By Andrea Widburg:
If you really want to shock leftists, tell them Europe does not have, and has never had, socialized medicine or, indeed, socialized anything. European nations certainly had government-controlled medicine. They also boasted short work weeks, long vacations, year-long maternity leaves, early retirement, fully-paid-for old-age care, and all sorts of other things that made them feel superior to Americans.
However, contrary to Europeans’ self-satisfied faux-socialist vision of themselves, Europeans didn’t fund their so-called “soft socialism.” Instead, for the most part, Americans did. During the Cold War, the government collected taxes from Americans to pay Europe’s defense costs, allowing Europeans to spend their tax money on all those little socialist luxuries. Americans, meanwhile; worked 60-hour weeks; got short vacations; and paid for their own medical care, old-age care, and maternity leave.
Read more: American Thinker
