Champagne Socialism Is The New Black

By Elizabeth Major on October 28, 2015 in Other

It was probably in the days when Donald Trump still sported his own head of hair, but at some time in the not-too-distant past, the concept of free-market liberalism became synonymous with evil. Capitalist philosophy was ascribed to the wealthy elite and denounced by the morally superior left: those who find the ignoble right wing government unpleasing at best. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I am starting to find an amusing anomaly among the leftist community: those with the least knowledge about economic theory seem to have the most to say. Their political tendencies lean more to the left, and from atop their ivory tower they wax lyrical about the virtues of socialism while denouncing the greedy motivations behind our right-oriented Liberal government.

A friend of mine used to call them champagne socialists. You know the type: they live a fairly comfortable lifestyle in million-dollar properties in the Eastern Suburbs, probably drinking lattes down at Bronte in the middle of the day, working minimal hours on a high minimum wage, complaining about their tax-free threshold and then demanding that the government look after those who are less fortunate.

Students, especially, love to quote Marx: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!” They claim some kind of altruistic motive behind their aspersions of the wealthy upper class from whence they came, they deny the national debt and ignore the pragmatism of Thatcher who rightly said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Scandinavia is still cited as the socialist success story – proof that every man is equal and no man is remarkable. Ask any Dane how wonderful life is and they will agree (usually, wholeheartedly, from the country to which they have migrated). Interestingly, most of these Scandinavian nations use high taxes and lifelong welfare to support their nationals; however, their economy manages to sustain this through a predominantly liberalist market approach. Places like Denmark, Finland and Sweden all rank higher than the US in business freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom and property freedom, while still maintaining a system that is free of corruption. Unfortunately, due to the needs-based cradle-to-grave welfare system, many of these socialist Scandinavian nations also rank lower than American states in economic output and private consumption (directly connected to a low-income average).

I recently asked a Danish friend how a socialist society celebrates their particularly exceptional individuals and she said, “There are none. If you are talented, you keep that to yourself. Nobody needs to know.” What a sad state of affairs when the virtues of a community lay in keeping everyone the same so that none may be left behind. What incentive would any person have to excel, to work harder, to invent, innovate or create beauty for its own sake?

Winston Churchill once said, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” Ultimately, our welfare system is more than adequate and we have facilities to allow the kind of education that would support a more informed debate about economics. Champagne socialists around the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your gold chains of ignorance.