A Personal Peek at European Socialism

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to visit a number of countries along the Baltic Sea. Our trip included visits to the former Communist Block nations of Latvia, Estonia, and Russia, as well as the former East Germany. We also visited The Netherlands and Sweden, both of which have strong socialist governments. We had an opportunity to speak to some local folks in each of these places, and I was struck by the disparity between their view of life and our own.

My wife and I are “war babies”. We were raised in the 40’s, 50’s, and early 60’s. We believe our American forefathers left us three of the greatest gifts in the world: freedom, capitalism, and free markets. We cherish a view of America as exceptional, a shining beacon of freedom, the last great hope of the world. We were blessed to have been born and raised in a country where equality of opportunity gave us the chance to work hard and use our God-given gifts to grow and succeed. We assume that everyone wants to reach their greatest potential, and we relish American drive, ambition, will to succeed, personal pride, and a strong work ethic.

Sadly, it seems that such traditional American values have been somewhat diluted of late. They are commonly disparaged in today’s media and press. Individual achievement and success are increasingly displaced by government programs and entitlements, equality of opportunity by equality, the melting pot by multi-culturalism. Somewhere along the line it became fashionable to empathize with the tragic childhood of bullies, bandits, and bombers rather than to confront, incarcerate, or execute them. We now try to foster self esteem by recognizing participation rather than achievement. The media and press are increasingly critical of capitalism and free markets. Our government drifts inexorably to the left. We often read and hear about the benefits and joys of “European socialism” – which brings me back to our Baltic Sea trip.

As an admittedly old-fashioned American, I was astounded by the personal views I encountered.

In Russia, a guide fondly remembered when “everyone had a job, food, clothing, and a place to live”, however humble it all may have been. To some degree, she actually missed Communism, even though it offered no hope of improvement (except through the Party apparatus), and in spite of the oppression of the Party apparachnics and the KGB.

The socialist countries that had never been communists also espoused views that were at odds with our own. Personal goals commonly centered on comfort rather than achievement. They expected government guarantees of: plentiful vacation (6 weeks) holidays and free time, permanent employment unrelated to performance, early retirement (age 60 at the latest) with comfortable pensions, short work weeks (35 hours), and full medical, dental, mental health, and addiction rehabilitation benefits. Personal goals and virtues such as individual responsibility, ambition, drive, productivity, accomplishment, achievement, advancement, recognition, and success, did not seem to be on their radar. The word entrepreneur and the dream of owning and growing your own business brought blank stares.

One guide asked me why we value capitalism so much? When I responded that capitalism and free markets are the engines of American productivity (ok, maybe a little too pedantic, but I was riled), he reminded me that China was also quite productive. I agreed of course that totalitarian regimes such as Communist China can be productive, but only on the backs of the underprivileged poor.

For the first time, I really understood that, although American economic prosperity is rooted in capitalism and free markets, it is propelled by individual freedom.

I have always felt that socialism was an economically inferior system, but I found it to be much worse than that. It robs you of the drive that distinguishes us from our primate cousins and pulled us out of the jungle and off the steppes. Socialism doesn’t just affect your wallet and your lifestyle, it stifles your heart, your spirit, and your soul. It steals your pride and your dignity. It values ordinary over excellent. Ugh.