To the editor: The taint of corporate involvement in politics and government

When we hear Republican candidates earnestly talking about reducing regulations, cutting government programs and lowering taxes to help ordinary Americans, we need to recognize the distinction between tactics and strategy.

These proposals are tactics. The broader strategy behind them is to drastically reduce the role of government in our lives.

We have watched this strategy unfold in Washington, D.C., over the past year and a half. So let’s ask ourselves two simple questions: Have our lives become safer and healthier? Have our wallets and pocketbooks become fuller?

For most ordinary Americans, these are the measures that matter. And they are the measures by which we should judge the results.

When government withdraws from its role in protecting the public, providing essential services, and maintaining a fair playing field, the space it leaves behind does not remain empty.

Corporations, large financial institutions and billionaires step in to fill it. But their priorities are not our priorities. Their focus is their shareholders, their investors, and their own financial interests—not the well-being of ordinary Americans.

Over the past 40 years, we have seen how the growing influence of corporate wealth and concentrated financial power has distorted our economy and our political system. The critical question is not simply whether government should be bigger or smaller. It is this: Whose interests does government serve, and who benefits when government steps aside?

So when you hear politicians focusing tactics that will reduce the role of government in our lives recognize that these tactics will have real-world consequences for our families, our communities  and our democracy.

Steve Dock
Chester