Views in brief
Medical students for choice
REGARDING "THE anti-choice deception": This makes me sick to my stomach. Thank you for writing an article on this! I hope this opens the eyes of women out there.
I am a third-year medical student and the leader of Medical Students for Choice in New Mexico, and we will certainly be out fighting against the lies of the anti-choice movement in the coming month.
Jill Oldewage, Albuquerque, N.M.
Breaking up with capitalism
I WAS delighted to see Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story on my birthday recently. I had been looking forward to this film for a while, and on the whole, it did not disappoint.
What strikes me as amazing is that, as I anticipated, Moore quite directly suggests that socialism is a superior path for our country to take--he refers to Bernie Sanders' take on socialism as "American," and much more so than "Government Sachs" could ever be.
The most beautiful moment of the film is during the ending credits--a lounge version of "The Internationale" introduces a whole new generation of reds to their anthem. That moment made it clear that Moore is a daring filmmaker, among other things. I hope that more cowardly media figures feel freer to follow his example, now that he's gone and said the "s-word."
The base is already there for a strong socialist movement, and at multiple levels of society. We (the general public) just need to keep pushing in the way Moore is here--calling a red a red, so to speak, and not shrinking from being direct about what we believe. I intend to troll my Facebook friends list for folks who are interested in socialism because of this movie, and point them to SocialistWorker.org.
One last thing--you all are the magazine I found when libertarianism stopped making sense to me. In short, Reason magazine turned me into a leftist again, this time for good. Thank you for standing as a counterpoint to the watery, liberal publications out there; you give me hope.
Zac, Fairfax, Va.
Politics as usual in Chicago
REGARDING "WE don't want the Games": I totally agree. But wait, there's more. Go to a Chicago city office to get business done and you will find longer waits, longer lines and stressed out workers. A Department of Buildings office on the South Side had one employee in it the day I went. I waited nearly 30 minutes for a one-minute request.
No one explained exactly where the Olympic funds were going to come from. Does the city have a printing press for money? I think not. This city already has the most regressive sales tax in the country, and it is a punishment on the poor and working class, while corporations get tax incremental financing and other giveaways. I, along with many others, buy most of my things, including gasoline, out in the suburbs.
All Chicago projects have run chronically late and have served city cronies. The schools and the Chicago Transit Authority are in shambles. Few of us have ever been the beneficiaries of the city's pork-barrel projects.
As for Obama's activism and liberal tendencies, that was then, this is now. He became king so he forgot about us. Anyone ever hear of Jerry Rubin, Tem Horowitz or Jane Fonda? Other prominent members of the sell-out hall of fame.
Displacement of South-siders? Most of them are Black and poor, or white and Latino working class people, so who cares? Mayor Daley wanted to knock down the entire Southeast Side a few years ago to build a third airport. Is anyone surprised? Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago's oldest hospital recently closed, and with it came the loss of 3,000 jobs, along with a major trauma center for the near South Side.
Indeed, Chicago's Olympic bid is yet another promise of "politics as usual," but so is Obama's presidency. Did anyone really read his book, Audacity of Hope? Though many of us are very disappointed, we shouldn't be all that surprised about it.
MBH, Chicago
