I have observed that one of the symptoms of the misery of people in socialist countries is their heavy drinking. In a broader historical view, one could observe that mind numbing drug use has a tendency to scale with the misery of the people under despotic regimes. In this way, one includes the use of opium and heroin in many of the countries of Asia with tyrannical governments and the more recent history of the extremely heavy drinking in the Soviet Union and even now in Russia. Eastern Europe also turned more to drink when it was isolated behind the Iron Curtain. When Sweden reached its deepest socialist stagnation, drinking had become very bad there. When Ireland was exploited by the British, Ireland became a land of drunks. Japan is known for its male drunkenness, perhaps induced by the strange tyranny of the Japanese corporate culture and its group decision-making process.
Between 1991 and 2006, alcohol-induced deaths in the United Kingdom more than doubled to 8,758. In that year, alcohol-induced deaths in the United States were 22,073. On a per capita basis, there were about 1.96 times as many deaths in the more socialist United Kingdom. In 1995/1996, 34,660 National Health Service hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis relating to alcohol occurred. In 2005/2006, this number had increased to 52,270, with men producing 70% of these admissions.
Women vote in larger percentages for the security they think that socialism provides. Men are more likely to feel socialism not as security, but as a loss of choice and opportunity. Men are more likely to see themselves as marginalized under socialism and to feel its chains. Men are more likely to become depressed and drown their sorrows in alcohol and drugs. As Great Britain has steadily become more socialist since 1991, the British have turned more and more to drink.
Do we wish to follow the socialist nations of Europe deeper into socialism and hence deeper into depression, especially for men? Are we not also likely to turn more to mind-numbing drugs and drink to suppress our depression if we do so? Shouldn't women think about this consequence for the men of their society before they vote for socialism?
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