LETTER TO LARRY LEE JR.

from Richard Silvestri 

Hi Larry,

I hope this finds you well.  The common denominator for finding solutions via government is to take the money out of politics.  In what seems absurd the US Supreme Court ruled corporations can spend from their funds unlimited amounts for political campaigns under the First Amendment.  That is going to destroy democracy for the average Joe like me or Jane like my wife.  The 2012 elections broke records for spending and that is directly because huge corporations can spend unlimited amounts.

I found out online that the sugar lobby (cane and beets) has suppressed medical research on the effects of sugar in our diet.  Some researchers suspect it is toxic to humans.  Big Sugar has lobbied congress and the senators to not fund any medical research on the subject since 1976 and they have clouded the issue with doubts about any research results before or since.  This is the same tactics used by the tobacco industry since the early 1950s when medical research had shown tobacco products cause cancer.  It took 40-50 years before the issue was settled and at the cost of millions of lives and millions spent on unnecessary medical care because if the truth had been known earlier the cancers could have been prevented.  It is the same tactics Big Carbon is using to discredit Global Warming and Climate Change and rising sea theories today while time is of the essence to find solutions.

The sugar industry initially was protected with federal subsidies so that Castro would not have a market for

Cuban sugar.  It appears Big Sugar made so much money it could afford to lobby to have protections against all foreign sugar with subsidies and tariffs costing taxpayers.  This is our money to protect an industry that may be producing something that is harmful to human health.  But we don't know one way or the other and what is it Big Sugar is afraid the results will show?  You know the answer.  The same can be said for big carbon subsidy to keep gasoline prices artificially low but gives the public the impression there is plenty to go around and it is cheap.  Without the oil subsidy we would be paying the same price for motor fuels as do EU nations which I understand is now around $10-12 a gallon.  But by using tax dollars along with price at the pump we are also paying that much.  Why would oil companies sell to us at a lower price when they can get more overseas closer to Mid-East oil?  They wouldn't and Washington is hiding the true cost of motor fuel with the subsidies.  The case for tobacco is resolved but look how long it took; how many lives lost; the anguish to survivors; the cost in dollars.

The sugar protective subsidies and any legislation to the contrary are kept in force because Big Sugar can hold our lawmakers hostage by threatening to not only withdraw financial support but also by the veiled threat of spending for negative advertising.  It is not a threat but now a reality.  Now we know that Big Sugar is also using this power to destroy the environment locally.

The answer is to get the money of out politics.  I am a member of the DEC and the Treasurer of the Democratic Club in SLC but I cannot officially ask you this in their names.  But through my good relations there with many of the members I can state there are others who feel the same.  I am a member of the Progressive Alliance and can officially ask you not only for me and my loved ones and future generations but also on behalf of the alliance.  John Debus, our local president, has said a Constitutional Amendment that would state that the First Amendment is not intended for corporations is the primary goal of the alliance.  It is the common denominator that would break down resistance to changes that would benefit people.

Larry, will you contact Senators Nelson and Rubio and Congressman Murphy and ask them if any of all will sponsor a bill to amend the Constitution?  Will you contact all you know personally and politically in Tallahassee to contact these three and ask them to sponsor an amendment?  Your request and that of your colleagues will carry weight.

I am not an alarmist, but more and more people are beginning to understand that the Citizens United ruling against the Federal Elections Commission is destroying the very foundations of our great nation.

Yours Truly,

Richard.