February 4, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
It has long been a reality that money influences politics. Any time this happens, the spenders of the money are seeking special favors from the government. Any time a special interest gets what it seeks it usually gets it at the expense of the rest of the taxpayers!
I would posit that many government policies, programs and expenditures are corrupted by private money influencing legislation. Whether it is a decision to give a company or a sector a tax-break, go to war or even making some behavior a criminal offense to put someone in jail, a special interest is behind it and the government is not protecting and supporting the citizens in the process.
Do not allow this influence to go on in concealment! No individual citizen should have more right to influence the law than anyone else! Companies shouldn't have any influence at all, they are simply a group of people and they often spend money without telling other company employees or shareholders. In neither case is this acceptable, everything the government does should be transparent so the public can decide if their representatives are doing their jobs as they would have them do it.
Sincerely,
Richard Erdreich