It is now an established fact that the United States is not only in the throes of a day-to-day economic dilemma, but is in an ideological crisis as well. And, it is also a fact that the response to the economic crises is being exacerbated by ultra-conservative elements in the mass media.

Amid this economic mess there is an endless debate about the role of government versus the role of private enterprise. For many years, Americans have put their trust in an unbridled capitalist enterprise system to create jobs and support their way of life free from government restraints. In this laissez faire cultural environment 'government intervention' became a dirty term associated with socialism.

Opponents of government intervention in the economy claim that government is primarily noted for its tax-and-spend policy and in this respect government is wasteful and inefficient.

The proponents of government intervention claim that it is the role and moral obligation of the state to regulate all aspects of the free enterprise system, and to inject life into the economy when private enterprise has failed to do so.

It is now quite evident that the capitalist free enterprise system in the US has faltered significantly, so much so that it is turning to government to pull it out of its economic swamp. Unregulated business enterprises such as the automobile industry, the banking sector, and the insurance companies are in such dire straits that they are all looking to government for a financial lifeline.

ECONOMIC DINOSAURS

What is really amazing is that amid the disintegration of the corrosive, greedy and morally bankrupt capitalist credo, many conservative politicians and a significant element in the mass media are in a chronic state of denial. These economic dinosaurs are diametrically opposed to President Obama's stimulus package not only on the basis that it is too costly, but that government has no right to intervene in the market place.

These opponents would rather see record levels of bankruptcies and unemployment than any form of government intervention. Many of these cynical opponents would rather see their indigent constituents starve, without clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads, than take advantage of the stimulus package of the government. They seem to claim that Obama's stimulus package is designed to discredit capitalism. But these opponents seem to forget that capitalism in its current American form has already discredited itself.

Thousands of homeless Americans

The fact is there are thousands of homeless Americans who are in need of government assistance because they lost their homes to unscrupulous lenders. There are thousands of children attending unsafe schools with shattered walls, floors and ceilings. And, there are hundreds of schools without proper lighting or toilet facilities. If government assistance to cure or alleviate these manifold ills is characterised as socialism, what is so wrong about this approach?

What is wrong with a redistribution of wealth so as to alleviate chronic poverty in the United States? What is wrong with universal health care to help the poor who cannot afford the exorbitant cost of hospitalisation, for example? What is wrong with a good public educational system to improve the social and economic status of everyone, especially the disadvantaged and handicapped? If socialism is such a despicable system, why is it that a capitalist America is so indebted to China, a socialist country?

It is extremely irritating to listen to a horde of ignorant, biased, ultra-conservative politicians and talk show hosts night after night. They have no constructive and fresh ideas to solve America's pressing economic problems. All they do is scare their fellow Americans about the socialist designs of the current administration in Washington.

The role of government is not only to protect its citizens against internal and external attacks, but also to protect its citizens against a horde of unscrupulous capitalist speculators who seek to prey on the vulnerability of the weak and defenceless.

I am, etc.,

RUPERT JOHNSON

r.b.johnson@sympatico.ca

Toronto, Ontario