Did she defend Bush?
Valerie Schultz's Oct. 8 column, "Healthy debate undermined by pettiness," is naive at best. She is shocked that people would label Barack Obama as a socialist. The definition of socialism in Webster's Dictionary is: "a theory or system of social organization in which the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government."
The key words are "controlled by the government." Currently, under Obama's stewardship, the government now owns/controls the financial system and the American automobile industry. As an example of government control, Obama was directly responsible for replacing the head of General Motors. Now, Obama wants to further increase government control by nationalizing health care.
Although previous presidents had policy advisors whom the media referred to as czars, Obama has a whole stable of them.
The Congress (we, the public) has not been allowed examine the history, philosophy, or qualifications of these "czars"; also, the major media outlets have failed to scrutinized these individuals.
Because of these actions and his statements, it is intuitively obvious to the casual observer that President Obama is a socialist at best.
When all the nasty comments were being made about former President George W. Bush, I never saw a column by Schultz complaining of the treatment of the former president.
T.C. PAYNE
Bakersfield
