A recent article by John Balentine was titled, “Now more than ever, socialism’s evils need to be unveiled,” (Nov. 14).
His writing on this subject reveals his ignorance, but his ignorance is shared with many Americans who think socialism is the same as Stalinism.
He refers to “past atrocities under authoritarian socialist regimes.” There are many systems that use the word socialist, but they are not identical. Balentine seems never to have heard of democratic socialism. This is the socialism adopted by a number of northern European countries, such as the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, by a democratic process. A number of years ago AARP (hardly a radical organization), did a survey to find which are the best countries in the world for senior citizens And they found that they are the countries that have chosen democratic socialism, along with its high taxes. These citizens believe it is better to pay high taxes and rest assured that they will suffer no large financial disasters in their lifetimes. This is the “freedom” Balentine wants to have. The Democratic Socialists still have many freedoms. They also have capitalism.
We should note that on AARP’s quality-of-life for seniors list, the United States ranks 13th.
As for socialism in the United States, we already have it: public schools, public police and fire departments, public libraries, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the Gi Bill. Most of us do not look at these institutions as losses of freedom. The problem is, with private medical insurance, Americans spend more than Europeans per citizen on health care but leave millions uninsured. Is this the freedom Balentine wants?
The guiding principle of capitalism is that we should each take care of our own interests and strive to accumulate as much wealth as we can. This hardly seems in keeping with the doctrines of Christianity, which many capitalists claim to espouse.
Socialism is not always evil.
Isabel Denham
Falmouth
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