Private money and public policy

Don Ellis, Henderson

Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013 | 2:03 a.m.

If a private-sector employee follows company requirements while performing assigned tasks, he is considered a good employee. If some outside influence unbeknownst to management forces the employee to abandon company policy, the employee can be fired.

This should give the fired employee grounds for legal action. In today’s America, we have lobbyists like the Koch brothers and Jim DeMint of the Heritage Foundation who threaten elected officials to follow their lead or be fired.

These tactics should be illegal.

Also, Tea Party Republicans are beholden to the tactics dictated by the lobbyists, who threaten House Speaker John Boehner.

This is what we in America call democracy. I believe private money should not have such a role in our democracy, but I am just one vote of the 98 percent of the middle class.

I served my country faithfully and am an old vet. If I had known that I was fighting for this kind of democracy, I may have chosen another option.