Wood’s column misses the mark

Ron Wood, in his Aug. 7 column, makes the statement that, “Socialism has produced an economic blight in every U.S. city where democratic(sic) strongholds exist.”

This statement is inaccurate. Let’s take New

York, a city I am familiar with. It has had mayors of both major parties during my lifetime. While the city has had its problems over the years, regardless of who is in power, the city has had, for most of that time, a vibrant economy, drawing investment and people from around the world. Even Baltimore, much in the news lately, despite being rodent infested, according to Donald Trump, has a thriving downtown, and the inner harbor area is a popular destination. Rev. Wood ought to get out more.

He also misses the mark on socialism, which is defined as “a

“a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” By that definition, there is no socialism in effect as a governing practice in America. Like many Republicans, he confuses socialism with any program that provides a government benefit to someone who is of lower economic status-things like Medicaid, the ACA, food assistance, etc. This is as opposed to the benefits accruing mostly to the top 1 percent in America, such as in the 2017 tax reform law. That’s “stimulus.” I had to pay taxes last year, after getting refunds or breaking even for a long time. Didn’t work out so well for me. Hope he did better than I did.

Finally, the only socialist I can recall in any office was Benjamin Nichols, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, who was mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., from 1989 to 1995. As I remember it, Ithaca didn’t take over any means of production, or anything else during that time.