Our nation is a three-legged stool resting on government, business and church. By law, government and church have minimal interaction and are theoretically independent of each other. Ditto for business and church.

Unfortunately, we can't say that for business and government. Both business and government are heavily interdependent, trading jobs and funding regularly. Politicians can't get elected without business contributions and support. Business relies on politicians to provide a favorable environment. We're in danger of having the government and business legs become functionally identical, at which point we'll be using a two-legged stool. We need to separate government and business in the same manner in which government and church are separated. Campaign finance transparency is only one facet of separating them. We also need to close the revolving doors, limit financial transactions between business and government, get government out of social engineering through regulation, declare business as "not a person" and get business out of government.

If we as citizens don't wake up and start demanding of our elected representatives that government and business start disentangling themselves, well, we all know what happens with two-legged stools. Don't think that "it can't happen to us," because it can and will happen if nothing is done to prevent it. Our children will pay the price.

J. L. Hickman

Fairview Heights