Yesterday, I told my sister that after 30 years, I was no longer voting for Democrats.

When my sister asked me why, I told her that if they can’t legislate on behalf of working people when the Democrats held majority in both houses of Congress and the White House from 2008-10, then they never would.

At this point in the game our elected representatives are only secondary decision makers. In 2010 the commercial banking industry contributed $8.3 million to Democratic election campaigns and $13.6 million to Republicans. The commercial banking industry spent $60 million on lobbying on Capital Hill and wrote the legislation for their own bail-out. They have all the power to manipulate economic policy and outcome. That’s too much leverage.

Corporate influence on government sways the decision-making process from the favor of the many to the needs of the few.

From now on, I’m voting Green.

The Green Party does not accept corporate campaign contributions, so we and our candidates cannot be compromised or coerced by special interests. One of the 10 key values of the Green Party is decentralization.

Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction and militarization. Greens support policies that eliminate pay-to-play politics (i.e. Citizens United) and guarantee access to all citizens or lobbyists irrespective of the size of their advocacy budgets.

One way to remove the undue influence of money in politics is not to vote for candidates who are paid for by special interests.

There are so many other reasons for me to vote for the Green Party, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Sylvia Arthur

Ironton