What are you afraid of?
Over here, on the Mudflats blog, our sturdy Alaskan blogger opens up a discussion of the reality of the Alaskan winter, and the practicalities of life for a good number of outlying rural Alaskan natives. For those of you with click-o-phobia, she points out that the logistics of delivering heating oil to a lot of these folks involves the equivalent of flying oil tankers out to where they live, which drives the price of oil up to about $10 a gallon. This has caused a good deal of trouble, not only because any number of those people flat out can't afford it, but because it's changing the face of Alaska, forcing those rural Alaskans into the more urban areas, where they are uncomfortable and unhappy and unable to assimilate (or to be assimilated by urban Alaskans who have difficulties dealing with them inclusively), and also raising the instances of oil theft. In response to this, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been sending FREE oil to rural Alaska (as well as 23 other American states), in order to help alleviate all these negative ramifications of oil that is too expensive, in an area where heating oil means life or death. Chavez makes no apology for being a screaming Socialist, of course, and supports his ideology by practicing what he preaches all over the Alaskan wilderness. Some folks are too opposed to Socialism to actually accept Chavez's gift, preferring instead to accept Governor Sarah Palin's ironically socialistic gift of $1200 to pay for their life-perpetuating heating oil. But now, the Alaskan government is thinking of pulling that $1200, indicating that it was supposed to be a one-time deal anyway, and the falling price of oil should make heating oil at least marginally more affordable--unless you live in those rural areas. So a lot of Alaskans are facing the situation this winter where they have three choices--spend 40% of their income on heating oil, steal the stuff from their neighbors, or take the free stuff from Venezuela flat out.
Or, of course, the fourth choice--freeze to death.
It seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? I mean, I know that I've had the heat go on the fritz before, and if someone comes over with a blanket and some hot coffee while I wait for the heat guy to show up and fix me, I'm not going to turn those generosities away because I didn't earn them, and accepting them would be somehow socialistic and fundamentally undermining to the free market. Technically, if I'm so enamored of Capitalism, I would expect my neighbor to get a fair market price for that blanket and that coffee, yes?
Um, no.
If I'm freezing to death in the Alaskan wilderness, I'm going to take the free frikkin' oil, and I'm going to be grateful as hell to whoever provides it, whether I agree with his politics or not.
But, God bless him, if his politics are what urge him to share his oil with me, then God bless his politics as well.
Because you know what? In this difficult economic climate, I'm not afraid of Socialism, if what Socialism means is that those who have a supply share it with people who don't, and who really can't afford to purchase it right now. And if I have a supply that you need, then I'm prepared to share as well. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, and if we're called upon, at this juncture, to abandon the greed that drives the free market system, and to actually share what we have without thought of making a profit, and to actually accept help from people with whom we are ideologically opposed--then I'm going to do it. To my way of thinking, the free market system and the abuse of it is what got us where we are now, so I'm not altogether convinced that it's the answer to all economic prayers and the salvation of the free world.
If your ideas will keep you warm and fed this winter, then more power to you. But when it comes down to the fear of starving and freezing, and the fear of Socialism, then I'll be warm and fed and grateful for the Socialistic ideas that helped me stay that way.
And I'm looking at this situation in Alaska, where the Alaskan government is prepared to throw their own people under the bus in order to make a profit while a Socialistic foreign president is prepared to do his share and provide his neighbors, for free, with the oil they cannot afford to buy from their own market, and I'm thinking, shame on THEM. Shame on Bob Lynn, and shame on Sarah Palin, and shame on the country that so worships the idea of profit and the free marketplace that they will not take care of their own, even when not taking that care means that some will freeze to death, unless they rely on Venezuela.
I'm not overly enamored of unbridled Capitalism anyway--I've always been a sort of spiritually-based Socialist. But the current situation in the market indicates to me that I was not wrong in my leftist leanings, because it's clear that an unregulated market leads to financial disaster to all but the wealthiest of Americans, who are prepared to rely on my leftist leanings in order to steal my tax money so that they can continue to fuel their corporate jets and sacrifice nothing but the lowest members of their workforce. They are prepared to take their bonuses to celebrate their failures while pink slipping the people who actually do the work. They are incapable of even understanding why there would even be an objection to this.
It's clear that the Capitalists have no idea how to keep anyone but themselves warm in the winter, while Socialists have a better grasp that there should be nothing scary in an idea when there are so many more practical fears to be addressed, more immediately.
I found it really funny, actually, that the Republicans were so enamored of slamming Barack Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth around", and accusing him of--OMGWTFBBQ!--Socialism, while all the while Capitalism crumbled from beneath them, and even the discussion of the economy was considered political suicide. To me, it only indicated how terrifically out of touch they were. And it became clear, through Obama's victory, that the American people weren't as afraid of Socialism as perhaps they once were, because the Capitalism of the last decade didn't work for them.
Maybe, just maybe, Americans are getting smart enough to stop being more afraid of ideas than they are of realities.
And maybe that's what will keep us from freezing to death this winter, because it promises to be a long, cold one.
Or, of course, the fourth choice--freeze to death.
It seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? I mean, I know that I've had the heat go on the fritz before, and if someone comes over with a blanket and some hot coffee while I wait for the heat guy to show up and fix me, I'm not going to turn those generosities away because I didn't earn them, and accepting them would be somehow socialistic and fundamentally undermining to the free market. Technically, if I'm so enamored of Capitalism, I would expect my neighbor to get a fair market price for that blanket and that coffee, yes?
Um, no.
If I'm freezing to death in the Alaskan wilderness, I'm going to take the free frikkin' oil, and I'm going to be grateful as hell to whoever provides it, whether I agree with his politics or not.
But, God bless him, if his politics are what urge him to share his oil with me, then God bless his politics as well.
Because you know what? In this difficult economic climate, I'm not afraid of Socialism, if what Socialism means is that those who have a supply share it with people who don't, and who really can't afford to purchase it right now. And if I have a supply that you need, then I'm prepared to share as well. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, and if we're called upon, at this juncture, to abandon the greed that drives the free market system, and to actually share what we have without thought of making a profit, and to actually accept help from people with whom we are ideologically opposed--then I'm going to do it. To my way of thinking, the free market system and the abuse of it is what got us where we are now, so I'm not altogether convinced that it's the answer to all economic prayers and the salvation of the free world.
If your ideas will keep you warm and fed this winter, then more power to you. But when it comes down to the fear of starving and freezing, and the fear of Socialism, then I'll be warm and fed and grateful for the Socialistic ideas that helped me stay that way.
And I'm looking at this situation in Alaska, where the Alaskan government is prepared to throw their own people under the bus in order to make a profit while a Socialistic foreign president is prepared to do his share and provide his neighbors, for free, with the oil they cannot afford to buy from their own market, and I'm thinking, shame on THEM. Shame on Bob Lynn, and shame on Sarah Palin, and shame on the country that so worships the idea of profit and the free marketplace that they will not take care of their own, even when not taking that care means that some will freeze to death, unless they rely on Venezuela.
I'm not overly enamored of unbridled Capitalism anyway--I've always been a sort of spiritually-based Socialist. But the current situation in the market indicates to me that I was not wrong in my leftist leanings, because it's clear that an unregulated market leads to financial disaster to all but the wealthiest of Americans, who are prepared to rely on my leftist leanings in order to steal my tax money so that they can continue to fuel their corporate jets and sacrifice nothing but the lowest members of their workforce. They are prepared to take their bonuses to celebrate their failures while pink slipping the people who actually do the work. They are incapable of even understanding why there would even be an objection to this.
It's clear that the Capitalists have no idea how to keep anyone but themselves warm in the winter, while Socialists have a better grasp that there should be nothing scary in an idea when there are so many more practical fears to be addressed, more immediately.
I found it really funny, actually, that the Republicans were so enamored of slamming Barack Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth around", and accusing him of--OMGWTFBBQ!--Socialism, while all the while Capitalism crumbled from beneath them, and even the discussion of the economy was considered political suicide. To me, it only indicated how terrifically out of touch they were. And it became clear, through Obama's victory, that the American people weren't as afraid of Socialism as perhaps they once were, because the Capitalism of the last decade didn't work for them.
Maybe, just maybe, Americans are getting smart enough to stop being more afraid of ideas than they are of realities.
And maybe that's what will keep us from freezing to death this winter, because it promises to be a long, cold one.