The Dec. 3 letter about libraries, “Why do we still pay for them?” was interesting.

Thirty years ago you would have gotten your mouth washed out with soap for saying, “Lets get rid of the public libraries.”

But it’s a brave new world.

Public places like parks, schools, libraries, the town square, are all being phased out or privatized.

People are not supposed to be in groups unless it’s to exchange money.

Commodification and alienation reign supreme, and late-stage capitalism metastacizes while Democrat/Republicans distract us with quack remedies.

But some day I think we’ll realize this is not the best of all possible worlds, and we don’t have to live this way.

Ezekiel Schmidt is a Port Orchard resident.