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To the editor:
Robert Sica's "Doublespeak" should be called "Rhetoricspeak." I could paraphrase George Kennedy from "Cahill, United States Marshall" to describe my search for facts — "I looked but they just weren't there."
Sica attacks socialism. But Social Security, Medicare and labor unions are just a few examples of things that have helped many but have been saddled with that label. When a supporter of Donald Trump dismissed Senator Bernie Sanders as a "socialist," I said that's just name calling and asked what Sanders' policies did he actually object to. He responded "Free college. I'm not going to college."
I answered that the government does a lot of things that don't benefit every single person. On further thought, how much can it do if everything must benefit everybody?
But there are plenty of people who would benefit from free health care, a minimum wage above poverty level and access to higher education without being in debt for life, to name just a few items dismissed by some as socialist.
Most people will not benefit from cutting programs that help the needy while giving more tax cuts to those who already have more money than they will ever need.
Also, it is Trump, not Democrats, who can best be described as dystopian.
Trump supporters prefer name-calling because they cannot morally or logically support their stands on issues. In the words of James Brown, they are "Like a dull knife/Just ain't cutting/Just talking loud/Then saying nothing."
Richard Warren
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reenjoe
Perhaps, Mr. Sica believes that childless Americans, disparaged by JD Vance, should refuse to pay school taxes that fund "socialist" public schools, especially as they will never use them. Likewise, pacifists could withhold 15% of their income taxes that goes to fund our "collective" military.
I seem to recall some years ago, Mr. Sica being quite upset that then-Mayor Bloomberg took away his government provided healthcare when Bloomberg shutdown OTB in the city.
Socialism and entitlement definitions depend upon how they affect the individual. Look at all the letters lambasting the city's attempt to move retirees into Medicare Advantage. Many of those authors wrote similar letters critical of proposals for Medicare-for-all. As they say, where you stand depends upon where you sit.
Wednesday, August 28 Report this