To the editor:

It appears that the media is in firm control of the system. It has become quite clear to me that less and less of what we do as private citizens affects the political process. This is especially true with what we see on TV. Regardless of the news network I choose, it delivers its own view, or allows the candidates a free platform for presenting misleading or inaccurate policies.

When Donald Trump says he is going to have a press conference the major news networks put everything on hold and we get to hear Donald Trump pontificate. Donald Trump is a dangerous man, greedy, power hungry, aggressive and without an ounce of political savvy. We need sophisticated, experienced, politically knowledgeable leadership. I vote for experience.

So far Trump has received $1.9 billion of free airtime. His message is “It’s gonna be big. It’s gonna be great, huge! What is? Do you hear any policy? Can Americans be so naïve? What’s the plan? It has to be more than hot air. We have been fooled time and time again and are ready to embrace empty rhetoric again. I want to hear a plan that we as Americans can embrace.

Could you imagine rounding up 12 million people and moving them out of the country? Could you imagine the heartbreak? We are talking about living breathing human beings. It would be on the level of what Hitler did to the Jews. This is unthinkable and heartless. I do believe there is a great deal of hate and fear mongering in American politics to taint the general opinion of immigrants. Mexicans here in Polk County are a real benefit and make a great contribution to our labor force. Time and time again I have employed Mexican labor and have had a very nice experience. I’m sure the number of rapists and murders in the Mexican population is no larger than that of the general public.

As far as building a wall, we all know walls don’t work. The Great Wall of China was a failure, and so was the Berlin wall. All they did was get people killed. We need to build relationships with other countries, not walls. The idea of keeping all Muslims out of America goes against everything our forefathers fought for. Freedom of religion was one of our most sought after beliefs. We need to come to some sort of equilibrium. Radical Muslims are another topic all together. How to deal with this group is a mystery. But taking any group out of the formula is a mistake.

Even Bernie Sanders is missing the boat. To try to give people free medical care, free college and a pony, too, is very unrealistic. We need to wake up and understand that free is really a dirty word, no such thing exists. Taxes in America would go through the roof. The reality is that taxes will go up no matter what; we need money to run this gigantic machine we call America.

What we really need to come to grips with is our media coverage of candidates. You can distort the truth all day long and no one will challenge you. Recently Trump said America pays the most income tax in the world. Not true! We aren’t close. Some nations pay as much as 60 percent of their income in taxes. Lie all you want, no one will challenge you. But there are millions of households who heard the lie and now believe it!

We have news people telling us what to think. That is not acceptable. Have you noticed that news people will very often give you their opinion? Did you ask? What news people should do is present the news not give us their opinion on the news. I need to come to my own conclusions, not theirs.

I guess my message is: don’t believe what you hear, but do your own research.

Rocco Lionetti
Columbus, N.C.