A letter in a recent edition of “The Pike County Courier” reflects a viewpoint that is false, misleading and requires correction.
The author states “from the dictionary: Socialism is ‘... a system of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the government... a stage... between capitalism and communism.’” He makes no reference to any specific dictionary.
Per Merriam Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica, that system is communism, not socialism. The author conflates the two, fear mongering about loss of freedom of speech, the right to protest, “only what the government approves,” etc. That’s happening right now— under this administration! Massive lawsuits against broadcast networks that criticize the president, demanding cancellation of programs and revocation of licenses. That is communism, as in Russia, China, N. Korea. It’s un-American.
Nobody wants straight socialism. Ironically those who decry socialism use our roads, schools, parks and libraries, collect Social Security and Medicare benefits; all are socialist programs.
“Communist” is used by the administration as an ugly insult, appealing to people too angry, hateful or lazy to learn what it, and “socialist” actually mean and it works, knowing it will spread like wildfire among the proactively ignorant.
Responsible journalism demands truth.
Stephen Seder
Milford