U.S. should study others

Our so-called democracy is all hat and no cattle, a plutocracy in democracy clothing. Other industrialized nations (e.g. Germany, Great Britain, Canada, the Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) have made democracy work without spending remotely as much money, time, labor and energy on elections.

Research at Princeton and Northwestern shows that Americans have little influence on policy. Because of the power of ultra-rich campaign donors and their corporate codependents, Americans suffer humongous wealth disparity, minimal upward mobility, ludicrous minimum wage, paltry or no pension, no universal health care, no common sense gun regulation, skimpy social safety net and unfair (i.e., de facto regressive) taxation at every governmental level. To put it bluntly, the U.S. is an aberration among developed nations.

We need to look to the values, programs and progress evident in other more liberal democracies on rooting out or at minimum reducing institutionalized corruption. If big changes are not made, unbridled crony capitalism will continue to harm and inevitably destroy our country and other nations beyond our borders.

Lanlan Hoo

Wheaton