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Kathleen Ochs letter (A perspective on socialism, Jan. 26) argues that West Virginias vaccination success proves There is no contest in the private sectors ability to meet the needs of the people (i.e., capitalism) vs. the governments ability to timely meet the needs of the people (i.e., socialism). But West Virginia demonstrates effective government action, not the market responding to a public health crisis. Their success rests on the following realities (NYT, Jan 24):

Instead of a patchwork of voluntary private enterprise actors, the state took control and paired independent pharmacies with 200 nursing homes.

They put the National Guard at the helm of vaccine operations. Direction of the program is under control of the National Guard working with state agencies hardly a private enterprise approach.

West Virginia University Medicine a state actor opened a mega-clinic in Morgantown.

West Virginia does not allow philosophical exemptions for opting out of immunizations required for school attendance, which has created a culture where acceptance of vaccinations may be more prevalent.

Rather than capitalism versus socialism, West Virginia is an example of a relatively small state in which the state government has aggressively taken central charge of COVID-19 vaccinations and relied on the National Guard to implement military-type organization and direction to assure the program is a success. It does partner with private sector entities, as do any reasonable governments.

Public health is almost always an essential government function, poorly served by private enterprise, because it takes a government to deal with the tragedy of the commons.

Bill Fassett

Spokane

Read more from the original source:
Public health and socialism - The Spokesman-Review

Industrial executive, humanitarian, and author, Danish-American Flemming Heilmann discusses The Unacceptable Face, a memoir of his mid-20th century encounters with apartheid, socialism, and iterations of capitalism on three continents during a career challenged by corporate and national politics. Clear-eyed, humane, and resilient, Flemming will also discuss some of the hard-earned lessons he learned from his corporate experience which have led him to embrace certain social, economic, and environmental causes, what he calls his hobby horses. He has written, fundraised, and led organizations in the advance of these causes causes he has singled out as crucial to prosperity and social stability.

Flemming was born in 1936 in Malaya of Danish parents. He spent his early childhood there until the threat of a Japanese invasion forced an evacuation to an unknown Australia in 1941. Joined later by his father who escaped Singapore as the city fell, the family spent World War II as refugees. When the war ended in Europe, but before the Japanese capitulation, the family traveled home to Denmark on a troopship, evading kamikaze attacks in the Pacific.

Flemmings peripatetic school years were spent in Australia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom where he attended ten different schools. He spent four uninterrupted years at Gresham, an English boarding school and later graduated from Cambridge University with a law degree. The story of his childhood and education is told in his first book, Odyssey Uncharted.

To view the Webinar, log on to: https://bit.ly/30IBj21

Read the original:
Flemming Heilmann, Author of the Unacceptable Face on Capitalism, Socialism, and National and Corporate Politics - Greenwich Sentinel

Its never reassuring to begin the New Year with a right-wing insurrection against an elected government. Much was disturbing about the January 6 Capitol riot, including the possibility of more antidemocratic, white supremacist mayhem yet to come. But especially terrifying were the threats on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs life, and the news that the democratic socialist congresswoman may have come close to assassination.

Describing the events of January 6, AOC said on Instagram, I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die. She said that she couldnt say much more about it for security reasons, but elaborated, I did not know whether I was going to make it to the end of that day alive. Not just in a general sense, but in a very, very specific sense.

The far right has been obsessed with AOC since her election in 2018. Its scary fixation on her reflects its terror of women and people of color holding power, of course, but these hard-rightists are also as fascists always have been deeply triggered by socialism.

A man from Texas was arrested after participating in the riots and calling for AOCs assassination online. He now faces five federal charges. Its good that the government is taking action against these dangerous criminals. But the more powerful actors freely walking into the Capitol every day may be even more dangerous. AOC said on Instagram that she did not feel safe in the place other members of Congress were hiding during the January 6 riot, because some of them were white supremacists and QAnon sympathizers, she said, who I have felt would disclose my location and would create opportunities for me to be hurt, kidnapped, etc. AOC rightly skipped Bidens inauguration, both to join the picket line of striking workers in the Bronx, and also, she said, to avoid the security risk of being near those colleagues.

The rest of the Squad appear to be in danger, too. Cori Bush has just moved her office, for my teams safety, she said, after harassment from Marjorie Taylor Greene, an openly anti-Semitic white nationalist congresswoman who has called for the assassination of Nancy Pelosi and other colleagues, referred to January 6 as a 1776 moment, and has called Cori Bush a Black Lives Matter terrorist. On January 6, Ilhan Omar was evacuated to a secure location otherwise reserved for senior congressional leadership because, she has said, law enforcement believed her life was at special risk. Since her election to Congress, Trump has incited threats against Omar, and in the months leading up to the November election, those threats increased. During the riot, Ayanna Pressleys staff found that the panic buttons in their offices had been torn out. Rashida Tlaib has received constant death threats throughout her time in office.

There is a psychosexual edge to the Rights obsession with AOC. Eroticizing what they hate, rightists circulate memes on the internet depicting AOC as a tyrannical dominatrix, in full BDSM leather gear, crushing white men under her sharp boots. In one of them, Jeff Bezos kneels at her feet, handing over money, in a financial domination scenario (findom is an extremely niche kink in which submissives, usually men, enjoy giving up money, usually to women). The idea of socialism as totalitarianism specifically, a dictatorship in which rich white men are forcibly expropriated by powerful women of color looms large in the right-wing imaginary. (Literally large in many of these memes, AOC, physically a small, slight woman, is a giant, looming alarmingly over the white men she tyrannizes.) AOC is at the center of this fantasy. It would be harmless as a bit of edgy pornography, but in this political climate, the fantasy can easily turn deadly.

While racism and patriarchy are fundamental to fascist thinking, the fascist obsession with socialism is just as central. Every far-right movement in history has viewed socialism as its key adversary, and this one is no exception. For Hitler and the Nazis, racial enemies were inseparable from socialism, and contemporary far-rightists think the same way. Today, the right-wing hatred of socialism, personified by a woman of color, is a global phenomenon. In 2018, the same year that AOC was elected to Congress, right-wing Jair Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil, and Marielle Franco, a black socialist city council member in Rio, and an outspoken activist against police brutality, was assassinated. A year later, two former police officers connected to a paramilitary group were arrested and charged with her murder. Both suspects had ties to Bolsonaro.

Assuming a childishly anarchistic posture toward government, some on the left have imagined that the January 6 rioters complaints about Democrats mirror their own. Jimmy Dore, for example, doubted that the riots would have happened if Americans had their two-thousand-dollar checks. This is a perilous misreading. In addition to the explicit dangers to the Squad, there were numerous threats on Nancy Pelosis life that day, including calls to hang her or put a bullet through her head. Thats not because Pelosi has failed to write relief checks or support Medicare for All exactly the opposite. Its because the Right sees Pelosi as socialist.

That idea isnt limited to fringe weirdos even Lindsey Graham tweeted in November that Pelosi and the Democratic mainstream support socialism deep in their soul. At last summers GOP convention, the main message from speaker after speaker was that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were socialists. On the loonier right, this opinion is expressed only slightly more floridly: Representative Mo Brooks referred to the January 6 rioters as patriots fighting back against anti-Christian socialists. The Right has often seen socialist phantasms lurking in the mainstream; historian Richard Hofstadter quoted a right-wing woman in the 1950s sighing, upon the reelection of Dwight Eisenhower, Four more years of socialism.

There is zero affinity between right-wing and left-wing grievances. If youre a socialist, far-rightists share none of your political goals and viciously oppose every ideal you take seriously. They also want you dead. Thats as good a definition of a political enemy as I can imagine.

Of course, individuals caught up in right-wing movements can and do change their minds. Your QAnon-obsessed neighbor probably isnt violent and you should try to convince her of the error of her ways and even why she should be a socialist instead (The New York Times recently reported on a Bernie supporter who, disillusioned with Democrats after the Vermont socialists 2016 loss, had turned to QAnon. We can certainly reach people like that). But as an organized movement, theres nothing harmless or politically laudable about the forces behind theJanuary 6 mob. This movement doesnt just hate socialism; its hatred of socialism is at the core of its politics. The more it grows and mobilizes, the more violently it will fight any socialists who get close to power.

Some have suggested that AOC was being overly dramatic in candidly describing the risks she faced that day and continues to face. Thats dangerously wrong. The Squad has rightly opposed expanding the federal governments legal tools for combatting domestic terrorism. The governments existing mechanisms are entirely adequate, and to add more would likely lead to restrictions on the civil liberties of the Left and of racial minorities. But the Left needs to take the threats directed at our elected democratic socialist leaders seriously. We must demand adequate security for AOC and the rest of the Squad and a full investigation and prosecution of anyone who endangers their lives. We must also defeat this depraved movement through organizing, persuasion, social pressure, and, when needed, force, including law enforcement.

Meanwhile, AOC and her fellow Squad members are putting their lives on the line every day fighting for democratic socialism and progressive values. They deserve all our solidarity.

Follow this link:
The Danger Posed by the Far Right to AOC and the Squad Is Very Real - Jacobin magazine

In 1976, three years before she became Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher said, in an interview, The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money. Oddly enough, her statement rings true today in our own state.

For decades, many who follow the Legislature have quipped that Wyoming is the most conservative socialist state in the country. How so? Because we Wyomingites have never been averse to true benefits that come from government programs, but we have preferred to let the oil and coal industries pay for them, rather than reaching deeper into our own pockets.

Due to declining revenue from mineral severance tax, local government agencies have been cutting services and putting in place hiring freezes for years. Last November, Gov. Mark Gordon announced an additional $500 million in cuts, which include layoffs.

To keep critical services afloat, the Legislature has relied heavily on the rainy day savings fund, but this account has been rapidly dwindling and will not last much longer. Wyoming is running out of other peoples money.

Generations of Wyomingites are truly blessed to have grown up during a time when we received so much at so little cost to ourselves. Unfortunately, much of what we have taken for granted is about to go away unless the Legislature is prepared to make some changes.

According to the Wyoming Division of Economic Analysis, on average, a family of three pays $3,180 in taxes while receiving $27,050 in government services. The question Wyoming legislators will have to answer this legislative session is whether their constituents are willing and able to live without the $23,870 worth of unfunded services.

Good stewardship requires ensuring proper allocation of funds and eliminating waste, but fewer funds coming into the state has resulted in fewer dollars allocated for city and county governments. Along with cuts to Wyomings Departments of Health and Education, fewer dollars also have been allocated to local law enforcement, emergency services and road maintenance.

Fewer dollars also resulted in cuts to programs serving Wyomings youth, vulnerable adults and the elderly, as well as programs providing mental health treatment. (This last point is extremely concerning as Wyoming regularly ranks in the top three states for highest rates of suicide, per capita.)

Subsidiarity is a principle of Catholic social teaching which holds that large institutions in society (like the federal government) are responsible for ensuring the protection of human dignity and the common good and to ensure that basic human needs are being met. At the same time, subsidiarity means that larger institutions SHOULD NOT overwhelm or interfere with smaller institutions that are capably providing those same protections.

Through the centuries, the church has recognized that human dignity and the common good are best protected by local institutions (the most local institution being the family). This does not mean, however, that if local institutions are incapable of providing for basic human needs, that larger institutions are off the hook.

Many of my friends are concerned that socialist ideas seem to be gaining interest nationally. They notice that even conservative-minded people are placing unrealistic hopes on government. As if the right form of government can solve all of our problems. That will never be true. Families, religious communities and local charities all have an irreplaceable role to play. And yet, the best version of government should still be debated.

I am no expert, but it seems to me that the best way to prevent socialism is to enable strong state governments. Local governments are in a better position to determine what necessary infrastructure looks like. They have a clearer understanding of the particular unmet needs of the people, as well as what would be the most effective and efficient solutions to the problems people are facing. Strong local governments are more accessible and easier to hold accountable. And, in the event that the federal government does overstep its constitutional authority, which it often does, we will want a state government weighty enough to push back.

But Wyoming will only be able to do that if it is adequately funded. Specifically, how do we ensure that?

That is the hard question our legislators are currently facing. What is clear is that we can no longer wait for coal and oil to bounce back. Our legislators will have much to consider, including making further cuts, finding creative ways to bring new business here (like blockchain legislation has done), raising taxes or some combination of the three. The challenge will be to keep in mind the human toll each decision will have, including lost jobs or lost aid to the most vulnerable.

Let us pray for our legislators this session.

Deacon Mike Leman works for the Diocese of Cheyenne in the Office of Catholic Social Teaching and Legislative Liaison.

See the rest here:
Leman: To stave off socialism, we need to fund our state government - Wyoming Tribune

In the Spokesman-Review paper of Jan. 18, 2021, page A6, there was an article by the Associated Press titled Little Old West Virginia Sets Pace on Vaccine Rollout.

As I was reading this article a light bulb went on in my head this article perfectly describes capitalism vs socialism and what a great example that was! There is no contest in the private sectors ability to meet the needs of the people (i.e., capitalism) vs. the governments ability to timely meet the needs of the people (i.e., socialism). Capitalism wins hands down!

Socialism is so encumbered with politics and power plays that peoples needs are not very high on the priority list. This is particularly true when you realize individual choice is absent in socialism All the folks who believe they can live off the governments largess are just fooling themselves.

There is nothing in this world for free. Someone always pays the price.

Kathleen Ochs

Colville

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A perspective on socialism - The Spokesman-Review