Trade with Chile

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 16

Trade with Chile

Sir, — Congratulations for your very objective editorial on the Chile situation. The flood of letters criticising it all. seem to embody a fundamental misunderstanding common to socialists. A Government is basically there to protect our freedoms— to prevent one individual or group within its jurisdiction from using force or fraud against another. We the people should be free, within the bounds of the law, to work, trade, speak, move, and espouse which moralities and religions we choose. Moral decisions are the individual’s responsibility and have nothing to do with governments, or unions. Socialists, usually i' too selfish or lazy to practise what they preach, like to put the onus on the government to force their suspect doctrines of a Big Brother welfare state, compulsory unions, and socialistically selective trade boycotts on everyone else. It is about time these arrogant trade. union leaders and other socialist hangers-on learned some tolerance of others’ ideas. — Yours, etc., FRANK A. SMITH. July 17, 1980.