LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Democrats need to do better, so I will
Genevieve Guenther
To the Editor,
Here is the big problem for Democrats:
The Republicans are correct when they say that we have not had a new idea for the past 50 years. They are also correct when they say that we have had no real national platform/agenda that we believe in and stand for.
I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but at least I have a platform/agenda that I believe in and stand for. I want the federal government to do more and spend more to help our citizens who are poor, near-poor, lower-middle-class, and middle-class who are struggling to survive and to pay their bills. I want the national Democratic Party to be the way that it was in the 1960s when we cared more about all of these people and fought harder to make life better for them.
The problem with the national Democrats is that they have offered no way to pay for anything that would help to make life better for us. So, we are stuck and have been spinning our wheels for the past 50 years doing virtually nothing to help anyone. It’s no wonder why people are sick and tired of us. We haven’t offered anything new or different. I am a Democrat, and I am also sick and tired of us.
The only way to get the revenue to actually do something in a big way to help Americans is something that the national Democrats seem to lack the courage and bravery to advocate for. So I will.
Donald Trump proposed it in 1999. Look it up. The only way to get the revenue to fund my platform/agenda is to pass a “National Wealth Tax.”
If you want to play “Robin Hood” (as I do) you have to tax WEALTH because that’s where the big bucks are. So, I advocate for the passage of a “National Wealth Tax” of 10% on all individuals with a net-wealth and net-worth of $10 million and higher. This will affect less than 1% of our population.
If we want to have a Canadian-style national health insurance program which will cover and help 99% of Americans, except the very rich, this is the only way to come up with the money to pay for it.
It will also generate enough revenue for the President and the Congress to one day declare a “War on Cancer”
so that we will finally spend enough money to start to find cures for all forms/kinds of cancer and end the suffering once and for all.
Sincerely,
Stewart B. Epstein
Rochester, New York 14624
Stewart B. Epstein is a retired college professor of Sociology and Social Work. He taught at West Virginia University, Slippery Rock University, and SUNY-Brockport. He recently announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress in 2020 and will run against incumbent Congressman Chris Collins in western New York.
Stewart B Epstein • Jan 27, 2019 at 4:36 am
I LOVE Jared’s comments!
I have respect for anyone who has the human decency to put his or her name to such remarks.
I prefer it to all of the anonymous, cowardly postal letters that I get from right-wingers (mostly males like Jared is).
I would like to be able to send Jared my current letter to the editor in which I point out that there has never been a society with a socialist economy that has worked, and why socialism will not work now, but might possibly work in 1000-2000 years from now. But not until then.
I think tens of millions of senior citizens who receive Social Security benefits might disagree with Jared that “social welfare programs” haven’t done any good. Social Security IS a social welfare program.
By the way, “USA Today” newspaper has endorsed the idea of a national wealth tax.
In fact, Elizabeth Warren is now only the second Democrat to propose a national wealth tax—the problem is that her’s is too small. I think I was the first.
I don’t engage in trading insults with people, In fact, I have instructed everyone associated with my campaign not to say one word about the incumbent’s legal issues because I believe that it would be morally wrong, cruel, and hurtful to him, his wife, and his family and friends to do so.
I am used to conservatives who make snide, spiteful, sarcastic, and insulting remarks to and about us “liberal/progressive” Democrats. It is easy for them to do so given how cold-hearted so many of them are and given the growing number of them who are really scary “Survival-of-the-fittest” Social Darwinists.
I will send your newspaper my letter about how socialism doesn’t work but could only work thousands of years from now IF we all become more loving and caring and compassionate human beings and less selfish and self-absorbed than we are now.
Thank you for publishing my letter. “The Orlando Sentinel” and “The Tor onto Star” also did so.
I am almost certain that you realized that I sent it to your university because I enjoy trying to inform as many people as possible on the issues of the day. Most newspaper editors do, and universities all across the country have published my letters. I also believe that you realized that, too.
I want to wish you a great semester. I very much miss my college students. I loved their idealism and desire to make the world a better place.
Best wishes,
Stew
Jared Wolbert • Jan 24, 2019 at 8:52 am
While I appreciate the recognition you have of your own party’s problems, it’s hard for me to understand how someone can admit that the party hasn’t had any good ideas for fifty years and still have some allegiance to it. A party that has no new ideas for fifty years (may I say the fastest fifty years in regard to the speed of communication) sounds conservative.
Your “good” idea is to raise taxes on our nation’s wealthiest. How is this any different than any other suggestion to raise taxes on the wealthy? I don’t think you saying how you would like to see that money spent makes your idea any better than any others. If you want to play Robin Hood, I suggest contacting a local art stage.
At the core of what I think you represent (please correct me if I’m wrong) is socialism, which I don’t find wrong necessarily. That is the logical conclusion I have to draw from someone who thinks the democrats have been too conservative and haven’t helped anyone for decades. It seems you are probably further left on the political spectrum than the democratic party (which might be a requirement for a PhD in sociology as far as I can tell).
I agree that you’re probably not the smartest person in the world and I don’t mean this as an insult. I believe you have probably been in a leftist echo chamber throughout your career and that you may be a genuinely compassionate person (I think this is probably true for many humanities professors).
Personally, I’m extremely malleable in my political beliefs and I have no allegiance to a political party nor politician and never will. I’m conservative fiscally and in the face of radical ideas but liberal in most aspects. I do know that most of the niceties in our lives are the results of capitalism and I have seen no evidence that social welfare programs have done any good at large for our society and the individuals receiving benefits (of course, there are exceptions but that doesn’t mean that social welfare programs were the only solution too). I find one the biggest issues in this country to be crony-capitalism, which firstly, gives true capitalism a bad name because it is a corrupted version. Also, it undermines the competitive nature of capitalism by giving certain players an unfair advantage due to government policy.
Why did you post this in a North Carolina university’s student paper? How many potential voters did you think you would reach here? Three? You seem inefficient enough for Congress, I’ll give you that.