A Letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer on Socialism

To the Editor,

Politicians as well as the entire pro-capitalist media have never tired of being critical of the word socialism. We might argue that one of the central priorities of United States government has been to do literally everything in it's power to mobilize against those who support this word. The September 4 column by Anthony Davies and James R. Harrington that chastised this word merely follows in that ugly tradition.

Eugene Debs ran for president under the Socialist Party five times. He spent three years in prison for merely giving a speech against the United States participation in the First World War. Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers lost their lives fighting in Korea and Vietnam because the government claimed they were fighting against communism. No Korean or Vietnamese soldier ever came to this country with an intent to harm anyone. Hundreds if not thousands of people were blacklisted and many went to prison because they refused to answer the question: "Are you a member of the Communist Party?"

Why is the government and the press so afraid of the idea of socialism? Today we visit supermarkets that are brimming with food. Yet there are about 41 million people in this country that do not have enough food to eat. The United States pays more for health care, per person, than any other nation in the world. Yet those who have serious diseases might loose everything in an attempt to pay their medical bills. No less than 80% of the world's population lives on $10 per day or less.

A genuine workers government will view the needs of humanity as more important than the profits for the owners of corporations. Why do banks, insurance companies, and advertising agencies exist? Aren't they all about the drive to maximize profits for corporations? Why not have a government that works with the people every day to organize a system where human needs are the top priority? Today the human and material resources exist to make top quality medical care, education, housing, and food a right for literally everyone in the world.

Bernie Sanders claims he is a socialist, but he is in fact a supporter of the capitalist system. Does anyone really believe that our day to day lives would be significantly different if Bernie Sanders was President? I'm 65 years old and I've seen Presidents come and go. They promise all kinds of things and their legacy is the 41 million people who don't have enough food to eat. As long as these conditions exist, working people will find the idea of human needs before profits to be attractive. 

I was in Cuba on May 1, 2017 and witnessed over one million Cubans demonstrating in support of their socialist government. This will not change because of a column in the Inquirer.