Reporting on Soviet citizens lucky enough to travel outside the country in the 1970s, Hedrick Smith observed in his classic book The Russians that they "were like coiled springs, leaping at the department store cornucopias of the West." Thankfully the U.S.S.R. has long since fallen into the proverbial dustbin of history, but its existence was educational insofar as we were all able to see up close the consequences of collectivism: it was bare shelves, and endless lines for goods that were of intensely low quality. All of which explains why Soviets did what they did when traveling outside the prison that was their country.
The truth about communism looms large today. Many on the Right argue that younger Americans are blind to just how horrific living conditions were when socialism and communism cruelly stalked a substantial portion of the world’s population. The Right are right. Let’s make sure to educate those who are indifferent to the State as central planner.
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