Aging ex-supermodel Elle MacPherson is reported to have a net worth of $45 million. In addition to having been paid millions by capitalists, MacPherson herself is a capitalist with businesses in fashion and beauty.
Despite living a life of luxury thanks to the freedoms provided by living and working in democratic capitalist societies, MacPherson recently told Howard Stern that "she's pulling for Barack Obama to be reelected."
"I’m living in London and I’m socialist," she told her host. "What do you expect?"
It's easy to be a socialist when you're a multi-millionaire living in liberal democracies with capitalist economies. When your life is completely cosseted by entourages, private jets, limos, and all the rest of the perks of being at the top of the 1%, it's easy to mock the system.
What MacPherson desperately needs is for the proto-angel from It's a Wonderful Life to take her on a tour of what MacPherson's life would have been like if she had been born in, say, East Germany or the Soviet Union in, say, 1955. Maybe they'd have time for a quick visit to the Gulag Archipelago. Or the angel could show her what her life would have been like if she had lived in Cambodia in the late 1970s.
Socialism failed. Miserably. Communism collapsed because it was unable to compete with democratic capitalism. Marxist-Leninist countries produced misery, inequality, poverty, and environmental degradation. Chinese communism has morphed into a fascist-like form of state capitalism. European social democracy is struggling to survive an era of austerity.
About the only people who haven't figured out that saying "I'm a socialist" is the same as saying "I'm a massive idiot" are Western academics and zillionaire celebrities. But I guess that's why MacPherson is known as "the Body" and not "the Brain."
BTW, I have a feeling some Super-PAC is going to be running this clip a lot between now and November. "I live in London" cues up the birther issue. "I'm socialist" cues up the "Obama's a socialist" meme. They're both stupid arguments, but they might play in Peoria.
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