Nepal, July 22 -- In the long catalogue of political deceptions Nepal has endured, nothing comes close to the magnitude of the socialist consensus-a deception so total, so sacred, that questioning it invites moral outrage. When one raises even the mildest critique of the socialist model, one is met with looks of disbelief. "What do you mean not socialism?" they ask, as though it's the only ethical path ever available to a decent society.

Every single political party in Nepal-from the ultra-left Maoists to Rastriya Swatantra Party-unapologetically declares itself socialist. The Maoists want socialism through revolution; the CPN (UML) wants it through governance; the Congress wants it through the middle path; even the dozens of fringe part...