Suckow Letter

To the Editor,
I would like to respond to the column written by Jacob Longton on capitalism and George W. Bush in Friday’s issue of CM LIFE.
First, anyone with a basic economic understanding knows that capitalism is a flawed system. While our system, I would agree, is better than any communist system that has been implemented, there are many factors which keep it from being ideal. To simplify, capitalism only looks at individual wants, and only considers the individual’s ability to make purchases or conduct exchanges. However, economic systems, like any other theory or philosophy, evolve.
Second, and “ism” can be dangerous when taken to extremes. The root word of capitalism is, of course, capital. Capital is basically money. Thus, our economic system is based on “moneyism” or even “money worship.”
Third, I have to wonder how many low-income students at this college are receiving Pell Grants. This form of government intrusion in our lives is against everything capitalists stand for: personal accountability. I wonder if Mr. Longton has ever been the recipient of this horrible atrocity? Perhaps he should immediately pay back the government with interest plus administrative expenses.
Fourth, two parties do not meet the needs of American citizenry. This is obvious because more than half of eligible Americans do not vote. If two parties ran candidates for office whom the people could believe in, I would have to assume that at least a majority could turn out on election day. To illustrate: President Clinton was only voted for by about a quarter of American citizens. About half of the 48 percent of Americans who voted in 1996 for our current president.
To conclude, polls show that almost all Americans support, “small government with fewer programs,” over, “large government with more programs.” The problem is that nobody agrees on which programs to cut. I’m sure neither Jacob nor any other person I know want their grandparents to stop receiving Medicare simply because they should have taken the initiative to care for their own retirement. Neglecting the needs of the poor and elderly is not justified by the desire of the rich and powerful to have control of their lives.