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There will be an effort, especially this election year, to claim that progressive Social Democrats are kind of like Socialists and Communists, and will try to taint all opponents with that label. However, there is a vast difference between totalitarian communist socialism and social democracy as practiced in the Scandinavian countries and in most of Europe.

Social democracy does not try to control the "means of production," but rather permits a free enterprise supply-and-demand economy that harnesses the best of human initiative for the common good. At the same time, it employs good social programs that serve to soften the hard edge of capitalism. These programs provide for universal health care, good equal educational opportunities for everyone, reasonable child care, and secure retirement programs for the elderly and incapacitated. Students and their parents need not incur huge debts to finance college costs.

These social democracy programs are paid for by an enlightened tax policy that does not disproportionately favor the rich and very rich and has a realistic corporate tax structure. The current policies have the bulk of the wealth going to the top tier, while at the same time driving up the national debt to historic levels.

We already have many social democracy programs in effect in our country, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the vast health care and retirement systems for the federal workforce and the VA system for all of our veterans, as well as government support programs for our farmers.

And really, all levels of our government are operated on social democracy principles, as well as our schools and water/sewer systems and our REA cooperatives and the Bank of North Dakota, which provides student loans. And we have the North Dakota State Mill and Elevator. I believe it's safe to say that the vast majority would not want to cancel all these programs and totally privatize them.

There is room in our country for both free enterprise as well as good social democracy programs for everyone's benefit and life security. And at all levels of our social democracy entities, we get to vote and choose our leaders.

It's important to be informed and to vote in all our elections, whether it be town, county, city, school board, state or national. This is how we can keep our democracy.

I have to admit that I am 100% Norwegian descent and am proud that all the Nordic countries with their social democratic governments are constantly rated as having the best quality of life for all their citizens.

Please do not let the scare tactics of portraying Social Democracy as a dirty word sway your balanced thinking on these matters.

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Letter: Don't believe the socialism scare tactics - INFORUM

Ironically, it will take a democratic socialist movement to prevent the current capitalist system, lacking in oversight regulations, rife with corruption and influence-peddling vastly favoring the super-rich, from imploding onto itself.It will compel the United States to live up to its overriding promise that anyone can succeed depending on their motivation and talent.

Democratic socialism is not a magic panacea or unattainable utopian vision from a futuristic film. Instead, it provides a concrete foundation to lift our nation from the ever-widening social and economic abyss in which we find ourselves.

Related: Now Christian conservatives are attacking 4-H clubs because theyre socialist

Young people, especially those steeped in history or possibly protected from its murky shadows can educate their elders who grew up in earlier generations when socialist was thrown around as an evil epithet.

The type of democratic socialism proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is completely dissimilar from the freedom-killing National Socialism ruthlessly imposed by the Nazis or the ruthless socialism of Venezuela.Rather, the version outlined by Sanders resembles the social and economic systems of Scandinavian countries.

While not referring to herself as a democratic socialist, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has articulated similar plans.

No country in the world today stands as a fully socialist state, but some of the most successful economies combine elements of capitalism with socialism to create greater degrees of equity and fewer disparities between the rich, the poor, and those on the continuum in-between.

This year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development conducted its Better Life Index to determine the happiest countries in the world, according to its residents. Based on an 11-measure survey assessing quality of life, including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction, all of the Scandinavian countries reached the top ten.

Included in descending order are number one, Finland, followed by Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands, Canada, (which provides a single-payer health care system unlike its North American neighbor, the United States), New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia (which places severe restrictions on firearms ownership).

The United States did not make the cut but came in at 17 (down two places from the previous year). We might do well to look to these countries for some of their Socialist policies that sustain high levels of quality of life issues for their residents.

Socialism No Longer an Epithet?

In his second State of the Union Address in 2019, President Donald Trump set a major theme for his 2020 Presidential bid by throwing out the red meat of Socialism to his base characterizing it as an anti-American freedom-killing political philosophy.

Many on the political right have established the false binary of capitalism on one side and socialism on the other. But when we get beyond the fear and false generalizations, is socialism really so anti-American?

Even before the Cold War and McCarthy Era, the political right has flung the term socialist into the faces of their political opponents to discredit their characters, dismiss their political ideas and policies, and sway the electorate toward a conservative agenda.

The type of democratic socialism proposed by Sanders and Warren include policies to protect and enhance our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid safety nets.It advocates for the further nationalization of our forests and mountains rather than allocating increased corporate mining, drilling, and timber rights.

It provides quality education throughout higher education in public colleges and universities.It advances a government-sponsored program that guarantees our seniors a retirement system that ensures a high quality of life free from economic burdens.

It furthers the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.Democratic socialism helps to eliminate workplace and larger societal inequalities based on race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship status, age, sex, sexual identity, gender identity and expression, disability, socioeconomic standing, religion, and other social identities.

It mandates effective governmental regulations on food producers to safeguard our food supply and protect against the maltreatment of animals, and on corporations, companies, and individuals to defend our environment.

It supports clear restrictions on the political process to prevent mammoth contributions by individuals and corporations to buy and own politicians and influence public policy while locking out individuals unable to amass large political funds.

Democratic socialism challenges a prison industrial complex that perpetuates the racial and socioeconomic class inequities pervasive throughout the society.

It contests and advocates for effective restrictions on the so-called free market economic system that enables the creation of mega monopolies, outsourcing jobs, and inhibits the development of clean renewable energy technologies.

Democratic socialism demands a true progressive tax structure where everyone pays their fair share, one that inhibits massive inequities in the overwhelming accumulation of wealth by the top one percent of the nation as is currently the case.

It will take more, though, than a President to do this. It will take Congress to propose and pass legislation and the courts to maintain policies and regulations making the capitalist system more equitable and sustainable.

Yes, it will take a democratic socialist movement to save capitalism from itself. Whodathunkit?

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Will it take democratic socialism to prevent capitalism from imploding? - LGBTQ Nation

(Alan Maass)

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For Tarig Robinson, it was seeing those images of immigrant children lying on the floors of detention centers, huddled under aluminum blankets. I knew I couldnt just sit there, he says. I had to do something about it.Ad Policy

Robinson was in Washington, DC, and he heard about a protest planned for Northern Virginia, outside the home of Thomas Homan, the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The action was organized by the Metro DC chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The people there had a common sense of purpose, says Robinson. This seemed markedly different from other forms of political engagement Id grown up with, where it was all about this polite engagement with the powers that be. Here, we were going to this persons house, and we were confronting him with at least a tiny fraction of the terror that the Blackshirts he commanded presented to undocumented people.

That sense of purpose led Robinson to the Temple University chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), the campus wing of DSA, when he began classes there last yearand this past weekend to a frigid Chicago, where he and 250 other students convened in the Chicago Teachers Union Center for the YDSA Winter Conference.

(Alan Maass)

Sarandon Elliott, a student at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, was drawn to YDSA for similar reasons. I grew up in a working-class black neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, and I just saw that capitalism has never worked for the working class, especially black working-class folks. Its time for a change, its time for radical change.

Others were won over by democratic socialisms recruiting officer in chief: Bernie Sanders, the oldest candidate in the presidential race, whose most fervent base of support is among the youngest voters. Amelia Blair-Smith was inspired by Sanderss 2016 campaign while she was a high school student in suburban Chicago. She joined DSA after Donald Trump won the 2016 election and sought out the YDSA chapter at Carleton College as a freshman one year later.

Many YDSA members are knocking on dorm room doors to build support for Sanders, and the enthusiasm for his underdog successes in the 2020 primaries ran through the conference. The featured speaker was Phillip Agnew, cofounder of the Florida anti-racist organization Dream Defenders and now an official surrogate for the Sanders campaign.

Phillip Agnew of Dream Defenders addressing the conference. (Alan Maass)

Still, canvassing for Bernie comes alongside other YDSA activism: At Temple, Robinsons chapter wants the administration to cut ties to food services providers that contract with privatized prisons and detention centers. At UVA, Elliott is part of YDSAs College for All initiative in coalition with other campus groups to make the school accessible to working-class students. Blair-Smiths first taste of activism at Carleton was the campaign to raise the campus minimum wage from $9.50 to $15 an hour.Current Issue

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For Kristen Cervero, a New York University student and fellow national YDSA cochair with Blair-Smith, all this is bound together in connecting students with democratic socialism. In the past or the present, whether it be Quebec or Chile, or here during the antiVietnam War movement, students and young people have always been in the forefront of fighting for these ideas, so its important for us to organize students who care about things like a Green New Deal and Medicare for All, and make sure that theyre engaged in the struggle.

YDSA has grown dramatically since 2016, with nearly 100 chapters at the start of this year. Joseph Tejada, who moved to New York City from the Dominican Republic two years ago, says YDSA is also expanding its reach from more affluent campuses to working-class schools like LaGuardia Community College, where he is in his fourth semester.

Given the challenges of organizing on a campus where many students go part-time because of jobs and family responsibilities or financial constraints, Tejada says it took a lot of work to grow the chapter from two core members to five since the start of the school year, with others who come to meetings occasionally.

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Students at a school like LaGuardia dont have a lot of faith in the system, Tejada says. When we talk with them, they mostly tell us theyre not political. So our job has mainly been to let them understand that they are indeed political. We start to ask about things that they care about, and most of the time, they end up understanding that they need to be politically engaged, though they may not immediately sign up to be a member.

(Joe Legault)

Talking about Bernie Sanderss campaign is a gateway for students to better understand what socialism stands for, says Tejada. But the conference attendees last weekend were quick to say that the conversation doesnt end there.

Its not about getting him elected and having him put this, this, and that in place, says Tarig Robinson. Its about building working-class power. He thinks Sanders, as the candidate with the most popular platform, will win. But its not all about him. He says it himself: Not me, us. Its about rebuilding the labor movement, and its about rebuilding a working-class movement capable of winning economic justice.

Cervero, speaking in one of the conferences final sessions, urged YDSA members to start thinking about how were going to run beyond Bernie, and what youre going to be doing on your campuses and in your communities to do that. Were going to be running straight into sites of strugglethats where we matter.

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The Future of Democratic Socialism Starts Here - The Nation

The Coeur d'Alene Press - Letters to the Editor, SOCIALISM: Good blend with capitalism '); $(this).addClass('expanded'); $(this).animate({ height: imgHeight + 'px' }); } } }); $('#weather-forcast').html(''); }); function closeExpand(element) { $(element).parent('.expand-ad').animate({ height: '30px' }, function () { $(element).parent('.expand-ad').removeClass('expanded'); $(element).remove(); }); } function runExpandableAd() { setTimeout(function() { $('.expand-ad').animate({ height: $('.expand-ad img').height() + 'px' }); }, 2000); setTimeout(function() { $('.expand-ad').animate({ height: '30px' }); }, 4000); } function customPencilSize(size) { var ratio = 960/size; var screenWidth = $('body').width(); if (screenWidth > 960) screenWidth = 960; $('.expand-ad__holder').parent('.ad').css('padding-bottom', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); $('.expand-ad__holder').css({ height: (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px' }); $('.expand-ad').css({ height: (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px' }); $('.expand-ad img').css('height', 'auto'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('height', 'auto'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('width', '100%'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('max-width', '960px'); } function customSize(size, id) { var element = jQuery('script#' + id).siblings('a').children('img'); if (element.length 960) screenWidth = 960; element.css('height', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); } (function () { window.addEventListener('message', function (event) { $(document).ready(function() { var expand = event.data.expand; if (expand == 'false') { $('.expand-ad__holder').removeClass('expand-ad__holder'); $('.expand-ad').removeClass('expand-ad'); } }); }, false); function loadIframe(size, id) { $('.ad').each(function () { var iframeId = $(this).children('ins').children('iframe').attr('name'); var element = $(this).children('ins').children('iframe'); if (element.length > 0) { var ratio = 960 / size; var screenWidth = $('body').width(); if (screenWidth > 960) screenWidth = 960; element.css('height', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); } }); } })();

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Letters to the Editor, SOCIALISM: Good blend with capitalism - Coeur d'Alene Press

Putins preference?

I just wonder who Vladimir Putin really prefers in the White House: Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? And I also wonder as to the form in which Putin could interfere with our elections. Finally, the-then USSR contributed lots of money to the Communist Party of America in the 1980 to sabotage the election of Ronald Reagan. It got them nowhere.

Svetozar Pejovich, North Dallas

For 60 or more years I have seen the conservatives call many new reform idea socialistic and, thus, bad ideas. After visiting corrupt and less-corrupt capitalistic and socialistic nations like Mexico, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada and China and teaching social policy for some 50 years, I conclude that the United States and the world have been blending socialism and capitalism ideas for over 100 years or more.

Major national news have many articles on how to save capitalism. When those in the coalfields wanted to employ doctors and set up HMO clinics, the coal companies and American Medical Association called it socialism or worse, and said it would be the downfall of society and medical care.

So be not concerned when some claim a new idea is some form of socialism. Individualism and community (collective approaches like insurance) blend well in the less-corrupt nations like Canada, Switzerland and even in the USA. Democratic socialism in Sweden has a very strong capitalist economic society.

Stan Ingman, Denton

Re: Sanders told of Russian backing Senator, unlike Trump, sees activity as effort to undermine democracy, Saturday news story.

This article shows the direct threat Russia is to Americas democracy, and indeed, to the world. I have been following several Facebook groups that support both Democratic and Republican parties and while some participants reflect thoughtful discussion on policies, mostly they are hateful, degrading or apocalyptic statements of the absolute evil of the other side. It is impossible to have thoughtful discussions.

This media brings no value to the election of qualified candidates and in fact, is seemingly designed to ensure that there are no elections that result in anything more than a plurality for a candidate with no majority support after the election. If Russia had devised a way to destroy or at least weaken the U.S. permanently, they could have not devised a better weapon. Social media should be banned from spreading this poison.

If in fact Google, Facebook, Twitter and the others were to try live up to Dont be evil, then that could put a stop to this continuous bombardment of the American public. Elections would be much better if diverse and fair in-depth discussions were held individually between qualified and vetted journalists.

Jay Martin, Pilot Point

Of course Donald John Trump isnt happy with more news of Russian interference in 2016 and 2020 elections. Intelligence officials seem to be playing the role of Toto in The Wizard of Oz. They are knocking down the screen that conceals a very puny wizard. A screen built by Russia, no less.

Anne M. Sanders, Fort Worth

I used to chuckle when I heard the conservative pundit, Michael Savage, refer to liberalism as a mental disorder. Over the past three years, it seems that the Democrats with support from the liberal media have been attempting to prove him right with the failed Mueller investigation and House impeachment fiasco. They have recently reinforced the Savage statement by putting an avowed socialist at the top of their slate of liberal candidates for president.

In a state that proudly claims the motto Live Free or Die!, Sanders came away with the most votes. Crazy right? In a country with 175 million citizens at least 35 years of age, this is the best we can come up with to run for the president of the United States?

Our choice could come down to a socialist whose proposals will kill our booming economy and take away many of the freedoms we enjoy or a bully with a narcissist personality who will continue to alienate half of the population with his childish tweets. At least the liberals still have a choice.

Wes Pyfer, Irving

Re: Dallas misses red-light cameras City officials say crashes are up since states ban, while revenue for safer infrastructure is down, Sunday news story.

I get it that most questions especially political ones do not have simple answers. But when has common sense disappeared? As you so clearly revealed in this story, its a no-brainer that red-light cameras were a good thing. These cameras saved lives many of them. I see drivers run red lights not just every day, but essentially every time I stop at an intersection. Everyone has. It seems as clear as flashing yellow that the only people who dont want red-light cameras are people who run red lights. How simple is that?

Not to mention the revenue that helps keep down our taxes. Even when its common sense, our Legislature bombs again. And thanks to the governor. I believe the first time I took note of him was about a tree in his yard being cut down. He really focuses on the important stuff.

Wheelice Wilson Jr., Coppell

Perfect timing for a red-light piece the same time Michael Bloomberg is taking a hit for stop and frisk. Both are unconstitutional. Red-light cameras catch a vehicle breaking the law, not the person driving. Its not the vehicle owners job or legal requirement to state who was driving at the time of infraction, if the owner knows.

But, if you digest the complete article, it is not really about safety, it is about money for the city. Granted, red-light cameras do save lives and prevent injuries. But like stop and frisk, which also saved lives, it is not constitutional. And no, I have never had a red-light ticket or ever had a ticket in 50 years.

Brent Beal, Mansfield

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Letters to the Editor - Russian election interference, Vladimir Putin, socialism, social media, red-light cameras in Texas - The Dallas Morning News