La Gaceta Newspaper

From “As We Heard It,” by Patrick Manteiga, Sept. 25, 2020

Our endorsement for president is unlikely to move any of our readers. It seems almost everyone we know already knows where they side in the race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trying to write a convincing argument would be a waste of time, but we are compelled to address this movement to describe this race as a choice of socialism vs. capitalism.
The Democratic Party, and even Joe Biden, have a long history that is easy enough to research. Neither the organization nor the man have suggested nationalizing businesses, controlling prices for all commodities, eliminating competition or changing the basics of our supply-and-demand economy.
Democrats have been responsible for some programs which Biden supports that are forms of socialism, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration healthcare network, unemployment compensation, food stamps, farm subsidies, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), etc.
According to Trump’s commercial, he also supports most of the list.
These socialistic programs were created to address the citizens who were most vulnerable to a purely capitalist economy.
The Democrats and Biden would like to grow the Medicare system or a version of it to cover more citizens to address all the people at risk of not being able to access healthcare due to rising costs.
Democrats have led, with some Republican support, to set and increase a minimum wage, influencing industry and banking through tax incentives and penalties, regulate banking and the stock market, and hundreds of other pieces of legislation to make the system fairer and less vulnerable to abuse. These rules created a modern American economy that, according to Trump, is the greatest economy ever.
But on the street, we keep hearing people, especially Latinos, vocalize fears that Biden will drastically change America to a socialist nation. They frame their fear by saying Biden will make America into a Cuba or Venezuela.
The Castros, Maduros and Chavezes of the world did not create their governments by offering to expand access to healthcare or increasing the minimum wage. They, and dictators, autocrats and authoritarians before them, created their governmental systems by: attacking and dismantling the press; using government to attack opponents and enemies; using their armies inside of their nations to maintain peace; offering citizens internal enemies to blame for their problems, both real and imagined; attacking the courts and rule of law; replacing bureaucrats with sycophants and partisans; restricting protests critical of the government and organizing counter-protests; attacking intellectuals, academics and scientists, at best, as elitist and at worst, as enemies of the state; and preserving their power by claiming any elections that don’t result in their winning as corrupt and invalid.
These authoritarians also project that they are the embodiment of the state. That without them the state will fail. Without them holding power, internal enemies will create chaos. We can find quote after quote and cite action after action of Trump saying and doing all of the above.
While we don’t assign much belief in conspiracy theories, we do have some angst and worry that America is poised at a moment in our great democratic experiment to continue on a path laid down by presidents, legislators and courts over the last 90 years or to create a less balanced form of government – one where presidential power is greatly expanded.
We prefer the traditional checks and balances. We prefer a president who respects protocols and traditions laid down by presidents before him or her.
We prefer someone who serves all Americans and avoids creating divisions. We want a good person, someone we can respect.
La Gaceta endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President and Vice President of the United States.