Socialism and Evolution

It's interesting that socialism is a hot topic right now. The idea that if we would all just pool our resources together and only take what we need to survive is appealing to many, but after seeing so much greed and abuse I understand that it would ruin us as a country in the long run.

But I posed a question to my college-age son recently: Most of the people that think socialism is a good idea that we should fully implement also believe that evolution is the way life goes. How do people handle having such opposing views?

He couldn't see my point so asked me to explain. I told him about how socialism in it's purist form is a large group of people pooling everything they have and someone doling out from that pool of resources to members of the group as it is needed. If you have more you give more, if need more you get more. That's the concept as I understand it.

Evolution is based on the idea that only the strong survive and thrive. Survival of the fittest. Eat or be eaten. And as your kind of creature procreates your strong genes will make future generations of your kind strong and able to survive.

So in my looking at this the idea of pooling our resources so all can survive is almost directly opposite of only the strong survive.

He laughed and got it then. He laughed really hard and long. When he caught his breath he said he would have to bring this up with the Che wanna-be's in his dorm hall and see how they handled it.

I'm looking forward to hearing the results of his conversations with them.

Modern gurus and making money

I enjoy browsing the Internet and finding nuggets or info to apply to my life. It's fun to be repeated but also fun to find something new to try.

The gurus of today use an interesting variation to make money: They offer to help you be better. Just sign up the newsletter and you'll receive tips in your inbox instead of having to stumble across them.

This is very useful but often leads to trouble. Despite the promises not to share or sell your email address and accompanying data at some point they tend to do just that. Sometimes they don't know that their data has been taken, sometimes they give it freely. Then the spam emails start and we spend a year stamping them out.

Hmmm

Luxury today

One definition of luxury is "the state of great comfort and extravagant living."

Luxury still has the sound of something that everyone wants. Marketers use the idea of comfort, convenience, and excess to sell people products they don't need. Politicians give away taxpayer money in an effort to create comfort so they can get votes in return.

Sadly, so many things that are considered to be part of luxury just makes us unhappy. Too much chocolate makes me sick. Watching too many shows while sitting on an extremely comfortable couch contributes to me being fat and unable to think for myself. And the list goes on.

Because of this I've learned that great comfort should be a treat. Extravagance is for special occasions.

But as I've gotten older I've come to consider a couple of things that aren't normally listed as part of a luxurious life but I'm coming to appreciate them more and more. They are:

being uninterrupted

and

being with a group for along period of time.

I hope you get to experience these luxuries in your life.

Eating out on Sundays

One of the things that Americans do is eat out on Sundays. Especially lunch after church Sunday morning. It's a treat for some families. It's a chance for mothers to show off their children all dressed up for church. It's a chance to see the other families that are out and see what they are doing.

I've never been one of those types. I am a church-goer, but I feel like it's not very good to go out to eat after church. All those people that prepare things for Sundays had to work, which means they couldn't go to church unless they quit and got a different job. Not a very good witness in my book.

However, I can see where working on Sundays is pretty American. Many people get a premium added to their pay for working on Sundays. All those church-goers eating out after service bring in a bunch of revenue, though Christians could improve their reputations by leaving better tips for their servants (oops, servers).

God bless America!