Socialism
People send me articles they want me to pass on to everyone on my mailing list. As a matter of policy, I seldom do that, but I received one I could not resist sending. Here it is.
“An economics professor at a local college made a statement that
he had never failed a single student, but had recently failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked. They insisted that if it were
implemented, no one would be poor and no one would be rich. It would be a great equalizer.
“The professor said, ‘Okay, we will have an experiment in this
class. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A’ (substituting grades for dollars was closer to home for students and more readily understood by
all).
“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 third test rolled around, the 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.”
The article concluded with five sentences worth repeating: “1.
You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation” (original author unknown).
Years ago, when I had the opportunity to speak in Romania, I saw socialism firsthand. It was not a pretty picture. An old lady was sweeping the street with a straw broom. Everywhere you looked, the workmanship was pathetic. Corruption permeated every level of society.
Capitalism is not perfect, but as Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” The same is true of capitalism.
Personally, I believe that the best form of government is a dictatorship, provided the dictator is perfect. For that, we have to wait until He returns.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 12/13/2011
“An economics professor at a local college made a statement that
he had never failed a single student, but had recently failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked. They insisted that if it were
implemented, no one would be poor and no one would be rich. It would be a great equalizer.
“The professor said, ‘Okay, we will have an experiment in this
class. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A’ (substituting grades for dollars was closer to home for students and more readily understood by
all).
“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 third test rolled around, the 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.”
The article concluded with five sentences worth repeating: “1.
You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation” (original author unknown).
Years ago, when I had the opportunity to speak in Romania, I saw socialism firsthand. It was not a pretty picture. An old lady was sweeping the street with a straw broom. Everywhere you looked, the workmanship was pathetic. Corruption permeated every level of society.
Capitalism is not perfect, but as Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” The same is true of capitalism.
Personally, I believe that the best form of government is a dictatorship, provided the dictator is perfect. For that, we have to wait until He returns.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 12/13/2011