Your Letter: A mea culpa, but an explanation, too

Last week Kevin Klawitter wrote a letter criticizing me for mistakenly using a Chinese proverb as a quote from the Bible. You got me Kevin. I have no excuse (I know because I tried very hard to think of one) and no one else to blame except for maybe my socialized high school for not teaching me about Chinese proverbs (just kidding!).

In my attempt to give advice on how to deal with people who are deliberately trying to get your goat, I relied on my (ever failing) memory and failed to check the facts in the second half of my letter. I dropped the ball and Kevin recovered the fumble. I thank you (sincerely, not sarcastically), Kevin, for keeping me on my toes.

Just like medicine, humble pie does not taste so good but sometimes we have to swallow it to get better. I do think it is important to point out that in the examples you gave (Matthew 14:14-21) Jesus gave voluntarily and did not force everyone else to give instead. That is social behavior, definitely not socialism. And telling a rich man he is too greedy to go to heaven (Luke 18:18-25) is not a forced redistribution of wealth, therefore, again, not socialism.

Socialism is an oxymoron and amounts to nothing more than tyranny. It is much like saying “mandatory donation” or “required volunteering.” And just for the record Kevin, I do not support capitalism as an ideology. It is simply the lesser of two evils when compared to socialism. Even China had to incorporate capitalism into its hardcore socialist society just to survive and the results are astounding.

Daniel DeYonge

Staples