What is it that makes people afraid of the left agenda? Why is socialism so evil and any hint of it anti-American? There are many problems in our nation and in our community, yet any hope of solving them often becomes messy with potential solutions being labeled as leftist. Potential solutions should be considered dreams that may come true. Good dreams are not nightmares!

Think of the many issues confronting us: gun safety, student loan debt, college costs, childcare costs, housing costs, reproductive rights, healthcare for all, social security funding, Medicare funding, Medicaid funding, family-sustaining wages, homelessness, just to name some of the biggest issues of our day. Every one of these issues requires a community and a nation to get behind and solve if we ever want to make a dent in resolving the issues before us. No one is an island; we need each other to solve our problems. You can’t win a tug of war with one person.

But every time we make a dent into solving these issues, a battle cry goes out: Beware of Democratic Socialist agenda with nightmarish consequences.

These issues affect all working Americans but not all well-off people. The main issue for the people with money is how to protect their wealth. Apparently, it is not the duty of well-off citizens to help the community at large with our societal needs. It is the duty of the community to help the people with money to remain wealthy with tax cuts. The poor chose to be poor. It is their fault! If we help them, we enable them to be lazy! Why do we enable the well-off to get richer while forcing the poor to get poorer? This philosophy comes nowhere close to The Golden Rule.

Have we forgotten The Golden Rule? Back in elementary school, we learned to treat others as we want to be treated; to let no harm come to anyone that you would not wish upon yourself. This simple rule seems like something from the distant past that has been conveniently forgotten. Did our wealth get in the way?

If you love your neighbor as yourself, childcare for single moms, healthcare, housing for the poor, education, good paying jobs, pensions, social security, gun control safety, and many other issues would be clamoring for solutions to benefit everyone. This is just a long list of basic human needs, not a radical left communist, agenda.

We can solve these problems if we want to. But it means the wealthy must help. We can’t sustain a society where the poor help the rich get richer. We must create a society where the rich help the poor because it’s The Golden Rule. As a preacher in church during the offertory once said. I have good news and bad news. The good news is we have all the money we need to reach our goals. The bad news is, it’s in your pockets! We must learn to believe in the liberal agenda of The Golden Rule and not fear it, if we want our city and nation to succeed.

Edward Vos is a

Jamestown resident.