Friday, January 15, 2010

Theory vs Fact

Does anyone else feel like you're caught in a giant social experiment gone horribly wrong?

I'm not going to rant and rave or be to long-winded, but I wanted to make this observation: Socialism is a great theory. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

Facts are pesky things. Do some research. The Plymouth colony experimented with Communism. Bradford, dismayed by the lack of progress and the looming starvation from a very poor harvest, noted that no one wanted to work to take care of his neighbors. So, they scrapped the plan and gave everyone a plot and made them responsible for their own welfare.

The next harvest they had this little thing we like to call Thanksgiving, because their farming paid off.

They learned a lesson: People don't work for others. Humans do not operate under the 'enlightened self-interest' that the Socialist / Marxist model requires. The only self-interest that motivates us is to work hard for ourselves, in a system that lets us keep the fruits of our labors.

Obama was asked point-blank during the campaign whether he was going to let people keep those fruits or take them away, and his response was that he felt it was "better for everyone if we spread the wealth around."

The problem with that is simple. If I can't keep what I work for, why work?

There is a Russian saying, from the days of Communism: "As long as they pretend to pay us, we will pretend to work." How far are we from that here?

And what are you and I going to do about it?

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