Rhonda Crutchfield: Avoiding oligarchy

In light of the horrific events in Orlando, I am afraid that Tom Friedman’s excellent column on the GOP in your June 12 paper may get little attention, but I hope that Paul Ryan and the other Republican leaders read it because it spelled out exactly what is wrong with their party.

Unfortunately, I doubt there will be to a thoughtful reconsideration of their agenda because, as Friedman pointed out, they have to toe the line or be attacked from the right by PACs, super PACs and lobbyists all funded by the wealthy individuals or corporations. But overarching influence of “Big Money” affects the Democratic Party, too. I say this as a center-left Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter.

The only way we can avoid becoming an oligarchy is to have comprehensive campaign finance reform with a constitutional amendment mandating public funding of all elections. That would eliminate all PACs, overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision and actually permit the principle of one man, one vote to become relevant again. I advocate that ordinary Americans band together and refuse to vote for candidates of either party who won’t pledge to support that.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Rhonda Crutchfield: Avoiding oligarchy."