DEAR EDITOR:
I am in shock and in a state of disbelief of where the current federal administration is on the political spectrum or continuum line. This thought leads me to a very important question for all Americans. The question is simply, does the current administration represent the mainstream or main thrust of the Democratic party in America today?
I have to confess here I don't know, because it is too early to tell. I have to assume for now that this administration does represent the mainstream and is therefore more socialist than anything we have ever witnessed in the history of the United States. This administration is in fact Democratic in name only and it is not the former and traditional Democratic party of this country. Cutting through all of the rhetoric, false ideas and the wrong definitions out there, the Democratic party in this country today is a Democratic socialist not unlike parties across Europe, many of which have failing economies because they are socialist. This is a best-kept secret of the mainstream media and they therefore prefer terms and phrases like left of center, liberalism, progressivism, etc., which will not result in any adverse public reaction. The bottom line here is that the current administration has lifted a page directly from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto written in 1848. This was required reading for me in college because it was part of my teaching major.
Socialism is government ownership, regulation and control of the economy and the private sector. The world has proved many times over that socialism does not work for at least two basic reasons. First, if the government provides all of your needs, then why work? Keep in mind here that one in six Americans today is receiving some sort of government benefits other than Social Security but less than half of our population pays the government in the form of income tax.
Secondly, socialism and capitalism are opposite teams and socialism, with its government regulations, controls and requirements, destroys the entrepreneurial spirit, the profit motive in business and the free enterprise system in general. This results in no new wealth created and poverty results. Remember there are millionaires being created every day in this country but are afraid to invest (pent up wealth) because of the uncertainty with a socialist government. Remember also that two thirds of American jobs are created by small business, not by major corporations and that our real unemployment or underemployment rate is almost one in five people.
The campaign slogan of the Obama administration in 2008 was "Yes we can." We can all finish that slogan four years later and the unwritten part would be, "Yes we can create a socialist America." The slogan for the 2012 election is "Forward." Could the rest of the slogan be, "Forward with more socialism?"
Psychologists tell us that one measure of intelligence in humans and some animals where it can be measured is whether or not the species continues to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result each time. I say to the American electorate, let's get it right this time.
Dell L. Cope
Bristolville