A recent survey of college students indicates that a plurality of them would prefer to live in a socialist country. Critics have complained that these results show college students have little knowledge about the real world, which is filled with failed socialist states. This is largely true, no doubt. But I think there’s another deeper reason for students’ embrace of socialism. Socialism stands for free stuff, and there are few things students like more than stuff that’s free. Also, socialism sounds like “social” and “sociability,” and everyone knows that if more people had those qualities the world would be a much better place. In some surveys, communism comes in second in popularity. I think that’s because communism comes from “commune,” a place where people of good will share things with each other, and who could be against that? Some students may be put off because they’ve heard that communism is authoritarian...(Read Full Article)