Young Capitalists

26. 4. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo

Not yet aware of what it means to responsibly administrate a limited budget, they often enter into another fantasy world: one where there is money in the government's coffers to pay for the well being of all inhabitants of this planet...

Inequalities are everywhere and many young people are ready to put on a show in public protests, Facebook groups or within the family arena in the name of a better world. In the Czech Republic - especially in Prague - it seems that university students are more often right wing than not. The recent controversy around the videoclip starred by two very well known young actors Jiří Mádl and Martha Issová reflects just that.

While the idea for the propaganda piece made by film director Petr Zelenka may have been heavily inspired and badly transposed idea by the very politically incorrect American comedian Sarah Silverman, who is known for making scatological and racial jokes, the two young stars should not be attacked for expressing their beliefs. Why should they not be just like the (at least apparent) majority of their peers?

Not only young Czech people hear all the time from the media and parents about how bad it used to be during the communist regime, they also have the governments of Miloš Zeman/Šlouf, Stanislav Gross and Jiří Paroubek to remind them that the Czech Left is not exactly all that. Not that the Klaus and Topolánek governments didn't leave also a bad taste in the mouth of many people, but the Social Democrats had a loud share of corruption scandals to provide more reasons why young people see it as a bad alternative. And for young people, CzechTek and Paroubek's repression against them is emblematic and won't go away that early.

Plus, if we consider that young people, especially from the big cities, are more aware and sensitive to what is modern and what is not, Paroubek cannot but to provoke a repulsive reaction, being one of the least photogenic and worst dressed of the Czech political Olympus, sweating in interviews and often reminding us - by his expressions, gestures and positions - that he played an important role during the communist regime.

Also the possibility of Paroubek joining forces with the Communist party can only create anxiety among the youth, who are more often in contact with foreigners and global culture, from which one knows that communism made in Eastern Europe (sorry, but Central Europe is a concept used by Czechs, but seldom by foreigners) failed miserably. And if the people who are now representing KSČM have not denounced the horrors perpetrated, for example, against Milada Horáková or later against not only dissidents, but to a whole nation, forcing it into succumbing to Soviet demands, their cultural influence and sent to go keep the mouth shut in a cottage house or an almost free panelák apartment, how can we want young people to be happy about the Left? Who is the Left in ČR?

What seems to be among the top reasons why so many people are angry with ODS is the issue of medical fees. Billboards mocking ODS and TOP 09 say things like "Nevolíš, zaplatíš: 476 kč za plombu", as if the government should have money to cover people's bad hygiene habits... Or that there were changes on the sick-leave process, which effectively showed - with the huge fall in sick-leaves - that Czechs (with the connivance of doctors) loved to stay home, out of work, for as many days as possible, even if only ill with the flu (from my 13 year experience directing newsrooms, I NEVER had all reporters and editors present, because there was always at least one on a sick-leave working half a month for a full salary).

So what leftists want is a Big Daddy State, which pays for all our needs. While this seems like a good idea, the problem with Marxism is that it does not work. As Henry George, Peter Singer, Lionel Tiger or even Václav Havel pointed out, human nature is inherently competitive and a system where this is almost eliminated and the State takes care of everything simply cannot work. It numbs people.

So good-willed people are proud leftists and thus feel that they are on the side of common people against the big capitalists who supposedly want to just exploit other humans. Are these people sharing their money to help some homeless come out of the streets? Is any leftist giving money to ease the Gypsies' endemic poverty? Do self-professed people support anyone other than themselves and family? Do they share their salaries with strangers? Of course the answer to all those questions is no. Only very few - really very few - do that. Or else the homeless magazine Nový Prostor would be selling hundreds of thousands of copies... And it is not.

The point is that one cannot just from his own good will help out all those in need or all the needs of those who are not well-off. So those leftists I am talking about are not helping because they CANNOT. The reason is that their gains are not enough to help many - to buy Nový Prostor maybe yes, but to take the homeless out of the streets no. Why? Simple arithmetic - there is not enough money for that. Well, how is a government different? Paroubek goes around saying that ODS created a huge debt for the country. How would ČSSD not make this debt even bigger, if dentists will be paid by a State that has no extra funds? The same way I would like to take the homeless out of the streets, but my salary only allows me to give a small share of what he needs, expecting others to follow and fill up the needed amount, we cannot have a government acting like a rich daddy. For the simple reason that it is not. So a father is not bad for being UNABLE to pay for certain expenses.

So no wonder most students of Economy, for example, are not fond of the Left. Because once we confront our wishes and needs with our actual personal budget, we have to cut off on many things. I need T-shirts, shorts and sunglasses for the upcoming hot weather. But all I can afford right now is a couple of T-shirts. How different is a government? After all, what they have comes from our taxes. Bigger expenses, higher taxes. And higher taxes for businesspeople mean less business (thus less employees) or more tricks to pay less taxes. And that leads to higher taxation of common employees, higher fees for public services. Of course less corruption would help making the cake bigger and thus available for more people, but the truth is that corruption - as it has been very well documented - is not an exclusive ODS specialty. As we saw not long ago with the communist's leader Jiří Dolejš, no party is immune to corruption.

So, although the controversial videoclip from Petr Zelenka raised a lot of questions about his integrity and about how ineffective the message he wanted to propel is, the truth is that it is only natural that young people will not want to pay the bill for people from Normalization days to continue not paying for non-essential medical care or paying ridiculously low rent for their communist-inherited apartments.

The Left just helps Czechs continue to dream of an effortless life. To ignore that there is a price to pay for everything. And not only in capitalism.

As a journalist and member of a non-ideological generation (who saw what such solidified beliefs make to people and societies) I prefer to be against both the Right and the Left. After all, they are only people. And most people are corruptible. Without serious checks and balances even the Dalai Lama may get corrupted. As history shows, both in capitalist and socialist systems there is always one enemy from within: people.

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