Perspective: Sesame Street, socialism, and America (OneNewsNow.com)

Perspective: Sesame Street, socialism, and America (OneNewsNow.com)

"Mom, what happened to Sesame Street?" I was an inquisitive six-year old and my little mind could not comprehend why Big Bird, Ernie, the Cookie Monster, and their beloved stuffed friends had vanished from the only TV station in Jamaica. It was the late 1970s and my dear mother attempted to explain that the government had banned the children's program and other "foreign" programs.

Michael Manley, the nation's prime minister and leader of the People's National Party, had begun implementing socialist policies, actively increasing the government's ownership of private enterprise and regulating the private sector, while strengthening ties with communist Cuba, 90 miles to Jamaica's north. The Caribbean island's experiment with socialism was cut short, however, when massive food shortages -- compounded by restrictions on imported goods, a stagnant economy, and widespread discontent -- led Jamaicans in 1980 to vote out the socialist-leaning government and elect a prime minister, Edward Seaga, who favored private enterprise, deregulation of the economy, and decentralization of government. Some 800 people were killed during that election.