Letter: Bury the hateful rhetoric and learn to work together

The United States is an open and free country with a vibrant capitalist economy. It is this very type of economy that reduces poverty. Capitalism is not the enemy of the people, it is their salvation.

The late Pope Francis was a Socialist from a Socialist country and by his own words he abhorred capitalism. It makes no sense that any Pontiff would have these views if his goal was to reduce poverty worldwide. Socialism is an economic and political philosophy based on social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. Yet, it has been capitalism and the private ownership of the means of production that has taken nearly 1 billion people from extreme poverty in the past 20 years.

Today’s political discourse is the most hate-filled I have ever seen. It is one party that actually hates the other party. Gone are the days when disagreement about policy was tempered by the love of country. The press has always taken sides and powerhouses like Hearst, Gannett and Pulitzer always had the loudest voices. However, there were many voices back then and they all had the opportunity to be heard. In today’s multi-media world that is not always the case.

Not since the days of the Civil War has the press (media) been so divided and hate-filled. There have been times since when the country had differences, times and issues like World War I, Prohibition, the New Deal, Civil Rights, Segregation, Vietnam, Watergate, and what the definition of is, is, where the press tried to pit us one against another. The rhetoric was toxic then just as it is now.

Instead of hating a person or party, it would be much more therapeutic to offer constructive ideas. Instead of calling for impeachments, violence, demonstrations and name-calling, it would be more civic-minded to call for unity. We can’t always get what we want, but we can always cooperate.

It’s way past time to put aside our petty differences and work to make our nation better. One such way is to embrace capitalism once again. Capital is what employs people, it pays the bills, it grows the economy and it raises people from poverty.

Americans are not like other nationalities; we are all as different as different can be. We agree to disagree, or we used to. We founded our country on the freedom to practice any religion we wanted, to have a voice in our governing, and to be governed less, not more. We are unique in that private property is sacrosanct and that the government is not entitled to our lands. We are free to be as rich or as poor as we want to be, without the government dictating to us.

The best for our country is compromise and now is the time to start practicing that again. Instead of the continued hate, work to make our town, county, state and country the best it can be. We will all have the opportunity to try and change it in a year or so. Until then, let’s bury the hateful rhetoric and work together.

Jim Arvin
Rutherford Township
Martin County