The Ghosts of Socialism Yet to Be

Jon Stewart is a socialist. I don't know if he's a communist, but he's certainly a socialist and he makes little attempt to hide it. So is Bill Maher, though I doubt he'd admit it: Bill rarely owns up to anything. Both of them are pretty up front that they really do want what all those tea-baggers are most afraid of: they want to turn America into Europe.

Last week The Daily Show did a great twp part bit where they sent one of their correspondents to Sweden for a piece called "The Stockholm Syndrome," which included a hilarious spoof of MTV Cribs:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
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(Part two)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

It's an ironic look at the fears the talking heads at Fox are trying propagate that Obama wants to turn America into Sweden. The whole point of the piece is that life in Sweden is not only not so bad, it's better than life in America. By contrasting MTV cribs with a Swedish pop-star's apartment and 50 Cent with ABBA, and by the hilarious "blonds as currency" bit, the obvious point they are making is that Sweden is a better place to live than America: it's got free health care, a stronger economy, a high standard of living, a longer life expectancy, and more equitable distribution of wealth. Of course, they only joke about Sweden's high suicide rate (which is as attributable to seasonal affective disorder as to the socialist economy) and they didn't mention the fact that sixty percent of young and educated swedes have considered moving abroad, many for a greater personal challenge or for greater opportunity.

And let's face it: Sweden is not the Soviet Union. Sweden may have a strong welfare state, but they also have a strong market based economy. They let you earn a lot of money but they tax the hell out of you. They Daily Show's point is that that isn't so bad, and that our passion of ostentation wealth and hyperconsumption, symbolized by Baconaise, is perverse. Sure, it is saying, we have the freedom to make baconaise, and people will actually buy it, but that is only because we are a bunch greedy gluttons. Swedes may have a lot of their decisions made for them, and they may have to pay a to in taxes, but they also have a different kind of freedom: freedom from poverty, freedom to live a comfortable life and find personal fulfillment without having to worry about their basic needs being met. This is the type of freedom that Marx was talking about. But is it actually freedom, or is it oppression? The freedom that the founding fathers were fighting for--at least those in the Jeffersonian mold--was the Ayn Rand/Milton Friedman sort of freedom: the freedom to be free to rise to whatever heights your ingenuity and drive would take you without interference from the government. Freedom from doctor's bills and poverty was not what they were fighting for. To make things more interesting is a report from the Milken Institute last year of a study that found there is actually *more* upward mobility in Europe than there is in the United States. Chew on that for awhile.

I don't know if Obama wants a true socialist state in America (looking at his health care plan, which is basically a give away to the insurance companies, it sure doesn't look like it). But that is the America we are ending up with nonetheless. In my field, where I just knocked myself out to get to an interview for--I kid you not--a $37,000 a year job (me with a Ph.D. and over $100,000 in student loan debt), the socialist thing looks like a pretty good option. But not for entrepreneurial me, to whom taxes are a cancer.

I'm so confused! ;-)