Both of these op-eds in the Nov. 10 paper caught my attention: “Bill Ferguson took an honorable stand against redistricting” by Colin Pascal and “The next decade belongs to Baltimore. Here’s why,” by Julian Baron. Both Pascal, who always promotes centrist politicians, and Baron, with his upbeat elegy to Baltimore, took a swipe at Zohran Mamdani. Pascal really unleashed his venom with this statement: “Socialism is a loser in general elections and throws out too much of what’s good in our system as it tries to fix what isn’t working.” While the title of his op-ed is about gerrymandering, it seems his real intent is to promote the middle of the road as the path the Democratic Party should take. I think corporate Democrats have proven they are unable to fix the system.
An opinion piece about redistricting that ignores the Republican Party’s ongoing policies of restricting the right to vote is misleading. And not to mention that President Donald Trump’s right-wing Supreme Court has been a great supporter of the Southern states’ gerrymandering is puzzling to me. Praising Sen. Bill Ferguson without explaining the MAGA move to redistrict is not very persuasive.
In Mr. Baron’s op-ed about Baltimore rising, he thinks New Yorkers are going to “flee as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani implements his agenda.” One should note that Baltimore has a serious problem with poverty. In other words, there is rampant inequality in Baltimore and much of the United States. And capitalism is sure not solving this problem. In our capitalist system, Mr. Moneybags has much more access to politicians. In other words, many legislators take campaign donations that influence them, and not for the good.
I will close with the issue of medical care since the Democratic Party tried to save some semblance of what was available. The U.S. is almost all alone in allowing corporations to run the health care system. Where is improved Medicare for All? Capitalism has proved it is incapable of providing adequate and inexpensive health care for all. I would rather try socialism as the answer.
— Max Obuszewski, Baltimore
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