With the Salt Lake County Council’s recent vote to approve the Olympia Hills project in spite of overwhelming opposition from the residents of surrounding cities in the southwest valley, my disgust and disillusionment with every level of our government is complete. The corruption of our representative form of government from city hall to the highest office in the land is evident by the arrogance with which those who we elect ignore the will of the people. Every level of our government demonstrates disdain for constituents almost daily with total disrespect for citizen initiatives, public opinion and the will of “we the people.”
Our voices and our votes are meaningless compared to the irresistible filthy lucre thrown about by corporations, developers and the 1%. Even the illusion of participation every November with our gerrymandered or obsolete systems (read electoral college) disenfranchises the will of millions of Americans every election day. A government of the people, by the people and for the people has indeed perished, and it has been replaced by a government of the dollar, by the dollar and for the dollar — the will of the people be damned.
Brett Baird, Riverton
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