Socialist Utopia -- What's it Like?

Since the mid-1600s, most scientific knowledge has been obtained through experimentation. But there are some experiments that are just too cruel and immoral to run. Numerous social experiments have fallen into that category over the centuries, like the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution and Eugenics. Elites imposing notions of superiority over others to create artificial egalitarian states has never gone well. We may never know what a socialist utopia is really like.

But wait! Yes we can! The experiment has been run, and no humans were harmed in the process. Er, hold on there, Poindexter! Millions of humans were harmed, and then some, as WE learn from this article from the New York Post: Sorry, liberals, Scandinavian countries aren’t utopias, by Kyle Smith.

Look to Denmark, the country that routinely leads the world in happiness surveys. It’s also notable for having the highest taxes on Earth, plus a comfy social-safety net: Child care is mostly free, as is public school and even private school, and you can stay on unemployment benefits for a long time. Everyone is on an equal footing, both income-wise and socially: Go to a party and you wouldn’t be surprised to see a TV star talking to a roofer.

The combination of massive taxes and benefits for the unsuccessful means top and bottom get shaved off: Pretty much everyone is proudly middle class. Danes belong to more civic associations and clubs than anyone else; they love performing in large groups. At Christmas they do wacky things like hold hands and run around the house together, singing festive songs. They’re a real-life Whoville.

In the American liberal compass, the needle is always pointing to places like Denmark. Everything they most fervently hope for here has already happened there.

So: Why does no one seem particularly interested in visiting Denmark? (“Honey, on our European trip, I want to see Tuscany, Paris, Berlin and . . . Jutland!”) Visitors say Danes are joyless to be around. Denmark suffers from high rates of alcoholism. In its use of antidepressants it ranks fourth in the world. (Its fellow Nordics the Icelanders are in front by a wide margin.) Some 5% of Danish men have had sex with an animal. Denmark’s productivity is in decline, its workers put in only 28 hours a week, and everybody you meet seems to have a government job. Oh, and as The Telegraph put it, it’s “the cancer capital of the world.”

Beep! Beep! Back the truck up there, Tex! Sex with animals? That has to be made up. Well ... Not exactly. 

(Bestiality has traditionally been legal in Denmark, though a move to ban it is underway. Until recently, several “bestiality brothels” advertised their services in newspapers, generally charging clients $85 to $170 for what can only be termed a roll in the hay.)

Hay ... that is, hey, if you're going to be progressive, might as well go all the way, as it were. WE could regale you with the rest of the article, but you can read it here... (The rest of it is about polite stuff, WE promise!)

Do you think we'll learn from Scandinavia's example, or will we have to repeat the experiment, harming and debasing millions more humans (and, evidently, animals) in the process? Find out in the next episode of As the Stomach Turns ...