LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tax cuts fuel U.S. oligarchy
5/6/2014I disagree with Richard Vedder’s April 27 op-ed column, “Cutting taxes, not spending, is the key to Ohio’s economic growth.”
Some economists say that lowering tax rates for the richest Americans depletes funding for needed infrastructure improvements, while raising taxes on items such as gasoline and cigarettes affects middle-class earners more than it does the wealthy.
With recent reports on America’s shrinking middle class, continued tax breaks for “job creators” is creating a system of oligarchy that can only further the deterioration of the once-productive middle class.
DONALD MUNKACY
River Road
Free speech has become costly
The U.S. Supreme Court claimed it was ruling in favor of free speech in both the Citizens United and McCutcheon cases (“Money, politics, and speech,” editorial, April 4). I would argue that the principle of free speech was defeated in both of these cases.
The Supreme Court has enabled unlimited political contributions by corporations and wealthy people who share interests with media conglomerates. Both the medium and the message are controlled by narrow interests. This is the antithesis of free speech.
We have entered an era in which you may say whatever you want, but the voices of only the wealthy will be widely heard.
The cost of winning a congressional seat is in the millions of dollars, and the cost of winning the presidency is in the billions. A candidate cannot be heard without that kind of funding.
For our Republic to advance, there need to be campaign finance reform legislation and a constitutional amendment saying that money is property and not speech.
RICHARD SCHULTZ
Monclova Township
Release of spy to Israel a bad idea
The American who spied for Israel should stay in prison, and not be a bribe to the Israeli prime minister in return for his giving a little in peace talks with Palestinians (“Spy’s release seen as major gamble; U.S. weighs move to bolster peace deal,” April 2).
The last time a release was discussed for the spy, Jonathan Pollard, there were reports of celebrations planned for him in Israel on his return, mocking the United States in advance for letting him go.
Some of his American Jewish proponents talked of other spies who had been traded. But Pollard is an American who sold out his fellow Americans, not a mole installed by another country, then caught here.
We have rightly had good relations with Israel, and we should continue to do so. But we should not condone that nation’s turning Americans against their own country.
Would we release Aldrich Ames, the former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who was convicted of spying for Russia in 1994, in return for a deal on Ukraine?
EILEEN FOLEY
Lowe Road