Dear Editor,
I had to laugh when I read Congressman Ben Cline’s lesson on the Constitution and the Founding Fathers in the September 17 issue of this paper. I appreciate that he didn’t follow President Trump and call us Democrats and Independents “communists,” which isn’t true and even slanderous. Yet in his opinion piece, Rep. Cline bragged about his vote in the House (before it was abruptly shut down by Speaker Mike Johnson) to “Keep Socialism Out of America.” He went on to write that Republicans “reaffirm our commitment to the constitutional principles that have guided our country for generations.” Then he claimed that “our Founding Fathers established such principles to “make America exceptional” and that “socialism has no place in… our constitutional republic.” But sadly, Mr. Cline demonstrates a pathetic lack of knowledge of our Constitution and the nation’s history. First, Americans living in the 1770s-1790s would not likely have recognized the word “socialism” — it was not a familiar political term or an ideology back then . Socialism only became an established political term later, in the 1830s. But Mr. Cline seems benighted in his understanding of the Constitution itself. In fact, Article I, Section 8 gives Congress several powers that involve collective activity for the public. It authorizes Congress: to tax and spend for the “general welfare,” to regulate interstate commerce, to establish post offices and post roads, and to borrow money. The truth is that our Constitution neither condemns socialism nor establishes capitalism as our economic system. The Founders clearly intended that government would provide some essentials for social well-being. Hence, the Constitution explicitly authorizes the national government to provide the Post Office as a service to the public — and post offices require buildings and infrastructure like roads and rail tracks. And these things would be paid for by taxes. Mr. Cline should know that this is in the Constitution. Some other things the Founder’s government included were establishing standards of weights and measures and creating patents laws to foster science and the arts. The Founders considered these to be essential public goods. And Mr. Cline should be aware that a country can simultaneously have private property, private businesses, markets, taxation, and numerous public services (like Medicare for All), and even government ownership of some enterprises. So, there are no words in the Constitution establishing “capitalism,” “free markets,” or exclusively private ownership. There is no Constitutional prohibition against government ownership of property, and of providing of goods and services for the public. Representative Cline seems to be ignorant of the positive things that socialism has given us, in addition to postal services, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, insurance to protect our money in banks (including our socialist credit unions), roads and bridges, sewer systems, street lighting, public schools, school lunches, school buses, national parks (and parks in cities and states), national monuments, national forests and wildlife agencies (and state forests and state and local wildlife management), national seashores and public beaches, national museums and zoos (and state and local ones), public gardens, fire and police services., federal courts (and local and state ones), student loans, trash collection, landfill management, vaccines, sheriffs, jails and prisons, the FBI, CDC, IRS,OSHA, NOAA, NASA, EPA, FEMA, the military, customs, boarder protection, business and industry subsidies, Veterans healthcare, public defenders, Amtrak, public utilities/services related to energy, health, sports and playgrounds, human services for the handicapped and mentally ill, the Census, government scholarships, the G.I.Bill, the Peace Corps., disability insurance, welfare and social services, unemployment benefits, and funding for various city, state, national construction projects. Socialism – in the form of social democracy and democratic socialism – does not reject markets or property or profit but proposes to regulate these for purposes of public benefit and social justice. Cline boasts in his column that he stands for “small government.” Which government programs I named does he find expendable? Which would he eliminate? Does he agree with Trump that the federal government should only fund the military and end the government programs I listed? Can states and localities provide them? Would that be fair given large disparities between states and localities? On November 3rd, voters in the 6th Congressional District should take note of Rep. Cline’s faulty knowledge of the Constitution and of the intentions of our Founding Fathers (and mothers) and cast their votes for Beth Macy, a more knowledgeable candidate who will do an outstanding job representing us in Congress. Early voting in Virginia is open now. Sincerely,
-(Dr.) Michael Bentley
Salem
