Sanders support saddening

Dear editor:

It really hasn't been too far back in time in which the overwhelming majority of Americans regarded socialism and communism as being undesirable, evil systems of government! That was true in both the Republican Party under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and in the original (less liberal) Democratic Party led by President John F. Kennedy. The communist countries have always been regarded as some of America's worst enemies!

Unfortunately, we now have a president who is prone to want to become close friends with communist leaders, terrorist leaders and all sorts of radicals. Is it any wonder that the modern-day Democrats have become so soft on communism and socialism?

How sad and tragic it is to see the Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders getting so much support in the presidential race! His supporters are largely coming from the under-30 population who are woefully ill-informed about the whole truth concerning socialism and communism.

Bernie is attracting all of the freeloaders in our society who just want to live off government handouts and they believe that they deserve it! This has largely been taught to them by their nutty socialist professors. Many of them also have not had the biblical work ethic taught to them at home either.

I wonder how many of those young folks of the millennial, entitlement generation have ever honestly asked themselves why so many people living in communist countries often want to leave there and come to America? Just look at Cuba! Talk to some of the Cuban-Americans and find out why they left. Did the communist dictator Fidel Castro make Cuba a good place to live?

How about North Korea? Would you like to live there? Communist Red China? Venezuela? Remember the late dictator Hugo Chavez? Vladimir Putin? All "real nice guys" who are communist!

Remember the old Soviet Union which included many communist East European nations, such as East Germany? There was a wall that had been built completely surrounding East Berlin -- to keep the people from escaping the terrible communist rule!

Some of you may be saying that socialism and communism are not exactly the same. True, but keep in mind that socialism is only one step away from communism!

Let's look at the definition of communism in Webster's Dictionary: "1. any economic theory or system based on the ownership of all property by the community as a whole; 2. A hypothetical stage of socialism, formulated by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and others, to be characterized by a classless and stateless society and the equal distribution of economic goods and to be achieved by revolutionary and dictatorial, rather than gradualistic means ... a one-party political structure, and an emphasis on the requirements of the state rather than on individual liberties; cf Socialism; 3. often a political movement for establishing a communist system ..."

Notice the leaders are always dictators? You want this kind of government for America?

Too bad that the Bernie Sanders socialist supporters can't go to a communist country to live for several years!

They would have almost no freedoms there. Try it!

Lloyd Hoffman

Hot Springs

P.S. No! I'm no Hillary fan either!

Editorial on 02/12/2016

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