To the Journal editor:

I enjoy reading “Lakeside Inkquiries.” Mary Wardell’s opinion columns are entertaining and leave no doubt about where her sympathies lie. I believe she’s right in thinking the coming election will have great impact on the country’s direction. I would just caution: Be careful what you wish for.

Consider the news business for example. Should The Mining Journal charge for free information which they merely gather and report? Information which is critical to the well-being of the citizens. Don’t we have a human right to know what’s happening in our community? Of course the answer is yes.

Kelsie Thompson said in her inaugural opinion column she’s earned enough profit reporting on the tragedies of others that she can afford a new home. Congratulations! Perhaps she has the ambition to move on to a larger market where she can earn more profit so she can buy an even better house. That’s how the economy and America itself grows. By reporting the news for a profit, the paper provides a service the community would not otherwise have.

Socialist ideology is alluring. To some it’s fun to believe the government can use force to take riches from those who are perceived to have too much and give it to those who are perceived to have too little. The reality is, life is an uncontrolled experiment and the empirical data is in. Socialism doesn’t work. Individuals working for their own self-interest are more productive than those working for the collective. Free market economies lift more people out of poverty than those where socialism is practiced.

When the wealth of those who’ve created it is threatened, they find ways to protect what they have rather than find ways to deploy their capital in innovative ways to produce more. Innovation creates opportunities for others.

As in Flint, where decades of spendthrift government polices led to intervention which led to even graver consequences, rarely are problems caused by government bureaucracies solved by more government. Such a fate could await the entire country if economic growth continues to be hampered by interventionist government policies.

Bernie Sanders isn’t going to take Paul Allen’s yacht and give it to you. No one cares more about what happens to you than you. If you’re sitting around waiting for someone from the government to come and fix your life, you better grab a Snickers because you’re going to be there for a while.

Brad Stried

Gwinn