opened when I read Johnson’s column. I live in Del Mar in the 50th District and have contacted Cunningham many times regarding two matters of great concern to me. The first was the great effect on our lives when Miramar Naval Base switched from fixed-wing planes to helicopters. The helicopters were flying directly over more than 700 homes on their way to the ocean, and every day our windows rattled. When I contacted Cunningham’s office, I was told that what I was experiencing was “the sound of freedom,” and when I wrote to him the only reply I received was a computer-generated mass reply that said nothing. The problem was finally resolved when a private citizen sued the Marines, resulting in a change of the flight patterns.

The second issue I felt great passion about was the war in Iraq, and I called and wrote many times and received only “we know things you and the rest of the world do not” kinds of replies. This war is clearly good for Cunningham’s constituency. It is, in part, his mistake. He is inextricably tied to it, and he cannot be creative about ending it because that would not be in his best interests.

His opponent, Francine Busby, is a capable new voice, and she owes no one. She would, at least, be open to new ways for us to move out of this terrible mistake in Iraq and bring our servicemen and -women home.

Patricia Weil

Del Mar

I was bitterly disappointed that Johnson didn’t take his inquiry to the obvious next level. He clearly shows how the incumbent’s power gives him access to huge campaign contributions from special interests, but he stops short of explaining why that gives the incumbent a lock on the job -- and whose fault that is. The reason that “in elections today, money talks” is that we the people apparently have no idea whom to vote for until a barrage of 30-second spot commercials tells us. Time after time, the election goes to the biggest spender (the exceptions are notable for their rarity). I’d like to hear from a political science professor about what that sad fact says about the nature of democracy. Why are we repeatedly hoodwinked into voting for someone who represents his own best interests and not ours? Is the system broken, or is it just us? Can we ever become truly educated and not just swindled?

Dave Held

Hermosa Beach

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What Johnson writes is so true. Not only the congressmen but also some senators seem to be more responsive to the special moneyed interests rather than their constituents. It seems our democracy is hijacked by corporate interests, and money reigns supreme.

Even in other democracies, such as Britain, Spain and Italy, an overwhelming majority of the people were against the Iraq war. Yet their governments supported the war by sending the troops. I wonder if democracy is getting out of fashion here and in these European countries.

Chaitanya Dave

Rancho Palos Verdes