The naiveté of those who think they want a Bernie Sanders socialist-style government is mind-boggling to me – perhaps because unlike them, I grew up in a “golden age” where everyone worked who wanted to and the government stayed out of our lives and was not a stranglehold to business. We took pride in our work, paid our student loans, were free of political correctness, and embraced traditional values without being told we were racists or intolerant. Growing up during segregation, we worshipped our creator, and over time achieved integration.
While visiting with Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson in September 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev said, “We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism, until they suddenly awake to find they have communism.” Electing an avowed socialist is the first step. By embracing more government intervention in our lives, we Americans are losing our once-fought-for liberties, slowly fulfilling Krushchev’s prediction.
Capitalism is not perfect but provides more people with a higher standard of living than any other system. Otherwise, why do people come to America? In 1960, our U.S. cumulative debt was $386 billion; now it is $19 trillion. Progressives promise more free things. Who pays for all this “free” stuff? If we taxed all the wealthy 100 percent of what they now earn, we still could not pay off our cumulative debt. There is no such thing as something for nothing. Young people especially have been gulled into an entitlement mentality. Losing the goal of doing it oneself will result in a Socialist States of America rather than the United States of America – not the country I grew up to love for its freedoms and opportunities.
Carol Freitas
Durango
