Letter to the Editor, Monterey Herald, February 19, 2023
Republicans, lacking plans to help ordinary people, recently pushed an idiotic bill that called for members of Congress to denounce “The Horrors of Socialism.” There was no reason for it, other than to embarrass Democrats into taking a stand on “socialism.” Of course, to Republicans, all “socialism” is evil, and they threw in Fidel Castro, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong Un and Mao Zedong as examples of socialism, and for good measure, insisted “the collectivistic system of socialism in all of its forms is fundamentally and necessarily opposed.” Not surprisingly, they didn’t include as examples, Senator Bernie Sanders or any of the leaders of thriving democratic socialist governments in Europe and many other countries. Sadly, 109 Congressional Democrats including our representative, the timid Jimmy Panetta, took the bait and voted for the sham bill. Eighty-six House Democrats had enough sense to oppose the bill. I just hope Jimmy Panetta won’t go soft on socialist programs like Social Security, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, the Interstate Highway System, and public schools.
thebigpicturereport ™ 
Great arguments Arlen! Unfortunately, I don’t see any way to move Democratic legislators to the left unless progressive Democrats are willing to vote out incumbents in primaries and withhold their votes in general elections.
With a name like Panetta, little media analysis, and probably lots of money, I’m afraid Jimmy will have a long career as our rep.