Growing up, I lived in society where housing was assigned to families based, first, on their size and, second, on their seniority within the government. My parents never paid rent or utilities and, when something in the home needed repairing, they would call a central maintenance department that serviced the entire city. When we were sick, we simply went to the hospital where we were treated and handed our prescriptions after showing our identification cards. Both of these services were always free of charge, of course.
I had a rather idyllic childhood, looking back, perhaps partly because I was proud that my family served in one of the United States’ most cherished (and, ironically, rather socialist) institutions—The U.S. Armed Forces.
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