The Case for Socialism

 Blasphemy! 

Yes, I know. My parents are spinning in their graves.  As most of my conservative friends are penning a stinging rebuke as they read this - I ask only that you read first and react later:

I recently did a study on a combination of global social measurements of social 'well being'. Among the measurements were:

1. Life
2. Liberty
3. The pursuit of happiness

One would expect that the nation that coined these truths to be self evident would rank among the world's best. Not even close.

I also added one additional category: Educational excellence.

Below you will see the results of my study. Each graphic is authentic and the sources are the most authoritative & respected I could find. In each graphic I chose the same number of countries to illustrate: The top 25 in each category. Due to the limited space in the blog text area, you may need to enlarge (ctrl+) or expand to get a clear rendering. 

LIFE:

The annual Quality of Life report [1] is widely used by scholars and political scientists. It factors 30 categories in the index. 

Top honors go to Australia. The U.S. is NOT Listed in the top 25.

The take-away for this score, is that Quality of life is pretty subjective, and it can be influenced by the size of the country as much as social policy. For instance countries like Marcao, Malta, Cyprus, Switzerland, and city states such as Hong Kong (no longer a country unto itself) and Singapore are prevalent in this list.

I also notice high scores in categories of Security, Rights and Stability in the top 25.

LIBERTY:

The Human Freedom index [2] is compiled by the renowned Cato Institute and it also a source of factual consideration for Political Scientists and Academia.  With New Zealand #1, the U.S. ranked 15th. 

You see a few rankings duplicated (11,15) because the aggregate score was a virtual tie for the ranking.

Again smaller countries and those with progressive governments dominate the top 10.

HAPPINESS:

While understanding that 'happiness' is probably the most subjective of the measurements, when all people of all countries are asked the same questions in the same way - it is as much reality as it is perception. Here the annual World Happiness report [3] finds Finland at #1 while the U.S. Ranks 18th.

EDUCATION:

I admit cheating on this graphic. I pulled the top 26 countries rather than the top 25 - so I could include the U.S. at # 26 in the Education Rankings report [4].

While China continues to outshine in education due to their communist doctrine, they are not high on any other measure.  Also, the data coming out of China & Hong Kong has always been suspect as it is subject to government censorship. Therefore, I consider their education score to be an outlier in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

What struck me most is which countries are in consistently in the top 10.  I chose a few at random, but found a striking similarity: They were all Democratic Socialist in nature - or a progressive form of democracy. Many Scandinavian countries are consistently in the top 10. I wondered: What makes them so special?

I concentrated on democratic countries with a free market economy [4] (aka Capitalist). A few examples show consistent excellence in governing in each of the four categories:

Finland: Tops in education among democracies, Finland is also #1 in the Happiness Index; #8 in the Freedom Index; and #23 in the Quality of Life index. 

Finland, like other Scandinavian countries, has a comprehensive social safety net that helps ensure that people have what they need to live productive, healthy, and happy lives. If your definition of socialism is individuals and businesses paying high taxes to ensure that wealth is being distributed equitably across the population, then yes, Finland is socialist.

However, Finland runs on a free-market economy, something that is contrary to how many people perceive socialism. If your definition of socialism is heavy government regulation of business, then no, Finland is not socialist. In fact, government regulations are so low that Finland does not even have a minimum wage.

The best way to look at Finland’s economy and politics may be to see it as a blend of capitalism and socialism. Some people refer to this as “compassionate capitalism,” meaning that markets can run freely, with minimal government regulation and interference; the role of the government is to ensure social welfare by providing generous benefits to the population through the revenue generated by taxes. Those benefits include free schools, including college, for all students and generous maternity and paternity leave for new parents. 

Unlike in the U.S. where the government tries to protect social wealth as much as, if not more than, social welfare.

Switzerland: #11 in education among democracies, #3 on the Happiness Index, #2 on the Freedom Index, and #5 on the Quality of Life index, Switzerland is another successful democratic socialist country.

Switzerland’s economy is almost entirely made up of small- and medium-sized businesses because its government promotes policies that are very friendly to entrepreneurship. The education model in Switzerland is also very friendly to businesses, as students are required to gain job training as part of their academic education. It also has relatively low taxes – the average tax rate for individuals is less than 9%, significantly less than in the United States, and even less than countries that are generally classified as socialist.

Healthcare in Switzerland can be understood as somewhat socialist. A public insurer cannot turn anyone down for any reason, including a pre-existing condition. However, the insured individual, rather than the employer or the government, is required to pay the premiums. Education in Switzerland is free, and students who pursue an academic route, rather than a vocational one, are given free admission to universities.

Australia: #9 in education among democracies, #12 on the Happiness Index, #5 on the Freedom Index, and #1 on the Quality of Life index, Australia is a huge country - with a population of New York.  Most of Australians live in coastal cities and the center of the country is one big dry expanse. 

Australia is not considered socialist by most. Except for some U.S. conservatives that see the Australian form of Medicare for All as a socialist doctrine. Many believe that Australia's #1 performance in the Quality of Life index is a consequence of their national Medicare system.

And so...

I leave you with this: The data - a lot of data - indicates that a compassionate capitalist government that focuses on social policy rather than economic policy has the upper hand.  

Got better ideas? Let me know.

JWB

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[1] Quality of Life, World Data, extracted Sept 20, 2020, from https://www.worlddata.info/quality-of-life.php

[2] Civil Liberty and Freedom Report, Cato Institute, extracted Sept 20, 2020, from https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new

[3] World Happiness Report, extracted Sept 20, 2020, from https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/ 

[4] Education Rankings by Country, World Population Review, retrieved Sept 20, 2020 from: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country

[5] Democratic Socialist Countries 2020 by Population, World Population Review, retrieved Sept 20, 2020 from: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/democratic-socialist-countries#dataTable