
Three of us allegedly elderly women were shooting the breeze last night under the stars. Betty passed a magazine to Carol. “Oh, thanks, I’ll give it back after I read it.” “What is it?” I asked. “Mother Jones,” Betty answered. “Oh, you little communists, you!” We all laughed.
“I was just on Twitter,” I said. “Often, folks there accuse each other of being communists or socialists. Those accusers mean “bad’ -they cannot define either communist or socialist.” “Socialism is good,” said Carol. “What about those happy ‘socialist’ Nordic countries? They are happy people.” Betty said, “Yes, I went there-they are happy people,” said Carol. “Right, they are always at the top of happiness surveys,” I said. and went on:
“The same people who love the military hate socialism. But the military is thoroughly socialist. They get clothes, food, shelter and health care-and the soldiers like it. And ‘socialist’ Sweden has Ikea, which, as we all know, is a profit making enterprise. You can use the best parts of any systems.”
The maintenance guy walked by. “Why are you guys having such a lively conversation?” he asked.
“Because were socialists!” I shouted. And we all laughed.