Letter: Liberal and socialist not the same

Caitlin Yamada/ Iowa State Daily

Sen. Bernie Sanders hosted a rally on Sept. 8 in Ames. He spoke on many aspects of his campaign, including the Medicare for All bill that he signed with 14 other senators.

Stewart B. Epstein

With all due respect to my fellow Americans, most of us simply don’t seem to know that a “Liberal/Progressive” is not the same thing as a “Socialist.” This includes the Democratic Party presidential candidates (such as Bernie Sanders) as well as the members of “The Squad,” such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
 
A true “Socialist” is someone who wants all of the businesses and workplaces to be owned and controlled by “the state” or “the government” or “the workers” or “the people” and NOT by individuals and groups of people who run them for PROFIT as we have here in the USA.
 
Democrats who want our federal government to spend more on social programs to help the lower and middle classes as they struggle to survive and pay their bills are NOT “Socialists.” They are “Liberals/Progressives” who want our market-based capitalist economic system to become MORE HUMANE (and not replaced) by having our federal government spend more to help the lower and middle classes.
 
Let’s use a little common sense here — how can someone (including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar) be a true “Socialist” when they DO NOT advocate for and fight for replacing our market-based CAPITALIST economic system with a SOCIALIST economic system?