I passed some of my happiest days living under communism.
I had no job, but all my needs – food, shelter, clothing, education, you name it – were provided for. I went to restaurants, took nice trips, and was even given my own spending money. I’m ashamed to say, I even complained when I felt I wasn’t given everything I wanted.
That little paradise ended when I graduated college and my loving parents reminded me I was now an adult and must take care of myself. We know you can do it – besides, you have no choice.
Which is to say, I understand the appeal of socialism; good families have always been fueled by the warmth of collectivism. There’s a reason childhood is often the source of fond memories. Yes, teachers and other members of the intelligentsia have helped inculcate young Americans with left-wing ideology, but a stronger factor is the changing family dynamics.
It is no coincidence that socialism is especially popular among the well-educated and privileged reared in the age of helicopter parents. Where previous generations understood that childhood was preparation for adulthood – the time we learned how to become responsible for our own feelings, finances, and fate – many of today’s young adults were taught to expect others to solve their problems. A culture of trigger warnings and participation ribbons that sought to protect them from uncomfortable ideas and disappointments arose at the same time that the vast wealth generated since the 1980s has enabled tens of millions of parents to provide the support their own parents could not.
Perhaps paradoxically, many of those who insist on the universal authority of their personal truths – displaying illiberal rage at those who don’t see things their way – are also happy to surrender power to those who promise to take care of them. Orwell was almost right: Big Brother is really Big Mommy & Daddy, the one to whom we surrender freedom in the name of protection.
Young socialists, however, are not outliers. They espouse a more aggressive version of the culture of dependence that has been steadily creeping across the land.
Our ever-expanding welfare state has taught not just the poor but the more than one-third of Americans receiving some form of assistance to expect government to meet their needs. More of those who do not qualify for such aid are gaming the system – especially through bogus disability claims – or committing outright fraud. Everybody else is getting their piece; why shouldn’t I?
Both political parties pander to this childish sense of entitlement, competing to present themselves as the true champions of the screwed over. Where LBJ cast his Great Society programs as a helping hand to lift Americans toward independence, and Ronald Reagan sought to unleash the power and potential of the people, today’s leaders complain about rigged systems and compete to offer more. Nowadays, JFK’s soaring line, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” has become a third rail of politics.
As the two parties battle it out, we pretend we’re engaged in a deeply serious debate weighing competing visions of our nation. But much of that sound and fury is childish babble – the politics of temper tantrums and empty slogans. As we approach November’s midterm election, neither party offers concrete plans to fix what’s broken.
To appreciate this lack of seriousness, note that the U.S. national debt topped $40 trillion last week. The canary in that coal mine died years ago, but suddenly some folks are freaking out over the fact that these bills might soon be coming due. And yet, neither party is talking about how to address this issue, because we the people do not want to hear about the sacrifice this will necessarily entail. While Democrats try to make the case that the failures of government can be traced to the success of a handful of billionaires – whose money they want to appropriate only to expand already unsustainable programs – Republicans are largely ignoring the crisis while pressing the need to increase defense spending.
The result is a Peter Pan nation, where citizens and their leaders seek to avoid the hard and rewarding challenges of adulthood in the quest to remain childlike, forever. Nowadays, growing numbers of the well-off and the poor see handouts as their birthrights in a quest to turn life into one big cradle until the grave. Not everybody, of course – but ever-growing numbers.
In a democracy, people get the government they deserve. Our feckless leaders are not merely leading us astray; they are a mirror of our desire to remain forever young, forever entitled, forever dependent. As we mature, we learn that the world does not conform to our wishes; childhood cannot last forever. At some point – one way or the other – we will have to put away childish things.
