Dick Petersen's letter warning us that adopting "socialism" would ruin the country and turn us all into communists ignores the fact that many of our institutions bear all the hallmarks of socialism. I assume Dick pays SOCIAL security contributions and is looking forward to medicare. Socialism, a word used by the right wing as a bugaboo to frighten children, is the philosophy that the welfare of ALL our citizens is the concern of everybody. Society should not be about just making a few people very rich. We all contribute in our own ways. The STATE which is US helps the poor, subsidizes farmers, puts people back of their feet after fires and hurricanes destroy their homes and livelihoods, gives incentives to industries which will provide jobs and secure the future, rescues children from abuse, secures clean water, builds roads and bridges for all to use and polices the marketplace so that the greedy and the crooks are kept in check. Policemen, judges, teachers, firemen, social workers are all instruments of a socialist state. cf France, Holland, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, et al. It's why we pay TAXES.