Socialism, as understood by college kids
The other night I observed a discussion on the virtues of Socialism in my college class--oddly in an art history course. Students all over the room spoke of Socialism as though it was no more than voluntary sharing of resources between productive people. When I began to ask those uncomfortable questions--who decides what "fair" is, why should a single man work 12 hours for $10 and a single mother work 2 hours for $100, and what happens if you want a digital camera but somebody else *needs* one to feel equal to you... the discussion broke down into chaos.
Young people in college seem to have no idea what actually happens when everyone is FORCED to share.
Young people in college seem to have no idea what actually happens when everyone is FORCED to share.
Very well done.
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"
Personally, having seen her in action, having seen her very sharp MIND in action, I choose Rand over the Teleprompter.
"I chose to let you in."
In rebuttal to that statement, I point at Barack Hussein Obama.
He was born here, allegedly. Like her, he was raised somewhere else.
Exactly what about that qualified either of them to judge Americans?
Or, since I'm feeling grouchy, let's put this in maph terms:
"Chaz", nee Chastity, Bono enters a... make it a strip joint, or a football locker room, whatever; some masculine place, and begins lecturing those there on what it is to be a man. When challenged on her authority to judge manhood, she replies, "I chose to be a man, what have you done besides being born one?"
To which the obvious reply is, "I've lived as one since birth." Or more succinctly, "I am... what you aspired to become".
The Fabian plan was "evolution" into socialism, rather than Communist "revolution," and it has been successful in turning the US from a nation of "difficult" and independence-minded individuals into a country containing a large and rather uniform group who will do as they are told by their betters.
Fabian ideas, put forth as "progressive" in America (who could oppose progress?), have succeeded in our colleges in most of the liberal arts and in journalism, but not so well in the sciences. A current exception is "climate science" which is currently showing its anti-scientific political foundation as it crumbles in the face of evidence. (Climate Science failure is well covered here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/ .)
The progressives have for a long time chosen the subjects of debate. Want to talk about American virtues? You'll suddenly find the discussion has turned to where you must defend America's use of slavery. Want to study the thoughts of America's Founding Fathers? You'll be pressed into having to talk about Sally Hemmings. Want to hold America together? The agenda becomes how best to take it apart.
Ayn Rand was once asked how she, an immigrant, could lecture Americans on what it meant to be an American. She replied, "I chose to be an American. What have you done, besides being born here?"
When I first read this book I thought cute but how silly. This was when I was a Juniior in high school. Even then something about it bothered me. I read and reread the book many times. about the 5th time it started to dawn on nme that it was describing a system of government, a philosophy that was at the heart of communism and a truly anti-freedom, anti-individual view of the world.
About this time I read The Fountain head and Atlas Shrugged. What a life saving pair of books.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment on socialism". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an “A”.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a “B”. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a “D”! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the new average was an “F”.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Human nature will always cause socialism's style of government to fail because the world has producers and non-producers (makers and takers).
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Your post reminded me of the above story. It's been around the internet for years where there are variations of it. Whether it actually happened anywhere or not, who knows. It's still a good illustration. I would love to have it implemented in a real classroom and see the students' reactions. Teachers are always looking for memorable ways to teach a lesson, no?
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