Objects to portrayal of Bernie Sanders in cartoon

Wow! Not the most pleasant surprise to see the spirit of Joe McCarthy show up in an editorial cartoon portraying Bernie Sanders (the man still polling as the country’s most popular politician) as a communist (April 27).

When our country is number one in income inequality, prison population and opioid addiction, perhaps decent-paying jobs for all might be a good idea.

How would the cartoonist and Daily Hampshire Gazette editor have shown FDR’s rescue of American capitalism during the Depression (for which the 1 percent disdainfully called him “that man”)? Will the Gazette next support eliminating dangerous socialistic programs like Social Security and Medicare?

After all, we drive on “socialized” roads, most of our kids go to “socialized” schools and much of our taxes goes to a “socialized” military. We’re all in this together.

We live in an incredibly complex interdependent world. Most of us do not grow our own food, cast our own engine blocks and make our own tires and fuel.

Any ethical society will not ignore the needs of “the least of these” — a call which Bernie tries to answer as a U.S. Senator in a great and troubled country. He — and we, your readers — deserve better.

David Grodsky

Amherst