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Where are the Communists everyone's talking about?
To The Reader's Forum:
It's election season which means it's time for politicians to, either, tout their accomplishments if things have gone well, or attack their opponent if things are going poorly. In the spirit of election season, I have heard in my community about the rise of communism. Our president has spoken of protecting Americans from the threat of communism, though this idea has mostly emerged with the midterms. It's a fascinating, if ridiculous, idea.
True communism is identified with State control of Industry, product price controls, equality of income, prohibition of trade unions (since government determines income) and a centralized economy where government controls banking and trade. This is very different from democratic socialism which encourages a mix of government and private contributions to industry, encourages trade unions, and progressive taxation among other things. Our country already functions, much like European countries, as a social democracy "light". We spend far less on healthcare and social services than our neighbors to the East and those services are not guaranteed. But we have a mix of public/private ownership, trade unions and government regulation of private enterprise.
Why is this important? Because Trump has instituted the most communist practices of any U.S president in the last 60+ years. The approval of Nippon steel's 14.9 Billion acquisition of U.S. steel which Trump demanded a "golden share" and gave his administration veto power over company decisions. The DOD used 400 million in taxpayer money to buy a 15% share in MP materials. Trump intervened in beef market pricing by using taxpayer money to purchase foreign beef. Trump allowed Nvidia and AMD to sell AI chips to China by shaking them down for 15% of profits. Trump Rx, Trump accounts, Trump IRA, Trump tariffs. The list goes on and on.
In contrast, I challenge anyone to go find a communist. I don't watch television news or use social media so I don't know where the communists are, but I don't know a person in this country that wants a crappy guaranteed income the same as everyone else, to live in state housing with state control of their lives. Not a one. There are always debates about how much, and how, the government (us) should spend our hard earned money on our fellow Americans and ourselves but those are real debates and what we should consider when we go to the polls. Communism scares are a waste of our time.
Melissa First
Lakewood
What have we become?
To The Reader's Forum:
In my eighty-five years, I've seen a lot. I can't believe what our country has become. We now live in a country with a disturbed wannabe dictator. He admires the Russian dictator. He orders an illegal sneak attack on another country, without permission of the Congress. We have become a country where protesters can be murdered by government thugs, without fear of legal punishment. They target innocent people because of the color of their skin. They pull people out of their cars and beat them up. They make people "disappear" into prisons, without allowing legal representation. The wannabe dictator's Department of Justice is used as a weapon to harass political critics, such as reporters, colleges and law firms. He plans to use our tax money to build monuments to himself, like a Roman emperor.
I am deeply saddened to realize that a large number of our fellow citizens tolerate these kinds of behavior. Many Americans have forgotten similar conditions in the past, like the persecutions of movie actors and teachers during the McCarthy period, and the imprisonment of Americans of Japanese ancestry, whole families who were put in concentration camps in the desert.
It is time for top-level law-makers to stand up to Trump and tell him -- "Enough". Maybe we can ask our local Congressman to do so.
Jeffrey Victor
Jamestown
Don't be fooled by promised Trump payments
To The Reader's Forum:
As I write, there are about 53 days from Election Day, 2026 and the Republicans are holding a "convention" in Texas. Trump spoke yesterday and offered every adult citizen $5,000 if the Republicans continue to hold majorities in both the House and Senate in the 2026 elections. Not to spoil the party for Republicans, but there are a few reasons why the offer is unlikely.
First, Trump has made at least 3 other offers of substantial payments to American adults that have fizzled over time. Second, it should be no secret that the offer will cost $1.3 trillion, and the federal budget is only about $7 trillion, so Trump would have to borrow money to make good on his promise which would spike costs even further for taxpayers. Third, both houses of Congress must change, which seems unlikely since the House of Representatives should change and the momentum is with the Democrats to win the Senate, too. Fourth, the Republican promise is, at best, a "defensive" strategy because the Republicans have run out of positive strategies with Trump's "tariffs" and the war with Iran that are causing all kinds of surging costs of food, oil, fertilizer (to name a few) that have no end in sight! (Trump should have better listened to Bill Clinton's strategists who warned, "It's the economy, stupid!")
Even Nick Langworthy is running a "defensive" campaign hoping to fool voters into believing there is some "magic" in saying he's against taking money for stock trading even though there is nothing prohibiting House members benefitting from stock trading! That is what is known as a "meaningless" position! I could also say "I'm against stock trading" but how do I prove it? There has to be some law against it, which there isn't!
Langworthy has failed to support an end to surging costs for food, housing and gasoline by broadly supporting Trump's agenda. He knows that only Americans pay tariffs, which the Supreme Court called "taxes", yet he has failed to oppose them. The war with Iran keeps going on – "a forever war" – that only Congress has power to declare. By not saying "no", to this and other actions by Trump, Langworthy has given tacit approval to Trump!
The time has come to make NY-23 accountable to the voters. Langworthy is a federal Congressman and has federal responsibilities. He can't hide those responsibilities further with meaningless positions!
Paul L. Demler
Jamestown