Dear Editor:

Scholars at Princeton and Northwestern have concluded a study of federal legislation passed from 1982 to 2002. They examined which economic interests supported legislation that passed.

Their conclusion: the American middle class had no real impact on legislation. It was only the very rich and corporate America that had success. America is no longer a democracy; it is a de facto oligarchy.

The study concluded before the Citizens United decision, which gives corporations the power to contribute unlimited cash to influence elections and which, per a Senate vote, can do so in secret.

Let's jump to a few weeks ago when a bill was introduced in the Senate to begin the constitutional process of repealing Citizens United. Every Senate Republican voted to filibuster the bill, thereby stopping/killing the repeal process.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, immediately hailed the victory but did not mention Citizens United. He presented it rather as a triumph of the first amendment rights of average Americans. So did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which saluted the Senate Republicans for supposedly defending the Constitution. The U.S. Chamber has spent over 1 billion in this century pushing policies that feather the corporate CEOs who now earn an average of 12 million a year.

Follow the money ... and you will see a Republican party that has aligned itself 100 percent with the American oligarchy while totally ignoring the needs of average Americans.

Fred Rotondaro

Southport