Donald Trump became socialist when he insisted on signing the stimulus checks

In my opinion, Donald Trump's signature on the massive government pandemic relief checks is evidence of his contribution to the socialism that he claims to oppose!

Donald Trump's signature looks to me like an EEG brain scan report.  For egotistic reasons, Trump insisted that he sign all the coronavirus stimulus checks. This government subsidy was a socialist response to the US government's shut of all but essential services, to prevent spread of the highly infectious coronavirus.

This opinion letter was published in the Mississippi newspaper, the Sun Herald.

American is a Judeo-Christian values nation - not socialist!

It is terribly important that voters understand the difference between socialism and social programs.

Socialism is a form of government in which what is manufactured, the distribution of those manufactured goods and the prices of those goods are all controlled by the government.

Vice-President Joe Biden is not a socialist. 

He believes in capitalism, as do I.

However, we also believe in social programs. 

As a nation rooted in Judeo-Christian values, we need compassionate social programs that take care of the needs of people who cannot care for themselves, for example, abandoned or abused children, the feeble elderly, the mentally ill or challenged, and those too ill or injured to work.

We also need smart social programs that benefit our society through police departments, fire departments, highway departments, health departments, and education. 

As to education, it enables people to participate in and contribute to our economy and our lives as best they can. Hence, within our economic limits we should make education available to people to whatever level they can take advantage of it. That will more than pay for itself in its benefits to society.

So, capitalism? Yes. But capitalism accompanied by tax supported social programs that are compassionate and smart.

Richard E. Creel, Biloxi Mississippi

Compassionate Socialism - a So-Cap echo from Mississippi

An opinion to explain why the letter writer is a "So-Cap" - a Socialist-Capitalist published in the SunHerald, a Mississippi newspaper.  

In my opinion, an average person can't determine the macro differences between economic systems like "socialism" and "capitalism".  Perhaps, in a Utopian world, the purpose of "capitalism" would be to create wealth and to share it with others who can also invest and build a healthy economy.  Sharing wealth is one purpose for the graduated income tax. In other words, the more a person earns by working in a "capitalist economy", the more they pay in taxes to invest in growing the economy.  Socialism, on the other hand, redistributes wealth evenly throughout the economic system, regardless of earned wealth.  Either way, the purpose of both systems seems to bend towards the distribution of wealth.  

It's important for the average person to realize how socialism is not a political party. Rather, socialism is an economic theory.  Likewise, capitalism is not a government!  Instead, capitalism is an economic theory.  

An opinion published in the Mississippi Sun Herald calls for adapting a "So-Cap" economic position, whereby the two systems are in place to complement the strengths they have in common, ie, wealth distribution. 

It's an interesting compromise position.  

I'm certainly not an economist, therefore I'm not entirely positive, but I believe the United Kingdom (Great Britain) might be an example to demonstrate the "So-Cap" point of view.  

To the Editor:  Capitalism’s head is in the right place, but its heart is not. Socialism’s heart is in the right place, but its head is not. 

That’s why I am a “So-Cap” — a socialistic capitalist.

I believe in a capitalist economy that encourages competition and creativity and therefore efficiency and low prices, and is responsive to what people want, not what the government dictates. I also believe in government programs and regulations that provide intelligent, compassionate services to its citizens and prevents the abuses to which capitalism can lead (if you don’t know what those are, read 19th and early 20th century labor history in England and the USA).

Unfettered capitalism is brutal; it leads to exploitation, wealth concentration among a few, and violent rebellion. Unfettered socialism is suffocating and leads to stagnation and rebellion. 

We need to combine the best of these two economic philosophies to generate a healthy, thriving, enduring society. 

From Richard Creel in Biloxi Mississippi