Newell Fonda
High School
Newell,
Iowa
Connie Doonan
Socialism
Takes Away What America Thrives On
By:
Ashley Lussman
12th grade
Are all men created equal? There are many ways you can look at this question and many ways to interpret the meaning of it. Does a man want all men to be created equal? It depends on [the] man…. There is a large debate whether the United States is a socialistic or a capitalistic country. Socialism is a political theory advocating state ownership of industry. Capitalism is an economic system based on a private ownership of capital. The United States is a capitalist country.
There are a lot of reasons why people believe the United States should be [considered] a socialistic country. Unequal funding of educational system is one; they believe funding for education should be equal for all people. Poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth; they think that everyone should have equal wealth in the United States…. Crime and incarceration, if the people made the same salaries maybe people wouldn't steal or hurt others. Access to health insurance, they think everyone should have a right to good health care in the United States. [These may be] good… reasons, [but I believe] more corruption would [result] from having a socialist country.
[The ideal] socialis[tic]…society [is one] where everyone is equal and no one is greater or lesser than anyone else; where hunger is no longer a concern, where fear no longer lingers, and you don't have to work…to eat. Those are good reasons to promote socialism, but where does the motivation come from? If no matter what, one person is equal to the next, no one is going to be willing to work harder and do the things we need done for this country to be successful. …
Socialism puts limits on people. Equalizing income and wealth would only limit what a person can really do. Socialism is telling people don’t be the best because there are no rewards for it. The only way people are truly equal is if there are limits put on the people who were willing to do more and work harder and make this country great to keep them down with the people that who are content in just being where they are. Why take the drive out of someone who could do great things for our country? Why take the diversity out of Americans? Why make everyone the same? Diversity is what is said to make our country the great one that it is today. People’s differences are what make us special. Asking for socialism to solve our problems is asking for the government to control us. Socialism essentially enables the government to rule over the people directly. That goes directly against the principles this country was founded on. Socialism takes away people’s interest in having a better life than the next person and takes away all the great things that person could have done with his life.
Those are reasons why America is still a capitalist country. People do still control their own destinies. The people who are willing to work harder get farther in life and make more money, and that is the way it should be. Everyone has an opportunity to do something great in life. Of course there are limits God given and society given. But for the majority, if someone wants to be a doctor they can be a doctor, as long as they are willing to work hard for it. If we had a socialist country, no one would want to be a doctor. Who would want to be a doctor when they worked that hard to get paid the same as someone who is doing yard work? America's principles need to stay intact, and the people who aren't happy with where they are at in life should work harder to get higher and more successful instead of promoting socialism because they want the easy way out, and they want things given to them. Your life is what you make of it.
Socialism causes way more problems then it solves, and that is why America is and will be a capitalist country. Do all men want to be created equal? It depends on what kind of man you are. If you are not hard working or aren’t willing to go the extra yard, sure that type of man wants to be equal. But the man who is more hardheaded and hard working and who is willing to do what it takes to better himself is the man that doesn't want to be limited by equality. If you are willing to work harder and do great things, you should be awarded for it, and if that is taken away, no one is going to work hard or do anything great. That is why America is a capitalist country because America realizes that people should be free because if you take away men’s motivation you take away what has made this country so great.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1-What does Mr. Reed mean when he says "Equal people are not free."?
He means that when all people are equal their freedoms will be limited. You would have to employ force to make people equal. You would have to give orders such as: don't excel, don't work harder or smarter the next guy, don't save money more wisely than someone else, don't provide a good or service that people might want more than what ur competitor is offering. Limiting people that way is taking away their freedom to be who they are.
Q2-What is the deadly trade-off to reliance on upon government, according to Reed?
When you rely on the government the government will take from you so you are really relying on yourself .
Q3-Why did the Founding Fathers assure that the United States became a republic rather than a pure democracy?
For one because its more orderly it still gives the people the choice who makes the decicions but if every decicion had to be made by the people it would be a very long process to make one decicion and alot would not get done. It was also protecting our country from uneducated people making the decisions.
Q4-What is the saving grace of democracy according to Lawrence Reed?
It implies that all of us have equal say in our government. That makes people back it up and support it.
Q5-Richard Haas gives two unusual reasons for advocating democracy. What are they?
Promoting democracy can be a useful component of the campaign against terroism. Democracy is important in foreign policy.
Q6-Give two reasons you personally would promote democracy.
People should have a choice what the want to make of themselves in their lives and be free to do what they want.
Q7-Comment (any length) on President Bush's current foreign policy.
I think he is wrong and is burning bridges we are going to need later on in the future. He needs to not trump cooperation on what is truely essential.
Q8-How did you interpret each of the four different hats?
Crown represented a leader, the graduation hat represented a student and the two top hats represented normal people.
Q9-How did you interpret the megaphone, baby, knife/gun?
Knife symbolized power, the baby symbolized softness the megaphone symbolized speaking your opinion.
Q10-Browse the “Favorite Links” of the economic Freedom Network choose your favorite and tell us why u choose it.
http://www.visit-ceed.org/ Because I thought it was really interesting and the graphics on the website were cool.
Q11-Randomly choose five countries. List the name of each and their highest and lowest year for economic freedom.
Baharain- lowest 1995 highest 1980, Brazil- lowest 1985 highest 2002, Chad- lowest 1985 highest 2003, Colombia- lowest 1980 highest 2003, Cyprus- lowest 1985 highest 2003.
Q12-Which of your five countries had the greatest degree of economic freedom according to this exercise?
Cyprus
Q13- What was the summary rating and rank in the year it achieved this degree of economic freedom?