I was taught that “We the People” defined our constitutional right as American citizens.  That  throughout the whole of the United States, and most specifically within our day-to-day lives, those three words, by design, are to give us the individual right to have a voice in that which we deem will improve, enhance, protect, and preserve our communities. “We the People” defines a country focused on the fair and just needs of all its people, giving citizens the rightful power to support the political candidates of their choice to attain and maintain those goals.  

However, in 2010 legislation was passed to give corporations the right to donate large sums of money to political candidates for the sole purpose of legalizing the act of bribery within the election process in the United States.  Therefore, the political candidates, should they be elected into office, would be heavily compelled to do the bidding on issues that would promote those corporate initiatives and industries.  Furthermore, Super Pacs have emerged, which are collective clusters of corporate organizations that pool their monies, increasing the size of donations given to political constituents and candidates.  

“We the People” have been quietly robbed of our constitutional power to elect a candidate who pledges to be our voice.  That power is now in the hands of big corporations who supply the money for larger-than-life advertising tactics such as commercials and billboards.

However, not all political candidates stoke their campaign funding with hefty donations from corporations or Super Pacs. I encourage you to seek out those candidates and support them.

In the 3rd Congressional District, Danielle Mitchell is running a grassroots campaign supported by people like you and me.

Let us join together to thwart this unfair power given to Corporate agents, and make our votes count again. 

Jil Smith
Rockwood 

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Ms. Smith, I had never heard of the candidate you are supporting before reading your post in Chattanoogan.com. I did notice you failed to state your candidate’s political party. 

When I looked at your candidate’s website I read about justice, the environment, net neutrality and the usual generalities and platitudes about education with which I am very familiar. I had to dig deeply into the website to find some endorsements to discover your candidate was a Democrat. Why is this fact not in a prominent place on her website and why didn’t you state this in your post?

These days it’s very important to know the political party a candidate represents especially when they run for Congress.

Ralph Miller 

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Mr. Miller, 

Is it more important to know a candidate's party affiliation who is running for Congress or know what they believe? It seems pretty easy to me to read or listen to candidates to find out if they have views that you find acceptable. If all you're looking for is a R or D to make your choice, you're lazy.

Party is part of it but all of us should do are due diligence to find out what they stand for. People throw out buzz words -  liberal, conservative, Christian, progressive, business man, socialist, and T.V. gives us all the answers in 30 seconds.

A person's actions and the way they live says a lot more about them and how they will act in the future. You choose, elections do matter for the few that decide to take the time to vote. 

Al Hargis