Argument with a bumper sticker

Seen on the back of a green Civic: SOCIALISM ISN’T COOL

You know, they’re right.  There’s nothing cool about a bunch of bureaucrats trying to solve complex social problems for the benefit of the general public.  I’d go so far as to say that the average government office is about as uncool a place as you’ll find anywhere in the world.

You know what’s cool?  Fascism is cool.  They’ve got those neat black leather uniforms with the chrome fittings, the sly “Do what I say or I’ll break your head” attitude, and all those snazzy rallies that often involve torches.  Of course, there’s the whole violent repression thing, not to mention the tendency to start unjust wars, but there’s even something cool about that.  After all, unjust wars features lots of explosions, and explosions are cool.

All of which is to say: maybe we shouldn’t pick our governmental approaches based on what’s cool.

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A note: I am not a socialist, haven’t been since high school.  (That was not long before I was a Randroid.  I went through a lot of different phases back then.)  But I could not help noticing that the woman with the bumper sticker was driving on the Capitol Beltway, part of the Interstate Highway System, which was a government creation that could fairly be labeled a socialist endeavor.

So while I believe that free enterprise has an important place, I can see the point to having an active government.  The proper limits of government involvement is an interesting and open question, but the answer will certainly not come down to what’s cool.