Socialism helps those in need

To the editor;

Joe Martin's letter implies that we are threatened by creeping socialism. Socialism is already here in the form of Social Security, welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, free public schools and meal vouchers.

Socialism means the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, often through taxes and government programs. In a pure capitalistic society, the old and poor would be left to fend for themselves, as they were so often in the past.

Martin is confusing socialism with the German National Socialists, a party hijacked by Hitler and twisted into a platform of hate, similar to how racist governor George Wallace tried to hijack Democratic politics in Alabama in the 1960s.

The message of socialism is helping those who are in need and cannot help themselves, quite similar to one of Christianity's key themes. Perhaps that's why so many socialists and Christians in Europe and South America vote for their respective Christian Socialist parties.

TANI BOHNERT, Cape Girardeau