In response to Joshua Morissette’s letter that appeared on Feb. 20, “For socialistic reform, justification is needed,” Bernie Sanders has been addressing the need for profound democratic social change for many years, long before he decided to run for president.

Our current system of unbridled capitalism is clearly not working for the vast majority of Americans. At a time when the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans own nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, when millions of Americans are working longer hours for less pay, and many working 40 hours or more per week are still struggling below the poverty line, is this not justification for change?

At a time when this country has the highest childhood poverty rate of nearly any developed country in the world, when hundreds of thousands of promising young Americans cannot afford to go to college at all, and millions more leave college saddled with mountains of debt that burden them well into middle age and beyond, is this not justification for change?

At a time when we are the only developed nation that does not guarantee health care as a right, not a privilege, to every citizen, and out-of-pocket medical expenses are skyrocketing, largely due to our profit-driven health care system, is this not justification for change?

I could go on and on, but how much more justification for change does one need?

Ava Gross

Gardiner