Letter to the Editor: Progressive message not the answer

To the Editor:

In response to the Letter to the Editor of August 2, 2017 by Jacob Galema of Lansing, it is difficult to know where to start because his letter is almost completely based on emotional suppositions with no facts. I will respond with a few facts.

Jacob obviously dislikes Capitalism and does not acknowledge that it is through Capitalism that the United States became the great nation that it is; not through Socialism, Communism or a Progressive movement.

I suggest that Jacob spend a little time reading the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The latter guarantees us Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, which sets us apart from any other nation on earth. It is the backbone of American Freedom.

Jacob claims that the rich are convincing all of us to hate the poor. Where is the proof? He also claims that deregulation by President Trump is the cause of our current economic malaise. Part of that same malaise is due to an over-bloated military, according to Jacob. He also claims that the Republicans are destroying the middle class and does not acknowledge that the poor economic performance of the past eight years was caused by the policies of the Obama (Democrat) administration.

He also claims that Capitalism produces only a super rich class and a super poor class. That seemed to be true during the last eight years, because the regulations placed on all of us by the Democrats caused a decline in real income of the middle class.

What Jacob also does not acknowledge is the fact that approximately 65 percent of our budget goes to entitlement programs and only about 12 percent to discretionary spending. The number of people on welfare has increased drastically in the past eight years; Democrat policies.

The amount spent on the military is the only amount in the budget that is required by the Constitution. The government is charged with protecting us through the military. We have the strongest military in the world and they do a pretty good job of protecting us. I read the Constitution from time to time and nowhere can I find that the government owes us health care or anything else.

Jacob does not mention our diminished standing in the international field due to the policies of the Obama administration.

So, Jacob proudly proclaims that the only solution is to elect Bernie Sanders.  It is a curious solution since Sanders is the only member in the Senate to spend his honeymoon in Moscow. I wonder how that affected his views on Capitalism.

Jacob also calls for a single payer health system. I suggest he visit Cuba. They have free universal health care. The whole nation is poor, except for the leaders of the Communist Government and the military commanders. Or he might try Venezuela.  They were once the wealthiest nation in South America. 

Thanks to Socialism, they now have bread lines.

What Bernie Sanders has to offer, and what apparently appeals to Jacob, is a bunch of freebies. Jacob believes all of these freebies can be paid for by confiscating funds from people who have worked hard to earn it. The Obama administration began the largest redistribution of wealth in the history of the country. Is that permitted by the Constitution?

I can only hope some young people read this. We are coming to a crossroads where we really must decide on whether we are going to continue to be a growing, thriving Capitalist economy or become a Socialist economy featuring bigger government, more control and less individual freedom.

Lowell L. Engle
Harpers Ferry