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‘Socialistic’ elements exist in American society

To the editor:

This country has always had a strong element of “socialistic” commonwealth in it from the very beginning. It would not be the great nation it became without people coming together in communities to shape, build and transform their lives together. Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Massachusetts all label themselves as commonwealths not states.

An Army, Navy or Air Force does not consist of one man or woman but rather hundreds of thousands and millions coming together in a single force. Social cooperation occurs for defense, to fight fires, to provide security, to educate individuals and communities and to build opportunities. Capital with nothing to invest in is just paper or a digital number on a computer screen.

The first insurance groups were fraternal cooperative groups gathered around fire companies, farm co-ops, religious communities and others with common cause to protect them from accident and disaster. These were acts of socialistic activity for the benefit of individuals and communities.

An Amazon or Facebook doesn’t emerge without thousands of employees working in dozens of different jobs requiring unique skills and a spirit of community and cooperative effort. It begins with an idea and a vision. Still an idea without labor (in all its meanings) is nothing substantial. But an idea manifest in a community with a common vision becomes the potential to change ones destiny. All of that is an expression of social economies. When corporations speak about their culture what they are talking about is an expression socialistic behavior.

Our present chaos now exists because a man was elected who thinks it is all about him. As someone wrote, “He is just like the house cat who has its meal set out and its litter pan changed and all the time believes he is completely independent.”

William N. Esborn

Mifflintown

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