The common good
EDITOR: Probably in response to the continuing popularity of Bernie Sanders and the primary election victories of progressive candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, I have noticed an increase in negative articles, cartoons and television commentary against the Democratic Socialists of America. Perhaps fearing a shift in the power structure, even Democratic Party leaders have joined in.
In the meantime the current administration touts reported gains in the stock market and we hear how the economy is “roaring back.” While it would be nice to believe that life in these United States is doing so well, there seems to be something skewed in these positive reports.
Recently Philip Alston, the United Nations monitor on extreme poverty and human rights, toured the U.S. In his report, Alston stated: “The United States is one of the world’s richest and most powerful and technologically innovative countries; but neither its wealth, nor its power, nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation in which 40 million people continue to live in poverty.”
Forty million people live in poverty in the richest, most powerful country in the world? And the federal government spends billions on tearing apart families and warehousing the children in abandoned Walmarts, threatens to cut Social Security and veterans’ benefits, wants to eliminate health care access for those who cannot afford it, and starts a world-wide trade war that is costing jobs in this country and putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk when countries like China and Mexico must look elsewhere to buy commodities.
The Democratic Socialists of America are not a political party, but an organization that wants to change the political system so it will work for the common good of all people. I joined the DSA when it became obvious that neither of our two major political parties seems able to counterbalance an economic and political system that supports an unequal society where even working families struggle to make it.
It is appalling that a small percentage of our citizens live in absolute wealth and comfort while 40 million live in the kind of poverty that means they suffer from food and shelter insecurity, lack other basic necessities and must live without the safety net of medical insurance. These are the things that the DSA wants to change.
Pamela J. Tinnin
Cloverdale
