Pandemic shows system’s inequality

To the editor:

I think that possibly, after 200-plus years, we are beginning to witness the failure of the capitalist economic system.

Equal opportunity and privilege espoused as values are not supported by factual analysis.

For a country that supposedly believes itself to be founded as a “Christian Nation,” we fall far short of the principles found in the Bible. I truly believe Christ himself would question why in the world did people, who profess to name him as their Savior, elect a man like Donald J. Trump? Or why they would protest abortion, yet are perfectly OK, it seems, with letting children die of starvation and preventable diseases.

I think Bernie Sander’s concept of a new social equality paradigm has merits worthy of society’s consideration. And, I think, we may see in the future, a socialist/capitalist hybrid much like that which exists in Scandinavian countries today.

While the Calvinistic philosophy of economic prosperity served for a time, it failed to properly understand or fully appreciate humankind’s propensity for greed. Thus, we have come full circle.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fallacy of equality under a capitalist economic system.

Michael Kinser

Portland