what?

I went to a graduation last year.

It was at the same parochial school I graduated from 56 years ago.

The president of the class made a speech in which she thanked the faculty for teaching them about “the love of God, and the evils of socialism.”

That caught my attention.

Do they have a class in the downside of capitalism or the upside of socialism? Probably not.

Of course when we think of socialism we think of Cuba or Russia and maybe China. But they are socialistic dictatorships.

If you want to really look at socialism, look at the countries in Northern Europe: Sweden, Norway et al.

Their people pay about half of their income for taxes, but in return they get medical care (note I did not say free--they pay for it), a quality college education among other things.

That got me thinking. What if my doctor, rather than having a quarter million of debt when she began practicing medicine, instead had zero debt. What if she was given a “full ride” scholarship (like we give the jocks) and graduated to go use those skills.

Hmm.

The implications are enormous. Maybe she would even be paid less, maybe that would allow her to practice in places that really could not provide an income to live on and service a quarter million in debt.

I am not really pro socialism, but I am into fairness, and proclaiming socialism evil and capitalism good is a bit narrow. Both systems have good points, and both systems have their soft underbelly.

It comes down to how they are managed.

The Swedes I know are very happy with their system.