Given the importance of the issue, John Balentine might have fact-checked his article on “socialism.” (“Now more than ever, socialism’s evils need to be unveiled,” Nov. 15). Without such rigor, opinion is merely propaganda, something often attributed to “socialists.” Balentine, therefore, must be a socialist, given there is no evidence that any “socialist” government, past or present, taxes income at the preposterous rate of 80 to 90%.
Similarly, not only is Elizabeth Warren not a socialist and a member of the Democratic Party, but she recently published details of her health care plan that demonstrate that there is no need to increase the taxes of the middle class to pay for it, as long as the .01% of the wealthiest capitalists pay even a small percentage of their taxes, rather than proportionately nothing.
To accept this point of view, of course, requires a willingness to examine the proof provided by scholars who are politically neutral. It’s doubtful, though, that those who use only the coarsest of brushes to paint all forms of socialism as evil, contrary to long-standing historical evidence, would be willing to engage an evidence-based argument for anything they simply oppose out of fervor. In an era of confirmed presidential white supremacism, and limitless lies, evidence matters.
I would argue that while socialism certainly has had its problems, they are no worse than capitalism, and socialism must not be confused with communism.
Dr. Mark Bartlett
Brunswick
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