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Letter: Plutocracy will poison democracy

The Columbian
Published: January 31, 2012, 4:00pm

Virtually everyone knows that our current crop of presidential candidates ranges in wealth from rich to extremely rich.

Opinion-formers generally wring their hands in dismay.

This is a modern version of the old fable about King Midas. Everything that ancient gentleman touched turned to gold. His personal coffers all but exploded with gold coins. Unfortunately, King Midas eventually starved because even his food turned to gold.

King Midas’ saga is an ancient one, but we would do well to heed its lessons for today.

Our Democratic and Republican contenders all but swim in money. We are told constantly that political cash does not endanger our liberties and our politicians cannot be bought, but it can be taken as virtually axiomatic that Mitt and Newt and Barack and all the others naturally favor the interests of folks like themselves. This situation is called “plutocracy”.

Unchecked, it will eventually poison American democracy.

Frank W. Goheen

Camas

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