Worker's Paradise?

If socialism is a political vehicle capable of creating a worker's paradise, why aren't these people smiling?

According to the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), Spanish workers held 334 strikes during the first four months of 2008, which resulted in the loss of 14.3 million man-hours of labor. These figures represent a 72 percent increase over the same period in 2007. During all of 2007, there were 852 strikes in Spain that resulted in the total loss of 22.5 million man-hours.

Nor is this a new trend. According to a special report published by The Economist in March 2005, Spain ranked third among developed countries (after Denmark and Canada) for the number of workdays lost as the result of labor conflicts during the previous decade. Spain lost 254 days, three times more than the EU average of 73 days (calculated as the number of days lost per 1,000 employees). By way of comparison, the UK lost 20 days while Germany lost 10 days.

Considering all these grievances, it seems strange that Spanish voters in March gave Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero another four-year term in office. After all, pre-election polls showed that the majority of Spaniards knew full well that Spain was not on the right track (economically or otherwise).

Maybe they allowed themselves to be persuaded that everything would somehow be okay, thanks to Zapatero’s post-modern relativistic political discourse (which posits that all problems are by definition imaginary). Or perhaps they were bribed by the 22 billion euros (a whopping 2.1 percent of Spain’s GDP) in handouts that Zapatero promised to bestow upon them if re-elected.

The American left pines for the establishment of Obama's socialist state because of all the wonderful things that an all-seeing benevolent government can provide the people.

All things, that is, except happiness.