Socialism is a Warm Flat Coke

I have seen the change from freedom to socialism as a fifth grader smooshed next to my little brother and sister in the back of a little Volkswagen. The most exciting trip of my childhood was a trip into East Berlin in the days of a divided Germany. It was exciting because it felt dangerous. Seeing the Berlin Wall after reading about it in history books was a sight to behold. Burned in my mind is the memory of the guard towers and the knowledge that those men had orders to shoot anyone trying to flee toward freedom. The weight of the state was palpable and immediate as we left the lights and bustle of West Berlin and passed through the security checkpoint into the gray, dark and drab land of communist control. My father told us that we might be followed (he was a military officer) and to not venture away from my mom and dad at all.

As a red-blooded fifth grade American girl, the activity I was looking forward to most was shopping. You heard me correctly, I was looking forward to going to a communist country so that I could go shopping. My friends had told me that there was a store, like an American department store, that I could go to that was filled with lots of cheap stuff. I was excited at the prospect of picking up a cheap Michael Jackson or a Cyndi Lauper tape (now you know how old I am). Well, needless to say I didn't come back with the latest American music. There was a department store filled with cheap stuff, that much is true, but there wasn't much I actually wanted to buy. Macys it wasn't. Yes socialism might promise you lots of cheap stuff, but it won't be the stuff you want. (Need an MRI? Here, take two aspirin and call me next spring.)

More than what we actually did, what I remember most is how I felt. I was seeing something unlike anything I had ever seen in my life. And it was not joyful. It was gray and it was lifeless. There were very few people on the streets. I imagined they must be in their gray unlit apartments doing whatever it is people do in a communist country. After shopping, my next favorite activity was going to restaurants. In the afternoon I was getting hungry and thirsty and was very excited to go into a restaurant. My excitement was soon extinguished by the warm, watery Coke placed in front of me. Of course the subject of communism is more serious than whether or not the Coke is sweet and fizzy and cold, but to me, as a fifth grader, this one Coke represented communism to me.

Marx belived that socialism was the necessary bridge to communism. Senator Biden laughed at a question from a reporter comparing Senator Obama's "spread the wealth" message to the Marx's quote "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". The question was not funny; it is a deadly serious one that all Americans need to consider. The American progressive movement is rooted in an affinity for socialism and Marxism.

I am not the only person who has been changed by a brush with socialism. Rose Wilder Lane (daughter of Melissa Gilbert... err I mean Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie) also had a life changing experience with socialism. The lessons she learned should probably be taken a little more seriously than my lack of shopping selection or flat Coke. She was an avowed socialist until she saw communism up close and personal during her work with the Red Cross. After actually witnessing the fruits of socialism and communism she became a radical libertarian. She is considered to be one of the founders of the modern libertarian movement.

I personally don't feel threatened by Senator Obama and his Marxist ideas. And, no joke, they are Marxist! I actually feel more threatened by the fact that so many Americans want what he is peddling. He cannot bring about the "change" he wants without the consent of the electorate. I want to feed the hungry and house the poor and heal the sick, too. But socialism will not accomplish those objectives. It will only make our problems worse. And it will rob your Coke of its carbonation too!