In his letter “Socialism can be successful,” (Our Readers’ Views, The Columbian, Oct. 17), Calvin Jutila clearly articulates the benefits of social democracy. Then in the last line of his letter he tries to point out that social democracy is not socialism. Some people are ill-informed about this, and some people are simply willfully ignorant.
So, let’s be clear … social democracy is no more socialism than capitalism is communism. Rather it is a capitalist system with strong regulations and taxes high enough to ensure no one gets left behind. The state does not own the businesses, though it might insist that the union is represented on their board. As economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has written, social democracy is capitalism with a strong safety net. So the next time you hear someone shriek the Socialist Democrats are going to turn us into Venezuela, please correct them.
I have used the term Social Democracy where Mr. Jutila has used Democratic Socialist. Historically they are different, but in the U.S. are used interchangeably.
