In one sentence, Craig Gunn promotes the beheading of Bill Gates because he's wealthy, and in the next, he states he has "nothing against capitalism." Gunn ("TV shows glamorizing wealthy pushes over-consumption") claims we have the right to "earn money, and spend it any way we desire," unless we earn too much.

Unfortunately, Gunn fails to identify who gets to decide how much is too much and how it will be stopped. We know, if Gunn held this position, he'd send greedy capitalists to the guillotine. Unfortunately, he is not alone in his position, since others have held, and acted on, these same beliefs. The belief that individual rights are subservient to society was shared by the world's most notorious tyrants - Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Kim Jong Il.

Gunn and other socialists who believe capitalism is immoral have much to learn. As the former Soviet Union showed, and China and North Korea continue to reveal, political systems that outlaw "excess" are evil and vicious. Capitalism is the only economic system consistent with liberty. For all its alleged faults, it is responsible for elevating people from abject poverty, stopping widespread disease and increasing our expected life span from 48 years in 1900 to 78 years today. If the price of these great benefits is controlling one's envy because someone inherited millions of dollars, I'd say that's a bargain.

Steve Sutton
1988 graduate