FYI I’m a market socialist that wants our society to first adopt that, then strive towards being more and more communist.

Rant: Do I have freedom of speech? Yes. Do you have the freedom to protest? Yes. Do I have the freedom to make my own party and vote for the parties I want to? Also, yes

However, I am already governed in a very strict way to act in a certain way, which limits my actual freedom.

I have freedom of speech, but if I use it, I might have a harder time getting a, a job, and that restricts my freedom of speech. And if I don’t have a job, I’m not able to provide for my family or own an apartment or save for my retirement. This is not a problem for all kinds of employment, but it’s a problem for many of those that might pay well, which is a requirement for owning an apartment in the society I live in.

I am able to vote, but am I able to actually influence anything? Will most people vote for something that makes their homes lose value? Probably not, especially when 80% or so of Norwegians own their own homes. But for some reason, even if most people in Norway voted against changing the wealth tax, mysteriously enough, we’re gonna change it anyways.

So if I want to own an apartment for my family or a home, I have to work extremely, or very hard, I have to save up a lot, and this restricts my decisions.

I know I have to invest in the exploitation of others in order to ensure my financial future and my family’s future. I am able to take the moral high road, but if I do it, I am harshly punished.

So me and most people I know are effectively put into a very strict and controlled way of living our lives because we are punished if we don’t. So many people are arguing that socialist countries and communist countries are authoritarian, which they historically often have been. But is it actually that different? The authoritarian part is a consequence of structural problems which are more invisible and more pulverized in many various systems and ways.

If I make my own company, I have two options. I can act morally or immorally. If I act immorally and exploit my employees as much as I am able to without them producing less, then I make more money, at least in theory, and in many cases. And that makes me wealthier and makes the company bigger, which makes the company even bigger. Om the other hand, if I chose to have a moral company, it will be outcompeted by the immoral company. The consequence of that is that I have to act immorally to be able to compete.

I am in theory allowed to do a lot of things, but not really. Because if I do them, I’m punished harshly. So I can’t choose my own education in such a way that I’m not hurt by it. So I have to choose an education that is well paid if I want to own a home to have my children in.

So my hand is forced. I have to act according to what the economy wants me to do and not according to my best interests from a non-financially ideal situation.

I am one of the lucky ones. I am born in Norway. I am able to spend time with my newborn and my wife, and that period is magical. It’s the most rewarding thing I have ever done. But it hurts my feelings and it hurts my wife’s feelings that we will not be able to spend as much time with her in the future because we have to work. And if we don’t work enough, then life gets hard.

I am not free, and I don’t feel free.

I think I’m starting to understand what people mean by the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. If this is what they are pointing to. I find this depressing and I don’t know how to handle these feelings. At least I’m not alone, and I have my fantastic family, which I love, and that is maybe enough to life of contentment.

Any thoughts?

Edit: Extremely and very