Roots of socialism

Roots of socialism — The Monterey Herald — March 17, 2021

I appreciated Stephen Kessler’s commentary Sunday “A letter written to a democratic socialist.” I agree with Kessler that the American public will not support any leader or group beholden to socialism. Although many people associate socialism with German National Socialism, Soviet socialism and the state socialism of Venezuela, they often do not know why.

Older Americans have a better understanding. They witnessed this ideological struggle on the bloody battlefields of Europe. They know that World War II represented a battle between Western capitalism and German socialism.

The Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels made this ideological clash perfectly clear in his famous 1939 “England’s Guilt” speech, declaring, “England is a capitalist democracy. Germany is a socialist people’s state.”

Full-throttle state-socialism always leads to disastrous results wherever it is implemented, leaving behind a wrecked economic landscape devoid of liberty, life, and prosperity.

Supporters of Bernie’s Democratic Socialism need to understand the true nature of authoritarian socialism. They need to know that most Americans oppose collectivistic tyranny and support individualistic liberalism.

–Lawrence Samuels, Carmel