The big Republican attack on Democrats is that they are socialists. It’s all over Fox News, echoed by Republican candidates, Breitbart, Trump, radio talk show hosts….
The basic definition of socialism is: an economic system advocating that the means of making, moving, and trading wealth should be owned by the government.
Is there a single Democrat advocating this? No!
The Republican fallback position is to call names and make ad-hominem attacks. They don’t seem able to say what is wrong with the Democratic positions, so they call them “socialism”, hoping that is enough for the voters. It is the great socialism smear campaign of 2019-20.
Republicans have their own definition of socialism: any program or law that does not benefit the wealthy or corporations and takes the common good and human needs into account, now that’s socialism
They called the plan to provide free polio vaccinations to children socialism, medicare was “socialized medicine”, the Affordable Care Act was socialism, social security was a socialist program, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to protect citizens from being robbed by banks and other financial institutions, was a socialist plot. But they had no problem with the trillions for the bank bailout, that’s capitalism!
Republicans are labeling support for renewable energy (but not hundred billion dollar subsidies to the oil and gas industry) “socialist”. Any attempt to raise the minimum wage above $7.25, they scream “socialism”.
Their whole campaign is one big lie!
Michael Frandzel
Portsmouth, NH
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.