Pun Salad

Kevin D. Williamson is a National Review editor, author of the Exchequer blog there, and a reliable target of Pun Salad links. (See, for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) When he came out with this book, I was a natural customer. And it's good!

It's a wide-ranging exploration of various instantiations of socialism, and why they (nearly invariably) all suck in one way or another. Socialists do not make this easy: many of them will deny their socialism (I'm looking at you, Mr. President). And others, when confronted with socialism's failures, will deny that it's a case of "real" socialism. But Williamson is relentless, merciless, and invariably on-target. He writes with style and sharp wit. Socialists will hate him.

The book looks at how socialism has (not) worked around the world: India, Sweden, North Korea, Venezuela. Common themes emerge: besides its dismal failures at providing its subjects with goods and services, socialism encourages nasty scapegoating, creeping totalitarianism, poor environmental practices, and hyper-nationalism.

Not that America gets off scot-free. Woodrow Wilson and Eugene Debs are pummeled, with excellent justification. Our "public education" sector (inspired by those nice Prussians) is hopelessly mired in socialism, with predictably poor results. Energy and health-care are being pushed down the road to serfdom as well.

(Williamson, by the way, makes an excellent point about how public debate on these matters works. In selling Obamacare, it was widely noted with horror that the US spends about 15% of GDP on health care—too much compared to other countries. But the US also spends a more on education than some other countries—why isn't that an issue? Because it's a done deal, socialism-wise.)

The "Politically Incorrect" series by longtime conservative publisher Regnery gives off kind of a "dumbed-down" vibe: inexpensive paperbacks with catchy covers, wide margins, lots of little side-boxes on many pages. But Williamson counters that impression with a deep understanding of his topic, backed up with heavy research. I promise: you'll learn something.

For example, Williamson uses the word "syncretic" on page 52. And I've resolved to look that up some day.