Judging from the commentary by Rep. Chris Stewart in the Feb. 26 Tribune, he is not in favor of a Medicare-for-all healthcare system. I wonder if he would vote to eliminate our current systems of Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP (the Children's Health Insurance Program)?
He doesn't seem to understand the difference between "democratic socialism" (which has no price controls), and "extreme socialism" (which does have price controls).
He doesn't seem to realize that our police and fire departments, public schools, libraries, streets, water/garbage/sewage services, utilities, local and national government agencies, unemployment, welfare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. are all examples of democratic socialism.
The late brilliant professor of political science at the University of Utah, J.D. Williams, said that the best economy is a mixture of capitalism and democratic socialism. He was right. Pure capitalism is too harsh. For example, it doesn't protect the environment. The socialist Environmental Protection Agency does protect the environment. At least, it did until President Trump took office.
Most Utahns, and especially our Republican office-holders are stuck in the 1950s. They try to claim that democratic socialism is as bad as communism. They are wrong.
Stephen Clark, Salt Lake City
