Privatization

So “Privatization (is) the Engine of Human Misery,” is it (Column Left, Jan. 5, by Alexander Cockburn)? True to liberal revisionism, he forgets the misery of the statist regimes behind the Iron Curtain and in Latin America, which existed concurrently with a relatively happy, relatively privatized society, namely, ours. The problems in Russia, Eastern Europe and South America evolved over decades; they won’t go away overnight. One didn’t have to be an expert in economics to predict that nations in transition would experience pain.

Cockburn’s naive reference to “free health care” demonstrates his refusal to base ideology on empirical evidence. Not only is that care not free, but--judging by articles from people in socialist paradises like Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada--it is not that good, either. I’d like to clear up his confusion on politico-economic philosophies, too: He refers to classical liberals as “neo-liberals.” I contend that the real “neo-liberals” are F.D.R.-type liberals, who feel free to give free rides to others with my taxes.

JAMES V. HALLORAN III

Redondo Beach