Wy Socialism is a Four Letter Word

When I tell people that I am a Socialist they generally feel speechless, confused and/or alarmed.  All their lives they have been told by media as well as colleagues, family members and others that socialism is a bad thing and not to be tolerated in Canada.  I admit that I was given to understand by my parents that socialism was a good thing but they also gave me the full story of why conservatives and liberals were not good for the ordinary Canadian.  And then I was told to read the newspaper and make up my own mind.  I was 14 at the time.

It’s true that Scandinavians are innately socialist as long ago as the Viking era.  I was rather surprised to learn that fact and am grateful for my mother in translating from the Danish encyclopedia.  There are 13 volumes in my set (going up to 1939) and written in extraordinary detail.  While I can read Danish from the magazines are lesser books I find reading the encyclopedia challenging because it is “intellectual words” which naturally we do not speak in our house on a daily basis.  We speak common Danish.  When we talk politics it is a scramble with mostly English in it.  I give you this information so you will understand that I am open and honest – I am getting my information second hand from Mom although I frequently ask to see the book so I can make sure it’s what she told me. 
As I have said in past blogs, I do urge folks to look up each of the Scandinavian countries’ websites and review their political section.  As well, a very interesting book on the Danes rescue of Jews is found in the book “Countrymen” by Bo Lindgaard which is currently on the bargain shelf at Chapters for about $10.  It explains a lot of the political part of being an occupied country during WWII but more importantly it explains the Danish way of feeling about anyone who is a Danish citizen regardless of ethnic background.  I often say of myself “don’t give me something and then take it away” which is very much a Danish thing.

I am in correspondence with several of my Danish cousins and one day Laust and I were talking on the phone and I had to laugh a little when he said “I pay my taxes with joy”.  I said while I don’t pay my taxes with joy I pay them because they are my responsibility as a Canadian citizen.  If I want health care, infrastructure, schools and so on it behooves me to pay for it.  I never skirt my taxes or try to cheat, it just isn’t worth it for me to feel dishonest.  Most Danes feel the same way although they love to complain about the taxes; at the same time they would rather pay their taxes than lose the things the taxes pay for.  In this regard I think it is worthwhile to read “The Almost Nearly Perfect People” by Michael Booth.  While much of what he writes annoys me because he is fairly derogatory about the Danes’ he does make some points that are relevant when it comes to taxes and the Danish and other Scandinavians’ attitude.

Something that irritates the heck out of me when discussing social programs is the phrase “whose going to pay for it?”  Well, you are of course but why do you have to ask when you already pay for so much crap in our system.  Why would you begrudge $100 or so for abortion when the alternative could be a child born in poverty and then you will pay how many thousands of dollars for 18 years of social services?  (Forget the pro-life stance, it will only irritate me more).

The 4 letter word is really something that the media creates via their corporate owners since they don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes.  If they did we would likely be able to fund free college educations, fund infrastructure in rural areas, keep schools and hospitals current and so much more.  But hey, why would we need these things in the 21^st century.  Let’s just fall further and behind European countries who actually know what they are doing.

Another re-think moment.