What is it about that word that so riles Democrats?

To the editor:

In response to Geoff Schumacher’s Friday column, "Stop calling Democrats ‘socialists’ ":

To be sure, there are a significant number of Democrats (perhaps a large majority) who are not socialists. The current Democrat administration, however, clearly espouses a socialist agenda. It is difficult to characterize this administration as having a single economic philosophy because it is represented by a number of czars, advisers and influencers who represent several political and economic agendas, ranging from Marxist/socialist to communist.

People in this group include, but are not limited to, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, Carol Browner, Van Jones, Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Mark Lloyd and Ezekiel Emanuel. Mr. Obama himself was seen on the news during the 2008 campaign telling "Joe the Plumber" that he thinks things are better when we "share the wealth." That sounds socialistic to me.

Mr. Schumacher states that "the Obama administration has never embraced it" (referring to the government run, single-payer health care system). It shouldn’t overtax Mr. Schumacher’s research capacity to find a video of Mr. Obama saying that he "favors a single-payer health care system, but it may take us 10 or 15 years to get there." It would appear now that the clear objective is to get the infrastructure in place.

Also, Mr. Schumacher states that "most conservative politicians are vocal supporters of Social Security, Medicare and the Veterans Administration medical system." The truth is that most conservative politicians (and most conservatives) have little choice but to support these programs vocally because they have been in place so long that a large segment of the population has planned their retirement around them and paid into these programs for most of their lives. The fact is that most conservatives, and anyone else who thinks about it carefully, recognizes these programs for what they are — unsustainable government Ponzi schemes that will ultimately end as all Ponzi schemes end. There will be a large number of people holding the bag.

By the way, the bag right now has between $50 trillion and $100 trillion of unfunded liabilities. As Margaret Thatcher once said, "Socialism inevitably runs out of other people’s money."

The end of Mr. Schumacher’s column offers interesting opportunity. He appeals to conservatives to avoid calling politicians socialists, and policies socialistic if they are not. I assume that it is all right then to call them socialist and socialistic if they are.

Finally, he offers that if a conservative proposal is not really "a big, fat smooch on the behind of big business" he won’t say it is. I wonder how he would characterize the deals that the Obama administration has made with pharmaceutical companies, AARP, insurance companies, trial lawyers, unions and certain unprincipled senators in an attempt to pass Obamacare.

A "big, fat smooch on the behind," anyone?

John B. Alvord

LAS VEGAS

Helping Haiti

To the editor:

I was born in the Dominican Republic, but have lived in the United States since I came here as a young boy, and have been a U.S. citizen since 1970. While I consider myself a Dominican, I am also proud to be an American, and am very proud of the work the United States is doing to help the relief efforts in Haiti since the devastating earthquake hit that nation on Jan. 12.

I have been very disappointed, however, in seeing how the U.S. media, including television and newspapers, are making it look as if the United States is the only country providing assistance. Countries all around the world have responded to the call — Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea and Morocco. And the list goes on.

For example, the Dominican President Leonel Fernandez was the first national leader to visit Haiti after the earthquake, and met with Haitian President Rene Preval and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive to agree on implementation of an "immediate response" plan. The Dominican Republic immediately sent in 49 civil defense rescue workers to Haiti, including heavy equipment for removing the rubble. Dominican airports across the country were put at the disposal of any country needing them to get relief into Haiti. Collection centers were established all across the country for food, medicine, and clothing to be sent to Haiti. The Dominican Telecommunications Institute and the State Electricity Corporation are working toward restoring communications and energy in Haiti. A vaccination campaign is being conducted by the Dominican Republic Ministry of Public Health, as a way of preventing epidemics.

The point is that this has been a global response, and more effort should be made to acknowledge that. The United States is a country made up of immigrants from all around the world, and they would like to be informed of what things each of their particular countries are doing to help Haiti.

Miguel Lugo

LAS VEGAS

Third party

To the editor:

If ever there were a time for a viable third political party in this country, that time is now.

All the Republicans and Democrats care about is pursuing their own separate ideology, furthering the agenda of their own party, and getting re-elected. There is absolutely no concern at all for the common good of man.

When will this insanity stop, so we can get back to a true form of government by representation?

Tim Hicks

LAS VEGAS