Letter to the Editor: America Beware

I grew up in a unique immigrant family — one that has a first-hand, lived understanding of socialism and communism. My dad’s family escaped Soviet Ukraine at the height of the Second World War, leaving what little they owned behind to find a better, safer life. I have two uncles and an aunt that never made it out of communist Ukraine because they died in infancy or early childhood from starvation or disease due to malnutrition. Why were they so malnourished? Because that’s the natural cost of the government owning and allocating the food supply.

I myself grew up in Canada. While American socialists love to think about Canada as some sort of grand utopia, I can guarantee that it’s not. Time and again, comments have been made to me by Americans about how they wish the United States had Canada’s healthcare system, which always leaves me puzzled. Do people really think Canada’s healthcare system is that great?

The truth of the matter is that Canada is not what the mainstream media outlets crack it up to be. Wait times are absolutely atrocious, especially since the whole COVID debacle. I personally waited three years just to receive a basic MRI of my back for a work-related injury. Does that sound like utopia? I think not.

Not only that, but the Canadian government is censoring news from Canadian citizens. This is exactly what my dad’s family experienced in communist Ukraine. My aunt once told me about how she once asked my Opa (grandpa) why they didn’t leave Ukraine sooner. He told her, “We didn’t know anything existed outside of what we lived in and knew… they didn’t tell us that anything different existed.” This is exactly the goal of the Canadian government’s censorship.

While watching the results of the New York City election on November 4th, I went through a rollercoaster of emotions, the prevailing thought being: “these people don’t have a single clue what they just voted for.” New York City has been a shining beacon of the American Dream for multiple centuries, and now it will be laid to waste because the people bought into the egregious lie that socialism is the ultimate beauty.

I hear it often said that socialism and communism are different things. People don’t realize that while there may be differences in implementation, the end result is the same — starvation, death, and utter ruin.

It breaks my heart to see the direction this great nation is taking, and at the end of the day, my only warning is this: America, turn back before it’s too late.

Kristen Irene Ruth Neumann // Flathead Valley Community College