Inmy high school history classes, I had the same teacher each year. He was our AP teacher, and he knew everything. I honestly think there is nothing he doesn’t know at least something about. One of his lectures was about communism.
My teacher, who was of course omniscient, was passionately against communism. He was a true-blooded American, and he vehemently expressed that to us. But he was a big fan of letting us think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions. It was the first time we, as students, really thought about the concept of communism, after reading The Communist Manifesto.
This isn’t just the American speaking from me, but rather the realist inside of me. Communism is just not practical. Of course, it would be lovely if everyone had valuable skills, respected everyone and held the general population’s well-being above everything else.
This world of rainbows and butterflies sounds lovely, but we don’t live there. We will never live there.
The fact is, not everyone has valuable skills. Everyone is not equal, we aren’t all smart, strong or creative. Some of us are just average. But assuming every average person has at least the competence of basic skills, communism would still work?
Wrong. We are all different psychologically. Communism focuses mostly on the physical aspects of living: skills, private property, etc. But the fact of the matter is, not all of us have good intentions. Some of us will always be conniving and trying to evade having to do real work.
Additionally, we are all selfish creatures. Why work harder if you are not going to be rewarded for it? Why work harder if you know the guy next to you taking snack breaks every five minutes is going to get paid the same amount as you? Sure, the satisfaction of a job well done does mean something; I’m not saying that I do a crappy job when I volunteer or don’t have opportunity for promotion.
But for your career that you’ve worked hard for, your career that you’ll have to work at for forty-plus years, you bet your buttons that you’ll want to be rewarded for your extra hard effort.
Not only do people want to provide for themselves, but they want to provide for their families, giving their spouse/partner and children the best life that they can.
Tell me that it wouldn’t be nice to have a private plane or have the ability to buy your daughter her first car.
Positive work ethic then reflects onto your children by allowing them to see what hard work really can do.
Communism works in theory, it does. Honestly, I think it would sound like a great idea. It would, if I didn’t know anything about human nature.
If everyone had the same strive to do well, the same strive to work hard, then it would work. But that’s just not the way things are or ever will be.
Wendy Morell is the opinion editor of The Reflector. She can be contacted at [email protected].