Giving socialism a good name

The Jan. 29 Timberjay had a great article about the Duluth visit of Bernie Sanders. Pat and I happened to be in the Cities that day so we went to his 7 p.m. campaign stop in St. Paul. We were at the back of the crowd and saw a scene that a lot of the cameras missed. Mommys and Daddys with preschool kids. Lots of them.

I suppose the parents came home from work and cared enough about our country to bundle up the kids and go out on a blustery evening to support the politics of optimism. And it probably is a cause for optimism that in another fifteen years those little Democratic Socialists will be old enough to be politically active and vote.

The one percent have managed to give socialism a bad name over the last few generations but many of us have values that should demand some form, some level, of socialism.

My education in religion didn’t leave me satisfied with all the answers we get from theology but it left me with some wonderful questions.

Am I my brother’s keeper? Who is my neighbor? If you can answer those questions with compassion, you’re probably a little bit of a socialist.

If you also ask, am I my sister’s keeper, you’re probably a Democratic Socialist.

Bob Tammen

Soudan, Minn.