Socialism and the Young Voter

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/opinion/letters/socialism-jails-new-york.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Why Some Young Voters Bolt the Democratic Party for Democratic Socialism” (news article, Oct. 16):

As a student at a very liberal college, SUNY New Paltz, I see more and more of my peers identifying with socialist beliefs, especially since Bernie Sanders’s run for president in 2016. Although I agree that people my age (in their 20s) are increasingly seeing the benefits of a socialist candidate and his policies, I see even more of my peers simply not caring at all.

In the 2016 presidential election, only a little more than half of the students on my campus voted. A lot of my friends chose not to vote either because of a general lack of interest in politics or because they didn’t support either of the candidates.

It is also difficult for young people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds who have never felt represented to believe that socialism will ever work in our society.

I do support Senator Sanders and the progressive platforms tied to democratic socialism, but I don’t have too much faith in the United States government and its ability to transform into the progressive state the 99 percent of us need it to be.

Emma MisiaszekSyracuse

To the Editor:

Re “How to Close Rikers Island” (editorial, Oct. 14):

We are deeply troubled by your endorsement of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build new jails in four of New York City’s boroughs, excluding Staten Island. Building new jails is not a rational or viable path toward de-incarceration or community health.

The research could not be clearer. Incarceration is inherently harmful to human health. There is simply no such thing as a therapeutic jail or a humane cage. The best empirical evidence suggests that incarceration does not prevent or deter future crime or arrests. There is a vast body of evidence for public health alternatives and social investments that actually work.

The mayor’s plan guarantees that incarceration will continue to be the expected outcome for people experiencing the daily problems of living without adequate material resources and public investments. From our perspective, this is unconscionable. There is no moral or empirical justification for it.

Seth J. Prins Ana TergasScott GoldbergNew YorkDr. Prins and Dr. Tergas are, respectively, an epidemiologist and an obstetrician-gynecologist at Columbia University. Dr. Goldberg is an attending physician at Montefiore.