William Pfaff writes that special interests control American policy (Op-Ed, Sept. 9). What he didn’t write, and what increasingly needs saying in America today, is that this is a good thing.
The thousands of interested Americans who care enough about the world and our responses to it to lobby and influence American policy are model citizens. Good government is not something that happens to us; it is something we create.
If anyone today believes that American policy does not reflect his or her own interests or goals, they should examine their own inaction, instead of berating the well-intentioned actions of their fellow citizens. For democracy is not only a privilege, it is also an obligation.
As the French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville observed about America 150 years ago, our strength as a nation is our active and interested citizenry. Let’s be sure to keep it that way.
