LETTERS

TO TJHE EDITOR

A real red scare

To the editor:

In August, 1972, my mother and I traveled to Communist Czechoslovakia before it became two free counties, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in 1993.

When we arrived at the airport in Prague, soldiers were watching. My first impression was, “why did I come here?” But then I thought every American should come to see how things look under Communism.

One of our farm tours was a building that looked like a shed that supposedly had grain storage. We were not allowed inside.

There was a field with an old Allis-Chalmers combine from around 1950 that was broken down and wheat was turning black. There were no parts to repair the combine.

On some farms, women and men were harvesting wheat by hand using scythes then bundling stems and wheat heads into shocks that later would be threshed.

Before our tour, my grandmother received a letter from relatives in Czechoslovakia whom we hadn’t heard from since 1952.

On our trip, we did get to visit them and were able to see a village where my mother’s grandmother grew up.

Under Communism, a cousin’s business was taken away. Another cousin who was a priest had to go underground and died young. We saw children begging for money.

In 1995, my husband and I traveled to Communist Ukraine. We stayed at one of Ukraine’s best hotels. The bed we slept in was about as good as sleeping in a hay loft, and hotel staff came around to see who would like warm water to clean up in the morning.

When traveling from there into democratic Romania, border guards came onto our bus, I guess to check whether any of us were defecting.

In 1963, I worked with a refugee from Cuba who shared how Communism started there and how his family escaped to live in Kansas.

While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama spoke of the need to “fundamentally transform the United States.” I know what he had in mind. The poor will get poorer, and the ones in the Socialist (Communist) government will be the ones getting richer.

He did not quite accomplish that, but Democratic Socialists are working on transforming our government to this day.

Communism starts by being called Democratic Socialism, then Socialism, then Communism. The Democratic Party is being sabotaged.

Americans should see for themselves how superior a capitalist government is to a Communist government.

In the United States, we can achieve whatever we want by working hard. As we celebrate our country’s 250th year, everyone should want to see our country continue to be free.

A couple of President Donald Trump’s wives grew up under Communism and left for America. He is very knowledgeable about that form of government and the disaster it brings.

This is why he is trying very hard to make sure that America stays a free country and that people follow our Constitution.

Betty (Stika) Augustin
Hesston