Socialism

The 1980's were the hay day of the USSR. With a population of 286 million in 1989 vs the US population of 246 million. At that time only 19 million were members of the communist party. The higher ranked members which totaled 3 million had the best of everything while most people were stuck with shortages of basic things like food and shelter. In 1975 only one in 54 Russians had a car while the ratio in the USA was one out of two. It is well documented that Soviet government officials were served by separate grocery stores to the rest of the USSR population and shelves there were well stocked as opposed to the stores where the average person shopped. Needless to say, the healthcare afforded to top party members was of much higher quality. Child care was provided for party members. George Orwell in his book, "Animal Farm" said under socialism everyone is equal but some are more equal. This is the kind of government that appeals to countries where most of the people are poor and a very small minority have most of the goodies. To them anything is better that the status quo and they are ripe for picking by some populist promising to share the wealth. It has happened many times and the result is always the same. People lose their desire to excel, lack ambition and settle back and accept a just get by attitude.