Dear Editor:

Some people may think that Shenna Bellows’ calling out current roles of corporations contributing to the loss of Constitutional rights of citizens throws too wide a swath placing corporations in conflict with citizens. I wish that was the case, but recent exposure of corporate greed shows how a simple “collateral damages” memo leaves those responsible for billion dollar thefts going unpunished leads to a different conclusion.

Rightfully, we do not want to discriminate against all corporations, but the known list of 490 corporate participants in ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) have contributed to the demise of citizen rights and keeping billion-dollar thieves wealthy and out of prison. Readers interested in facts should review the list of ALEC board members check out ALEC Exposed, followed by a read of Matt Taibbi’s “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap.” After that, look up the definition of corporate dystopia, and you might conclude that Shenna’s calling to choose between large corporations and working people should be an emergency bell to save democracy.

For the past 40 years these John Birch Society, Koch brothers fed, corporately approved ALEC laws protect corporate interests while damaging interests and rights of others. I believe that when the heat gets too hot for ALEC board members, they “withdraw” from the board. They know their interests will continue to be served by other corporations.

I worked for a large multi-national corporation, with wonderful people, great managers, ethical policies, but they are now merged with an ALEC-Pharma company. Often in these mergers, Shenna sees good corporations developing signs of inequality, loss of basic employee rights, while increasing corporate profits at taxpayer expense, and losing sight of ethical policies.

Shenna sees it right. Democracy is in direct conflict with large corporations so long as the inequality gap widens, corporations write and approve our laws, train our judges and politicians, infiltrate educational systems, and work towards increasing their CEO wealth beyond current 475 to 1 ratios at the expense of others. I wish it wasn’t true, but the facts are irrefutable.

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb