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Jonathan Freedland's critique of the US political system (The American way is being warped to breaking point, 14 January) – a system which he previously applauded – sees the populist insurgency of the Tea Party and (though he doesn't specify it) the radical anti-statist ideology of Ron Paul as the villains of the piece. Yet these, whether you like them or not, can at least claim some genuine democratic credentials. The real villains are the super-PACs which, made possible by the supreme court's 2010 decision, now enable individual billionaires (like Newt Gingrich's current backer, the casino mogul Sheldon Adelson) to make and break candidates, taking advantage of the bizarre primary process and the power of negative TV advertisements. Plutocratic whim thus trumps democratic process. By the way, regarding negative spin, Mitt Romney was not having his shoes shined; he was being security-checked.
Alan Knight
St Antony's College, Oxford
• Jonathan Freedland has a highly credulous view of the American constitution. Yes, it has some admirable features – not least its bill of rights – but the separation of powers increasingly, and damagingly, achieves what the founders aimed at, which is to stop things happening rather than to make things happen. "Anti-government fervour" is built into the system. The American constitution was, as has been rightly said, "designed for deadlock". Moreover, it is deadlock on behalf largely of wealth and privilege, from the millions of dollars it takes to run for a Senate seat to the success with which legislators are able to block redistributive legislation. "The people" is as much an abstraction in the American system as the "crown in parliament" is in ours. Sadly, the Republican right is simply taking the "American way" to its logical conclusion.
Richard Crockatt
Reepham, Norfolk
• Jonathan Freedland claims that Republicans have rendered an elected president incapable of doing almost anything. Not so. It's an imperial presidency with a free hand to make war. What is dispiriting about Republicans, with the exception of Ron Paul, is that they dislike big government except when it comes to ordering foreigners about.
Freedland also claims that the US saw its credit rating downgraded because Congress refused to raise the country's debt limit. Again not so. It was prompted by the federal government's unsustainably high annual deficit. America's political class, again with the exception of Ron Paul, is unwilling to tackle military expenditure. They believe in guns and butter.
Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset
• I was glad to read that Jonathan Freedland is keeping faith with the American political system despite the political parties' unseemly wrangling over what to do about government debt. It is worth reminding ourselves, however, that the US has tragically high levels of inequality and a political class that has been unwillingly under both Republican and Democratic presidents to do anything about it. It seems highly likely that the current impasse will result in public spending cuts that will further deepen this. The rich as always have the motivation and the wherewithal to influence government policy to their advantage; the rest do not.
Jack Kerridge
London
