It
was the first month into my thirtieth year that I arrived in
Australia; the cold war was still humming along, though the Soviet
Union, economically, under Gorbachev, cracks began to appear,
heralding a collapse. President Reagan in the US had imposed his
trickle down economic theories, and inflation had hit a dangerous
high, while people in California were shooting at each other at the
gas pump, vying for that precious liquid, that had become
inexplicably rare, (something about Saudi Arabia) to put in their
vehicles, to simply drive to work. Reagan was also telling Russia to
“Tear down that wall!” Then, sometime in April, 1986, there was
the Challenger disaster – a world witnessed the destruction of a US
spacecraft and death of those brave astronauts. During this time I
left my country to find work in Australia, and my geopolitical views
would change, irreparably.
One
needs to understand that people of my generation, not quite a baby
boomer, grew up during the later part of the Cold War. Communism was
the great evil, it was portrayed as an ideology equal to that of
Nazism. The Russians were under every bed ready to strike, turning us
red blooded Americans into mindless slaves of the regime, taking away
our rights and basic freedoms. Absolutely nobody could work hard and
improve their personal economic condition, because the fruits of all
our hard work would go directly to the State. I remember as a child,
envisioning the US population all living in large warehouses,
sleeping in bunk beds, sad, depressed and Christmas too, a forgotten
memory. We could never let this happen, and if it did happen, it
would be the Russian's fault. The propaganda during this time was
unrelenting. It didn't matter: socialism, communism, Marxism – they
were all the same oppressive ideologies, and are all basically evil.
It was soon later, I began to educate myself...
After
only two weeks living “down under”, walking the city streets of
Melbourne, coming upon a curious book store, that years of political
conditioning as a young man, began to topple like a house of cards.
The store was a bit dark and musty, virtually empty, except for an
attractive, hippy-looking girl behind the counter. Walking to the
back of the store, displayed all along the back wall were posters of
Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. Honestly my legs became weak, and my
eyes darted around the store in panicked jolts of pure fear. Had I
been followed? Had I been led into a trap? I truly thought an FBI
agent would crash through the door and arrest my sorry socialist ass.
Instead the cute hippy girl appeared and asked: “Are you looking
for something in particular”? After stuttering something
incoherent, my last memory is walking out of the store with a copy of
The Communist Manifesto. Thus began my journey into political
awareness...
More
so then (1980”s) than currently, Australia was a Democratic
Socialist country. What does this actually mean without getting too
technical? DS is a political philosophy that advocates a political
democracy along side social ownership. The citizens own all the
public works: Welfare, Health care, transportation, education, water,
power, libraries, post office, etc. This means the citizens pay for
these necessary public institutions through taxes. In transportation,
for example, the people continue to pay to travel, but at a lower
rate, and it's run by the represented government. Health Care is
universal, that is public owned. Any citizen has access to public
health care, whether they have the basic flu or has been in a car
accident, all medical fees are paid for through their taxes.
Education is free, except for books, up through post graduate levels.
Public Utilities are publicly owned, therefore running ideally for a
3 monthly fee. One's bills are regulated, keeping costs down. Simply,
the populations' Needs are taken care of, enabling the majority to
live without the burden of private ownership, (over priced) and the
possibility of a fruitful existence...
End
of Part 1.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment