Communism isn’t socialism

As a (relatively) new American, I was intrigued by Leo Fagan’s viewpoint on America and Americanism (“One way ticket out,” April 16). He seems to believe that America is the greatest country in the world (a view shared by Russians, Koreans, Japanese, French and many other countries), and I am not going to argue with his belief.

But if so, why is the infant mortality rate here that of a Third World country? American life expectancy is going down (again, check statistics). We in Europe who had close contact with American troops found that so many of them had an arrogance that was rudeness itself, insofar as they were expected to be “ambassadors” or “guests” in their host country.

Mr. Fagan also seems to equate socialism with Communism. There is quite a difference. Socialist countries in Europe in the main do very well for their citizens, with low infant mortality rates, good health care for all and reasonable retirement (I admit not always good), but accountability to their electorate.

In contrast, Communist countries are basically dictatorships, with no accountability to the voters, something I see beginning to happen to this good country.

Valerie Derks

Deer Park