I read an article that someone posted from the New Yorker because they said it was good/interesting. It was pretty much what I expected from something that has had a liberal slant for so many years. With that said though, it brought up something funny (rather said something funny):
“As a buzzword, “socialism” had mostly good connotations in most of the world for most of the twentieth century. That’s why the Nazis called themselves national socialists.”
I find it funny that saying it had mostly good connotations and then saying that it is what the Nazis used is very defeatist. I understand that the author is implying the Nazis came into power under the banner of the “good” ideals of socialism, yet it turned out quite terrible in the end (see where I am going here?). Anyway, I just thought that was funny.
What I am really here to talk about today is why I find the ideals of a welfare, socialistic, or otherwise similar nation problematic. I am going to explain it with two simple anecdotes. One I am paraphrasing from what I can only imagine as something one of those emails that gets forwarded around says and the other is something I was thinking about in regards to the many thousands of teachers thinking we are on the right path.
First, the anecdote I am stealing, but paraphrasing as I don’t have it in front of me.
Jenny goes off to college. It is the first time she has been away from her family for any stretch of time. Her dad is a hard working, small business owner who has done quite well in life through his many years of hard work. He and his family (Jenny included, if only for the fact that she doesn’t know enough about politics other than what her father tells her) are all very conservative. After she comes home following her first semester, she immediately goes up to her dad and tells him that he has been wrong all these years and that her roommate and college professors say progressive liberalism is the only thing right in the world. Any conservative is quite evil and heartless. Jenny told her dad she is now a democratic and he should be one too, unless he is cruel. He was a bit taken aback, but he didn’t get mad. This was the conversation that followed:
Jenny’s dad “Well, that is all well and good. Let me ask you something though. Did your roommate ever pull up her grades?”
Jenny “Not that it has anything to do with it, but no, she kept on partying and is probably going to flunk out as she has four F’s.”
Jenny’s dad “That’s too bad! How did your grades end up?”
Jenny “Well, I spent a lot of time out of the room so I could study, didn’t get to many parties, but I managed to get four A’s.”
Jenny’s dad “That’s wonderful! Well, now that you have four A’s, I think we should call the school and ask if you can split them with your roommate. That way, instead of her failing, she will have four C’s and you will have four C’s. That is one of the most fundamental principles of what you said you now believe in…”
Jenny “But, that’s not fair! I worked hard, she didn’t work at all!”
Jenny’s dad “Well, the liberals believe they know better than me on how I should spend my money, so they like to take extra money from me because I have more than most. I have more than most because I work harder than most. They want to take my money and give it to those who don’t work as hard.”
Jenny recanted.
Anyway, I think in paraphrasing, I actually made that a much longer story. The next one is not quite so long.
There are a lot of teachers that voted for Obama. They, at least the ones I have read about or seen in the news, feel that he was right for this country and that his ideals on a national health plan and a redistribution of wealth will help them out considerably. Don’t get me wrong, I think teachers are vastly under paid, but I would like to pose this to them and see if they agree:
Herman is a straight A student. He is not one of the greatly gifted students that breeze through without working. He is one of the students that knows the best chance he has to better himself at this point in life is through education. He works extremely hard. He doesn’t get into fights or hang out with the “bad crowd”. He has plans and ambition. He is that kid you see that makes you proud to take a job that is under paid and under respected. Bill, one of his classmates, is not. He is the kid that, despite your best efforts, brings down your entire classes average. He makes it known that he isn’t going to college and he plans on doing as little as possible and having as good of a time as possible. Well, the end of the school year is approaching and the principal sees that there are a few “Hermans” and a lot of “Bills” in the school. He decides that the best course of action is to make sure that everyone, regardless of how hard they worked, passes. He does some math and decides that there are enough points in all of the “Hermans” out there to bring up the GPA for all of the “Bills” so he has you, the teacher, discard everything you have been doing for the last 8 months and simply gives everyone the same grade.
I know the stories are similar, but I think the second one has merit on its own because similar (though not so drastic of course) things have happened in schools. I know that it drives teachers crazy to have an administrator essentially tell them that they need to more or less give “free” grades to kids that do not deserve them in order to make the school look better. If you (teacher) do not think it is fair for someone else to tell you how you should teach and grade, why do you think it is fair for someone else to decide how to spend our money?
With everything that I have said, I want to be very clear in that I think everyone does have the right to health care. Teachers are under paid, doctors are over paid, and the price companies are charging for equipment and drugs is outrageous. The whole system needs to be reworked to make everything fit right, but it has gotten so big now, it would be more than any one president or congress could do. What I do not think though, is that the government should have such a big say in how our money is used. If you work hard to earn it, it should not be taken away and given to those who do not work hard. I understand there are some people who really and truly cannot work. For real instances, exceptions need to be made.