A selfish bunch

To the editor:

Recently, I wrote in and complained that the whole country and its media had swung to the far right and that anything to the left is condemned as evil by associating it with socialism or communism. This past week, one writer who responded to my more recent mockery of the conservative mindset has helped me make this point.

He trashed the left by playing the “socialism” card. But he also wrote that he’s 79 years old and attended KU on the GI Bill — a social program. He then likely bought a home with VA-guaranteed financing — a social program. He’s likely receiving Social Security — a social program. And he’s likely taking advantage of Medicare — exactly the kind of social program he condemned Sen. Clinton for promoting. He trashes socialism without, apparently, understanding just how much he’s personally benefited from it. (A pretty good example of a lack of “integrative complexity.”)

Since the McCarthy era, any political position or program that benefits the people has been condemned as socialist or communist. Since the Reagan era, anyone or anything considered “liberal” has been successfully demonized to the point that politicians are terrified of the label. By attacking populists as “liberal,” conservatives have manipulated the electorate by scaring them off of anything that might actually make their lives better.

It’s long past time that we unmask conservatives for the mean, selfish and greedy bunch that they are and move our nation and world toward a more responsible, humane and compassionate state.

Mike Cuenca,

Lawrence