Opinion: Socialism is popular in the U.S., and it’s not hard to figure out why

To the editor: Jonah Goldberg insists that socialism is disastrous and hard to reconcile with democracy. (“Venezuela’s a disaster. Yet socialism’s more popular than ever,” Opinion, Dec. 19).

The world, however, has many examples of both successful socialistic democracies and painfully undemocratic capitalistic regimes, demonstrating that economic systems do not necessarily dictate politics.

Capitalism is our economic system in America, but we have “socialistic” aspects: public schools, libraries, parks, Social Security, Medicare and more. Americans who want to expand these public goods clash with those who would curb them.

Politically, our country is a democracy, but ordinary citizens nowadays feel their concerns are being drowned out by moneyed interests. We see many Americans who despair of a good job, who struggle to afford healthcare, who can’t afford a place to live. The growing economic insecurity of many Americans contrasts with the incredible amount of wealth that has been accruing to the 1%.

No wonder some are willing to consider other ways of structuring society.

Grace Bertalot, Anaheim

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To the editor: Goldberg asserts that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet “helped his country transition to democracy.” In what way could a military coup against President Salvador Allende, winner of a fair and democratic election in 1970, be considered helping Chile transition to democracy?

Goldberg overlooks the actions taken by the U.S. government to ensure that socialism did indeed “fail” across Latin America. For example, if the United States had not constantly threatened Cuba and placed it under an economic embargo for more than 50 years, certainly its socialist project would have achieved even more success, especially in terms of the provision of food.

While it is true that many governments espousing socialist ideas have failed to deliver on their promises, it would be a gross simplification to state, as Goldberg does, that socialist policies are the “cause,” and the “effect” is mass misery and starvation.

Miles Krumpak, Los Angeles

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