We’ve tolerated socialism for a long time; why the sudden outrage?

I would like to add my two cents of knowledge about big government, taxes and spending.

When the federal government spends public money to give all Americans decent health care, immediately we hear Republicans invoke the specter of socialism. When the same public money is used to save the economy, banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler, etc., we also hear people talking about socialism. When the federal government spends incomprehensible amounts of money for two unwanted and unjust wars, many people will find a reason to justify them.

When will we as Americans stop being a bunch of hypocrites? Don’t we realize that the federal government must do everything it can to alleviate the misery and hard times suffered by the many people who have no jobs? Nobody says anything about the subsidies that the government gives to rich farmers, universities, corporations and the Department of Defense.

We must remember that we have almost 70 million people who survive through food stamps, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and assistance from the Veteran’s Administration, to mention just a few.

We have propelled the federal government into our lives from concerns about the minimum wage that a corporation must pay its workers, to the interest that banks must pay, what insurances must charge customers, working and safety conditions, etc. The federal government is integral to the life of the country and the welfare of its people. Is not this a form of socialism? We have implemented many programs of socialism for almost a century, and as a result we have gained a better standard of living for all, the weak and the strong, and we have benefited from many years of prosperity.

As long as we have unemployed people, we are going to have poverty and the federal government must have programs to alleviate the sufferings of the under privileged. This is plain socialism for me.

We don’t like to admit it, but only a fool will deny it — we have embraced a wide measure of socialism for a long time.

As far as the national debt is concerned, we must understand that it will never be paid because no government, Democratic or Republican, can afford to eliminate all programs for the common good. No one wants to see a deep depression. President Reagan himself, who contributed tremendously to the national debt, said that it has no meaning. And he cut taxes for the very rich. We must understand that only a good system of taxation can pay for all the programs that are on the books.

The damages inflicted by Republican administrations in the last 30 years are immense and nobody knows how long it will take to recover. We have lost, among all things, respect and friendship almost all over the world.

Our current president, Mr. Obama, is doing his best to resolve the world’s trouble spots. He is an eloquent speaker, highly educated and deeply insightful to our problems. If he has enemies willing to replace him at the White House it is only because he is a black man.

Valentino De Vito, Girard