Quote of the Day - Socialism

A man who has not been a socialist before 25 has no heart. If he remains one after 25 he has no head.—King Oscar II of Sweden

That quote - in many different forms - has been attributed to many others. Versions of it have been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Victor Hugo, John Adams, George Bernard Shaw, Will Durant, and Robert Frost. I picked the King Oscar version for several reasons. It is one of the oldest published version. It is hard for me to resist attributing it to the sardine king. (You, know - King Oscar canned fish, from Norway. Why the Norwegians chose to honor a Swedish king in that manner is a fascinating story in itself.) It points to a phenomenon which puzzles many: Why young people lean left and favor socialism.

The older and the educated among us (which with today's education system really means only the older among us) understand that socialism does not work. Certainly after one has been out in the world for several years (which in Oscar's times would be around 25) experience shows socialism does not work. Ten or so years on your own pretty much shows divvying up the pie by needs rather than effort punishes the hard working and rewards the lazy. That reward system is unsustainable long term.

The older you get the more you realize the spokespeople of socialism, the Bernie Sanders, Bill Ayers, Jerimiah Wright and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez use socialism as a means to enrich themselves while leaving the poor among us indeed poor. It is a scam. Experience teaches that by example.

But why do the young lean left? Why do they embrace socialism, especially those from upper middle-class and higher backgrounds? Especially the scions of the 1%, who fill the ranks of organizations like Antifa? I would like to offer an explanation. It is due to their life experiences up until they leave the familial nest.

Those who grow up in a privileged environment experience a socialist paradise. A nuclear family really is a socialist environment where those with the ability to provide resources distribute them to the rest of the family member according to their needs. The parents work. The children are provided with food, shelter, clothing, health care, education, and transportation to the best of the ability of the parents.

The children are not charged for these goods and services. They are provided them free when they are young, and rarely have to put in more work than household chores as they grow older. This may change if times are hard. Then the children have to turn to and provide resources to the family. This was true for all but the very wealthiest families up to about the 1900s.

Children working began falling off as this nation acquired wealth. By the middle of the 20th century the only jobs held by children were paper routes, baby-sitting services, and lawn care. By 2000 even those outlets faded away. With few exceptions children of the professional classes have their needs provided for until they graduate from college - or even a few years after that. Summer jobs or after school jobs in high school? That takes away from polishing their resumes for college.

Is it any wonder they believe socialism works? A system very similar to that has worked for them all their lives. Because their parents are there to cushion any blows as they enter their adult lives, they never suffer the disillusionment with socialism that those who have to work hard to get ahead experience.

The children of the working class (or even lower) who had to hustle when young, who learned the pleasures of hustling, of being an entrepreneur, of getting ahead through hard work, do not embrace socialism. (Okay, maybe the lazy among them do.) They want to get ahead. It is from the upper and upper middle classes that the Bernie Sanders, Barak Obamas, Bill Ayers, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emerge.

Yes there are young people today who have their heads on straight. That is because they have a work ethic. They either had to have one to survive when growing up or because their parents worked to instill one within them. That is what my wife and I did with our children, especially during their teen years.

Want fewer young people to favor socialism? Consciously teach them that a family is the only unit where socialism works and that it scales extremely poorly.