Editor:
It’s disappointing the Gunnison Country Times gives Mark Hillman a regular soapbox every few weeks. I support different perspectives but the frequency of his posts pushing the Republican agenda suggests favoritism.
His diatribe against Democratic Socialists was ridiculous hyperbole. His fear mongering against the DSA suggested that, if a few are elected, we’ll be hanging landlords, doing away with prisons and murdering millions like Mao, Stalin and Hitler.
He dismissed obvious successes for Democratic Socialism like Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland that combine capitalist market economies with humane public support systems and strong labor laws to prevent the worst abuses of the predatory sides of capitalism. By many measures they do well, outperforming the U.S. with better literacy, lower poverty rates, less preventable disease, higher life expectancy, better social mobility, higher trust in government, higher happiness, lower homicide, incarceration and corruption rates. They want their whole population to be successful not just their large corporations. Anyone who thinks we don’t have something to learn from these models has a mind as closed as the Strait of Hormuz.
Hillman ignores a strength of a functioning democracy. You should be able to hear a variety of viewpoints from our population & public officials then pick the best. I don’t agree with all the positions of the DSA but I’m willing to hear their perspective. If a few are elected to add their ideas to the dialogue in Washington I hope their good ideas might get some traction and their bad ideas will fail.
An actual danger is that our democracy is relentlessly attacked over the last 45 years by large corporations and plutocrats. They’ve successfully hobbled democracy to give them free rein to fleece the country. Their money buys politicians and legions of lobbyists & lawyers. Politicians cut their taxes and eliminate regulations that keep them from victimizing the population & environment. They buy media companies generating endless propaganda creating division, pushing misinformation & convincing gullible folks to vote against their own interests. If they can get us to fight among ourselves they hope we won’t notice they’re picking our pockets and laughing all the way to the bank.
The Rand Corporation calculated that since 1975 about $79 trillion dollars in wealth and cumulative income growth have moved from the bottom 90 percent up to the top one percent. That wealth imbalance is a major reason why the general population is dissatisfied with their challenges making ends meet under both Democratic and Republican administrations. The parties aren’t in control of the country, it’s the Plutocrats that pull the strings. They’ve rigged the system so they succeed no matter who’s in charge.
It’s understandable that DSA supporters and many others want to change this dysfunctional system. I’m not concerned that a few DSA candidates will push through some of their more radical ideas or control our Democracy and do us all in as Hillman contends. That’s a fantasy meant to misinform.
What’s actually happening in the U.S.A. today is the dismantling of democracy and the erosion of our way of life by the plutocrats largely aligned with the conservative agenda. They’re more interested in enriching themselves than in creating & maintaining a successful country and a society that works for all our citizens. If you aren’t outraged you aren’t paying attention.
Arden Anderson
Gunnison
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