Democratic socialism is bad (Monitor Opinion, June 22)? Who knew? After all, it’s common in all New Hampshire towns and cities. Socialism is “any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government.” So in New Hampshire, we all have town libraries, we all have fire departments and some places even have police departments. They are all (or most are) owned by the municipalities and all of these benefit everyone, which is the very definition of democratic socialism.
Some people, who perhaps hate their fire departments and libraries, try to confuse others about democratic socialist Bernie Sanders’s ideas for Medicare for All by ignoring the democratic part, but that is political socialism as a governmental type, not democratic socialism. Democratic socialism works and is, in fact, the basis for our best-loved town institutions.
BOB IRVING
Salisbury