Some Silly Stories About Socialism

by John A. Tures

Associate Professor of Political Science

LaGrange College

There’s a joke in Russia I heard when I visited the country after the fall of the Gorbachev government. It went like this: “What did Soviet socialists use before they had candles?” The answer was “electricity.”

Last week, Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer launched the nation into the latest “Obama Socialist Scare” by telling us that the president’s address to public school kids involves “pushing a socialist agenda.”

In the September 5 Miami Herald article “Fla. GOP: Obama to spread socialism in schools,” Greer’s press release said “As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.”

Am I the only one who thinks it’s ironic that there’s a fear that kids at government-run schools will listen to an address by the head of government? I wonder if Greer objected as strongly when Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush gave similar nationwide speeches to all public schoolchildren, as NPR reported. That’s what government leaders do, regardless of their political party.

Granted, the “Obama Socialism Scare” folks may have a point. Originally, the kids were going to have an assignment follow the address, involving writing an essay about how they can help advance the President’s goals, but that dumb idea (which would have actually shifted the thing into the partisan arena) was wisely scrapped. So I won’t mind if my precious little one hears the speech. It goes with the territory of being in a public school.

It’s not the only time somebody’s been a little silly about socialism in the last month. MSNBC reported that at Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s town hall meeting, a local elected official told the government to “keep their hands off Social Security.” And Fox News shows people at town halls demanding that the government stop messing with Medicare.

Some government programs have been around so long that we don’t even realize that they are government-run. It’s like seeing a “Honk if you hate the government” bumper sticker on a car driving down the interstate.

This summer, I asked my class how many of them hate socialism. I think all of them raised their hands. Then I noted how every one of them was wearing a hat or shirt for the University of Georgia, Auburn University, Georgia Southern, Florida State University, or one of our local public high schools. “I never thought about it that way,” one remarked.

They are in good company. Nearly 90 percent of all children are sent by their parents to a public school. And polls show an increasing acceptance of socialism among the people of the United States. If you worry about a socialist agenda, don’t forget there are several religious-based schools or private academies with a few spaces to spare, if you are willing to put your money where your mouth is. We’ll even light a candle for you.