The Appeal of Socialism

Someone I know once said, “If a man works for ten years, the government ought to have to take care of him.” This is the appeal of socialism to many of today’s laziest Americans and their willing accomplices in the media and educational establishments. The man I just referred has accepted this as true in his heart, and has passed this counterproductive logic (if it can be called that) on to his children. This is the type of man that frequently uses the threat of lawsuits directed at anybody he can intimidate, and has spent a good deal of his working life on disability.

This “something for nothing” mentality has permeated throughout our society, and socialists in education and the media have made it legitimate. Schools today focus on the idea that “truth” is relative, and “feelings” are the most important thing to being an “educated” person. Instead of teaching literature, writing, math, history, government, and economics, most of our students are leaving school with a high school degree in victimization. When people behave in a self-destructive manner, there is always somebody willing to make excuses for them and blame “society” instead of the individual. The man alluded to above may be beyond hope, but the tragedy is his children escaped the education system with many of his bad habits. Are people like this entitled to government handouts?

The media is often times worse than the education establishment in enabling counterproductive behavior. Take the recent news of General Motor’s cost-cutting measures (leftists read this as “job cuts”). In an article on CNN.com, entitled “Shock and sadness at GM plants,” one worker is quoted as saying, “The engineers, to me, they’re stuck on stupid. They never talk to us, the people on the line.” Most readers get the impression that the only reason GM is struggling is an inferior product. While it may be true that competitors have bested GM in design, comfort, performance, and reliability that is not the only reason that GM has struggled. The aforementioned article does not once mention the outrageous labor costs GM has incurred throughout the years.

Another “big media” target is Delphi, the biggest autoparts maker in America, which recently declared bankruptcy. The left will lament the “jobs lost” at Delphi, never seeking the truth about the reason for Delphi’s actions. In a column on National Review Online, Henry Payne cites a “manufacturing job” at GM and Delphi that pays $65 an hour including benefits ($26 an hour average). If you think this worker would be doing something more than cutting grass or cleaning toilets, you would be wrong! According to Payne, “UAW members are guaranteed a traditional "30 years and out" provision,” meaning that most begin drawing pensions in their early to mid Fifties.

Not only does GM and Delphi (per their contract with UAW) have staggering labor costs for current employees, their legacy employees only increase those costs. It makes this writer wonder what these companies were thinking when they made these agreements in the first place. I guess the “Big Five” are to blame, but for the above reasons, which is contrary to what most socialists and leftists would have you believe.

This reminds me of another man I know who once said the most difficult thing he did on some particular days was changing a light bulb. This union electrician no doubt makes a very handsome wage. It is no wonder American producers cannot compete with their foreign counterparts in many industries; the costs are simply too high.

If we continue on this self-destructive path of misinforming generations of Americans through the mass media and school system, our production costs will continue to climb and jobs will continue to be “lost,” the number of people in need of government aid will increase, and the few producers we have left will be taxed heavily. I can imagine a future young American saying “If a man works for ten years, his company, ought to have to take care of him for life.” Our future politicians will probably have no qualms legislating this.

Article written by Sweet Lou