Letter to the editor: The nuances of socialism

The right likes to demonize the word socialism and conflate ordinary public policies with authoritarian regimes in Venezuela, Cuba or Nazi Germany, which are socialist in name only. But a detailed look at some of our democratic socialist policies paint a more nuanced picture.

Social Security, Medicare, roads and bridges, public parks, libraries, and schools are all socialist policies and favored by the vast majority. The U.S. military is the largest and most funded socialist program in the world. The NFL, like our economic system, is both capitalistic and socialistic. Its private ownership is capitalistic, but the draft, revenue sharing, rules committee and stadiums are all socialistic in nature. In fact, their guiding principle is the desire for parity. That sounds a lot like, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

However, they don’t seem to complain when it is billionaires or multinational corporations taking advantage. Socialism for the rich costs real taxpayers billions of dollars. The American taxpayer subsidizes the salaries of the low-paid employees of Walmart, McDonald’s, Amazon, etc. with government assistance programs because they refuse to pay them a living wage. Rich people are the real welfare queens, and Donald Trump is their king.

Like it or not, we are dependent on each other. And we are stronger when we acknowledge this. Sharing resources makes possible the things that we could not accomplish as individuals.

Michael Garing

North Huntingdon