I write about Mr. Brian McLeod’s commentary (St. Albert Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 8) titled “Socialist ‘hogwash’ not a fix for country’s problems.” It’s clear he’s not a socialist but rather a total “free-enterpriser” who believes unfettered capitalism is the best way to run both an economy and a country. The last paragraph in his commentary states “As Canada’s overall wealth, productivity and employee satisfaction has been declining for decades, it should be surprising that so many of our political leaders still think the solution lies in imposing more socialistic hogwash.”
Mr. McLeod is clearly a right-wing capitalist. He purports and supports the view that a wide-open free market economy and social framework will bring social nirvana. He’s wrong. Any society cannot succeed unless it supports and nurtures each and every one of its citizens.
Mr. McLeod’s recommended world supports only those whose capitalistic expertise allows them to reach the top of the economic pyramid. Nowhere in any of his articles does he describe how society should support those who are less than fully successful either as entrepreneurs or as those who work for them – always in Mr. McLeod’s world, of course, at their employers’ unfettered sufferance!
Overall, I think Mr. McLeod’s logic, theories and right-wing commentaries are fatally flawed. They’re flawed because they don’t address the full spectrum of any society – from those who are ultra-successful and wealthy to those who for whatever reason can’t make a living. His postulations only address those who have “made it” or who “can make it.” He, like all of his ilk, always makes the inference that anyone who cannot “make it” is somehow unworthy of help, or guilty of somehow “working the system” due to cunning laziness or sloth.
Mr. McLeod tries to turn complex issues into simplistic black-and-white comparative analyses by tickling the strings of resentment of the successful to put down the hopes of the unsuccessful poor. I very strongly disagree with his points of view and his approach on how a successful society should operate in support of all its citizenry.
David Merrit, St. Albert
