Where's H.L. Mencken when you need him?

"Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
[H.L. Mencken]

Mencken also noted that:

The Puritan's utter lack of aesthetic sense, his distrust of all romantic emotion, his unmatchable intolerance of opposition, his unbreakable belief in his own bleak and narrow views, his savage cruelty of attack, his lust for relentless and barbarous persecution-- these things have put an almost unbearable burden up on the exchange of ideas in the United States."
[A Book of Prefaces, H.L. Mencken, 1917]

This is probably not an accurate description of 'Puritans', but it does describe today's conservatives:

anti-abortion, anti-contraception (sex for pleasure is bad!)

anti-welfare (lest the undeserving poor benefit!)

anti-drugs (way too cheap a good time!... and you shouldn't be getting high at any price!)

Pointless aside: I'm reminded of an anecdote - source now long-forgotten - regarding St. Paul:

He would've recommended married couples give up sex for Lent,
... but feared folks would then look forward to Easter for the wrong reason!

Among the arguments against universal health-coverage is that illegal aliens would benefit. Again, conservatives would prefer to deny benefits to 99.99% of the population, just to ensure that the "undeserving" .01% don't get a free ride!
Back in the day this was known as "cutting off your nose to spite your face."

The 'puritans' Mencken attacked are still with us, pretty much unchanged.
And they are still putting "an almost unbearable burden up on the exchange of ideas in the United States."
We need a Mencken to combat 'em!!!

Digression: A friend recently noted that on her trip to Greece she broke her foot. Her total bill to take care of this was something less than $20 - thanks to Greece's evil socialized medicine.
... and - as she noted - she was a TOURIST, not a Greek citizen!

Again I ask: what's wrong with socialism?