Letters
Editors: To my mind there is one glaring omission in Shlomo Avineri's brilliant discussion of "The Communist Manifesto at 150" (Winter 1998). Nowhere is there any reference to Eduard Bernstein's...
...We are unable to acknowledge letters...
...Although the HMO situation remains gloomy, there is hope for improvement in the related question of Social Security, related via Medicare, even in the current political environment...
...So if you want to write about something that you like, or dislike, in or about Dissent, please do it quickly • Letters must be kept to about 500 words, typed, double-spaced, and carry the full address and name of the sender...
...But when benefits are taxed, depending on income level, the proceeds are diverted to the government's general fund— a clear substitution of a regressive tax for the more-orless progressive income tax...
...Erratum We regret that a proofreading error led us to put Jeffrey Herf (Letters, Spring 1998) in Oxford, Ohio rather than Athens, Ohio, where he teaches in the history department of Ohio University...
...Instead, its real effort went to pushing NAFTA IN MEMORIAM To a Long-Distance Runner Saul Mendelson 1917-1998 Carl & Marion Shier through...
...STUART E. COLIE Ocean Springs, Miss...
...That possibility is connected with the taxation of Social Security benefits...
...To Letter Writers • We welcome succinct letters from our readers...
...Save Social Security Editors: In "The HMO Revolution" (Spring 1998), Rashi Fein described the worsening health care situation in the United States, determined as it is largely by for-profit organizations...
...Nowhere is there any reference to Eduard Bernstein's revisionist Marxism, which as spelled out in Bernstein's 1898 book Evolutionary Socialism and elsewhere, is very close to Avineri's own critique of the Manichaean aspect of Marxism that has beclouded its many penetrating and enduring insights...
...Letters will not be returned to senders unless they are accompanied by stamped, self-addressed envelopes...
...DISSENT / Summer 1998 127...
...JOSEPH M. DIAMOND Brooklyn, N.Y...
...But because we have a long "lead time" for each issue, you have to send us your letter within three weeks after getting an issue of Dissent in order to get it into the next issue...
...The solution is as clear as its is fair: return taxes derived from Social Security benefits to the Social Security fund...
...We reserve the right to edit letters down to fit our space and to choose which shall be printed...
...because the system is indispensable, we put up with its regressive character...
...Social Security benefits ultimately derive from the regressive Social Security tax...
...Besides correcting an outrageous situation, the change would secure Social Security's future, even undermining much of the corrosive cynicism connected with that future...
...Had Bernstein's views triumphed in the late nineteenthand early twentieth century social democratic movement, that movement might today in many ways quite closely resemble the model proposed in Michael Walzer's excellent "Pluralism and Social Democracy" (Winter 1998...
...The results will haunt us for a long time...
...The cause of the misery is the failure of the Clinton administration to grasp the unique opportunity of 1992, when, with control of both houses of Congress, it failed to concentrate its efforts on passing a universal health plan...
Vol. 45 • July 1998 • No. 3
