Am I totally corrupted that I find a lot to recommend this "good life"? I understand that much of the world's population doesn't enjoy anything like it, but one reason I'm a socialist is because I think more people should. It's a bit hard to find his point here.
WS: I think you (and I, as I agree with you on that) are in the minority. This bread-and-butter brand of socialism has been replaced with the kultur-ueber-alles variety. Bringing the material benefits of bourgeois life to all is not cool anymore, worse yet, it is Eurocentric. The cool thing is to embrace the cultural identity of "the oppressed," the more shocking and outrageous the better, and blast it in the face of the establishment. And it is also a very convenient position indeed, because it does not require any redistribution of material goods. At the end of the day, the purveyors of the culture wars will retire to their ivory towers and suburban residences, while the poor will be left -- well... with their "culcha."
Wojtek