Letter: Socialism is not the answer

<p><strong>To the editor:</strong></p><p>To whom it concerns, I am not a “boomer,” I am just a Gen X’er, and I am not going to lay down and let you millennial’s hand to me and my children a socialist government. Absolutely not. Not without a fight.</p><p>By way of background, I grew up when there was an East Germany. I lived watching the Polish people fight for their freedom against the socialist government of Poland. I watched the socialist government of Poland roll out the heavy hand and try to crush the “Solidarity” movement. I remember the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. I watched the seminal, epic television mini-series the “Day After.” I lived in a time when we practiced for the very real possibility of a nuclear attack on our nation. We lived under threat of Socialist attack by the so called “socialist utopia” of the Soviet Union every day. It was real. When I got to college, I pursued a degree in American history with a specialization in Russian and Soviet history. My goal was to perhaps join the State department or maybe the United Nations and work to help bring stable peace between the first and second worlds.</p><p>I am here to tell you, you who are the millennial’s, and those who are not, you are being duped. The promise of socialism is a literal and figurative dead end. It is dangerous. It squashes individualism. It crushes the human spirit. It raises collectivism. It makes the state greater than all of you. Your needs, your wants, your life’s purpose will be seen as inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Your individuality will be submerged into the “greater good.” You may ask: What determines the greater good? Not you. The central committee of the people does.</p><p>But you say: This is “democratic socialism” and not communism. Well, yes and no. Socialism is the start. As Vladimir Lenin so aptly said, ”The goal of socialism is communism.” He was right. That is the goal. Socialism is only a stepping stone towards communism. No socialist utopia is ever going to be possible as long as the state is not in control of the outcomes. If you doubt this, look around at history — both past and present. Socialism requires complete obedience to the state. Communism enforces complete obedience. When socialists find they can’t get compliance from the people, they always resort to revolutionary socialism, a.k.a. communism. That’s the difference.</p><p>The people in the U.S. need to figure out how far left they want to go. Sen. Bernie Sanders is on track now to head to the convention with enough delegates to win the democratic nomination. Is it a done deal yet? No. But every primary and every caucus that we have, he gets closer to his nomination, and we get closer to the socialist utopia he wants us to adopt.</p><p>Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and for that matter all Americans, need to question whether they’re OK with what Sanders and his new “socialist Democratic” Party stand for. We need to question whether we’re OK with the 9 month or post-birth abortions policy; whether we are OK with raising taxes on our children and grandchildren; whether we are OK with ending the electoral college; whether we want to throw out the constitutional republic that has served our nation for more than 200 years as envisioned by our forefathers, and replace it with a “pure democracy;” whether we want to end work place health insurance in favor of a big government option.</p><p>So, do we want to continue comparing ourselves to countries that are smaller than New York City and use them as a model for a country of more than 340 million people?</p><p>Big government is a not the answer; it is the problem. The Marxist argument is a big government argument. Our country, and my ancestors, have fought wars to maintain our Constitution as it is written. I will not stand by and allow repackaged communist ideology to take over this country and run this exceptional nation into an early grave.</p><p><p><strong>Jim Sullivan</strong></p><p><p><strong>Indianapolis</strong></p>