Becoming Socialized to Socialism

What in the world is happening to our country?  The trend of governmental control creeping into all areas of our lives is more than a bit terrifying.  "Big Brother is watching you." This is more than a line in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, but rather it is becoming our reality.  I am going to stay out of the political hornet's nest of Car Czars, Obamacare etc.  I will leave those areas to the pundits to fight about with each other.  There is more than enough encroachment of Big Brother in just the simplest of things of our everyday lives.  Hasn't anyone else exclaimed, "Are you kidding me?" when surfing the net?  Some of these things are down right pitiful!  I find myself making this exclamation with far too much frequency.

So the trigger to start this diatribe of mine came late last night.  My husband pointed out a CBS article to me about Mayor Bloomberg in New York City,  Food Donations Banned to the Homeless.  "What?" I exclaim.  Surely I couldn't have heard him correctly.  Nope!  I did.  No more donating food to homeless shelters because "they" (Big Brother) can't assess the salt, fat and fiber content of the food.  In the interests of becoming more socialized to socialism, clearly we can see the benefits of this plan.  How much better to starve to death in a healthy manner with a healthy heart and arteries than to stay alive on food which might have a questionable salt or fat content!  I am sure most people would prefer to go hungry rather than consume food which does not contain enough fiber.  If you are a person who would prefer otherwise, that is okay too.  Big Brother will do the thinking for you.  You are not responsible enough to make your own choices.  Let the government do it for you.

Now, now, clearly I am upset over an isolated incident.  Couldn't be a trend! Maybe it is just New York. Things are always different in New York.  What about less cosmopolitan areas of America?

Take Raeford, NC for example.  (Yes, I had to look it up on a map.  Raeford, NC has not been a vacation destination of ours before, nor is it likely to become one.)  Big Brother need not lurk in only the largest cities of America.  Let's search school lunches packed by families for their children.  Why give a parent the right to decide what their own children should eat?  Clearly Uncle Sam is better suited for the job.  Turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, chips and apple juice did not pass inspection as being "healthy enough" for a 4 year old preschooler to eat.  Instead, she ate chicken nuggets from the school cafeteria.  This is not an isolated incident.  A turkey and salami sandwich did not "cut the mustard" either.  At least at the NC schools, Big Brother only inspects the home made lunches.  In some places, they are banned altogether.  No lunches from home are allowed in a Chicago school.

I could have a huge diatribe alone on the questionable health of school lunches.  Especially when you consider the seven million pounds of Pink Slime that winds up in school lunches.  Ewww!  Big Brother says Pink Slime is okay for your child's school lunch.  I am so glad that "THEY" know so much more than the parent of an individual child.  Here I just thought that Beef Trimmings were only fit for a dog, instead of a growing child.  But, I digress.

These things just keep happening and happening all over.  We are supposed to go about our daily lives losing more and more control over how we live our lives and raise our children.  I find this thoroughly frightening.  Our nation as a whole is sliding down the slippery slope of socialism.  I think that maybe our slide down the slippery slope is so vast that we don't even notice it anymore.  At the equator, the Earth spins about 1,669 mph every day, yet we don't feel a thing.  Our slide into socialism is gaining momentum, but we are so "socialized" to the encroachment of governmental control that we no longer notice the effects.

Socialism does not focus on our human nature and the role that incentives play in guiding our behavior.    We want to be rewarded for our efforts.   If our reward is the same irregardless of the amount of energy and work we put into any given task, then the urge to give something our "all" dissipates.  Most parents can intuitively understand why ultimately socialism will not sustain itself. 

Imagine a fall setting and a neighbor's large yard is covered in leaves.  Neighborhood children are playing outside.  Said neighbor offers to pay a group of children for raking and bagging leaves.  Eagerly they accept this offer.  As the work begins, one diligent darling works hard and makes a lot of progress while the other two are horsing around.  The neighbor brings out some lemonade to check on the progress.  "Gee, if you guys finish this by sunset, I'll give you each $10."  Well the lazy loafers think this is great.  They have done nothing and are going to get paid well for it.  Our tired, diligent darling wonders why he should keep working so hard when the others are going to get paid the same as he is for doing nothing.  As he runs over to complain to you, you know what he is going to say.  "Mom, no fair!  They aren't doing their fair share and they are gonna get $10! I'm the one doing all the work!"  Before you give any sage advice, you too know what will happen.  Diligent darling decides this is crazy and goes inside to play Wii.  No way he is going to work his butt off for the other two to get paid the same as him.  It is too big of a job.  Forget it!  Lazy loafers go home too,  the job will now require actual work from them.  Where's the fun in that?  They quit all pretense of working and go play elsewhere.  Meanwhile, the job never gets done.

Socialism is doomed to fail.  Any child can see the inherent problem when there is no reward commensurate with effort.  The cry of "No Fair!" resonates within the system.  However, that is where we are headed.  Big Brother is regulating our lives and socializing us so much that we don't even notice how far down the slope we have fallen. We had better wake-up because a new day is dawning, and it won't be a pretty spring one either.