GOP tilting too far toward laissez faire

There is nothing near this in the United States, but we do have 60-plus instances of socialism that we just accept as normal - mostly enhancing individual rights. The far right is laissez faire capitalism. Laissez-Faire capitalism - the policy of letting the owners of industry and business fix the rules of competition, the conditions of labor, etc. (or rugged individualism) leaves the individual at the mercy of the oligarchs with almost no economic rights and freedoms.

Individuality (not individualism) is grown within community (not collectivism). The common good (not collectivism or laissez-faire capitalism) is where individual freedoms are developed. All throughout Latin America, whenever people tried to overcome exploitation and abuse by the oligarchs, they were called communists or socialists. This bugaboo is used everywhere by the people who have economic power to stifle progressive policies that benefit the middle class.

Laissez-faire capitalism should be as dead as communism in this country. Yet it is the goal of the Republican Party as they call for less regulation, leaving people powerless to avoid abuses. Surely by now we've seen that "trickle down" economics does not work. The Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren progressive policies are not as far left as the entire Republican Party is to the far right. They are no longer the "Grand Old Party," but the tool of the superrich and multinationals that have no allegiance to our beloved country.

Jim Crane

Arlington Heights