David Thomson:
Socialist doctrines are embraced by a high number of Americans.
I think that most of that “embracing” is theoretical. For most Americans, who are ignorant of other countries’ experience of socialism, the realization that, for the masses, socialism is synonymous with Spartan austerity, will hit hard. I think especially hard-hit will be those Generation Y-ers who grew up during the great Internet and housing bubble days and, false or not, have only known prosperity and abundance. I’m Gen X, so my coming of age was nothing like that, plus my parents were both blue-collar workers in the 70′s, so my material expectations were always low, but my favorite people in college were the recent emigres from the former Soviet Union, who knew the realities of Communism beyond the sloganeering and parades and hated Communism with a passion.
When the Gen Y-ers realize that Obamian “sacrificing a piece of the pie” is not just a slogan but a reality, due to excessive taxation at all levels, I think they’ll want the government to back off on the taxes so they can build some personal wealth, only hopefully they’ll be more demanding when it comes to reducing spending, having learned the lessons of the recent past and next 3 years until, hopefully, Obama gets booted out.
