To the editor:

Tony Gerstberger’s letter (MG, March 18) is just another right wing Trump-like rant. He warns us of the left’s socialist trends, the usual scare tactic. Political systems are on a continuum from Communism on the far left to Fascism on the far right; we are somewhere in between and we fluctuate back and forth depending who holds political power. We already have many aspects of socialism: Social Security, The Affordable Care Act, Medicare, public schools and colleges, public parks and national parks, police and fire departments, etc..

Gerstberger attacks government mandates, inflation, attacks on free speech, indoctrination of our youth and complicity with big tech. Government mandates, such as masking during the Covid-19 pandemic, are sometimes necessary to save lives. Our present inflation would have happened under any administration and was a consequence of the disruption of business during the pandemic. Tony uses a loaded word in calling what is being taught in our classrooms as ”garbage.” What exactly is this “garbage” — anything he disapproves of? And today, it’s the Republicans that want to curtail free speech by controlling textbooks and class content.

He states our universities are inundated with socialist professors (scare again) who are polluting (loaded word) the brains of our children. Just how is this happening? Having taught in two colleges, my experience is that my fellow professors desired to teach critical thinking and to consider differing opinions of any controversy. Brainwashing was not their goal.

Ironically, attacks on free speech, indoctrination of our youth and complicity with big tech are some of the characteristics of Fascism that Donald Trump and other Republicans would like to force upon us. Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, flags and songs. Their enemies consist of liberals, communists, socialists, humanists…. The military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. They want to Control mass media. They intertwine religion and government. They protect corporate power. They have disdain for intellectuals, higher education, and the arts. They would employ censorship and book banning. Fraudulent elections would be produced by smear campaigns against opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting numbers, and gerrymandering political district boundaries. Division is another symptom of fascism designed to separate the population into “us” versus “them.” As the fear of “them” grows, “we” represent everything virtuous and the others are villainous.