I actually really mean that headline.  I grew up in the 80s and, like any good 80s kid, I felt the dread that came with the image of the hammer and sickle.  Communists were scary.  Communists were evil.  Communists were the bad guys.

I was properly brainwashed.  (Don’t worry.  We continue to brainwash students in public schools today.  We teach them about nationalism and patriotism and civic duty.  Despite what our “liberal media” might want to tell you…  Patriotism and saying the pledge WITH the word “God” in it is still a thing… but I digress.)  I learned that our nation was the best nation on the planet… that we offered opportunities and a voice to all.  I learned that  our Constitution was written with a series of checks and balances that ensured that no ONE individual or ONE group would ever have too much power and that we would protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

What I have learned about myself as an adult, however, is that I am a Communist by nature.

Not the “bad” kind of Communist that I learned about in school.  I’m no Napoleon (from Animal Farm — not the French guy)… I’m no Stalin.  I’m Old Major.  I’m Karl Marx (but only the good parts.  🙂  ).  I’m the believer that we should all work very, very hard… as hard as we possibly can.  We should take what we need (including the need for entertainment) and that everyone should be able to do this. And there’s no point in asking for MORE unless we really truly need it.

I understand that this concept is completely and utterly lost on Capitalists.

See… I am in no race to get to the top.  I want to be the best at my job, yes… but nothing comes of it except the satisfaction of a job well done.  Would I take a bonus if it were offered to me?  Well, sure.  That would be nice.  Thanks for noticing and all… But I will continue to work hard despite the fact that there isn’t a rung to climb in the ladder.  I will continue to work hard despite the fact that I am not even ALLOWED to ask for a raise.  My evaluations essentially mean nothing.  I work 55 to 70 hours a week most of the time knowing that is what I will continue to do because it is my function in our society.

In general, I’m good with it.  I make enough.  I live in a house with plenty of space.  I can keep the air conditioning turned down.  I can buy food.  I have a car with heated seats.  I’m doing really, really well for my 55 to 70 hours a week.  I’m content.

But the “good” Americans… the Capitalists… they have trouble wrapping their brains around this.  They have trouble seeing why with my skills and my intelligence I don’t choose to climb…  Why don’t I want to open my own business?  Why don’t I want to change the school systems to where teachers are paid based on merit?  Why don’t I want to move up?

And I think a lot of times this is where the problem comes in… this is where the divide occurs…and this is why no amount of legislation can ever regulate human nature.  The climbers and the Capitalists are ALWAYS going to take what they can from the people who will work for what they’re given because that’s human nature.

Every time I see another bit of legislation circulating about how we need to help the working class… how we need to bring jobs back to America… how we need to raise the minimum wage…  all I can think is, “But don’t you see???  Don’t you see that the people with the money are the climbers?  These people WILL find ways to keep their money, and make more… and it will end up hurting people who just want to work harder.”

The climbers are always going to get theirs.  You try to take money out of their pockets to give to the workers, they are going to replace workers with machines.  You try to tell them that they need to offer health care to all of their full time employees, they are going to lower the number of full time workers.

We live in a country where people applaud those who learn to get around the laws that the government created so that they can keep more money in our own pockets whether they NEED it or not.  We are the land of “I earned that.  I’m not giving that away.”  So never mind that the Wendy’s CEO’s made 8 million dollars last year  and that they have 113 percent profit increase over this time last year…. they still plan to automate and put in kiosks to save money…  because more money is what it’s all about…

When the legislature tries to make laws that take money away, good brainwashed Americans will balk at the idea.  “Minimum wage should NOT be living wage.  Minimum wage is for jobs on the way UP the ladder.”   Okay, fine, but what about those for whom that job is the TOP of their ladder?  What about people whose intelligence will never allow them to climb beyond that point?  As a good Communist, I’m worried about THAT guy… who is WILLING to work harder… and our society has the money to pay him for the work he provides… but the guys at the top would rather take it.

I know that there are some companies out there who take it upon themselves to pay more… to give more benefits (Costco comes to mind).  The Capitalist view is that the companies who treat their employees best will get the best employees.  The market will correct itself when people stop working for the evil, big corporations.  The big corporations will be forced to do better if they plan to keep their employees.  That fails to take in to consideration a great many other factors — transportation to work, availability of employment, education…  and the most IMPORTANT factor.  MOST of the big companies work much harder to keep their money than to share in the profits; so since it’s the status quo, the chances to work for the Costco kinds of companies are VERY limited.

If you think by my saying this that I’m advocating for more laws and more regulation, I absolutely am not.

I am saying that the laws and the regulations WON’T MATTER… because, well, you know… people.  You can try and try all you want to legislate greed.  You can try to legislate profit sharing. You can try to force trickle down economics.  You can try to make people think for their community before they think for themselves…

Legislating corporations to share the wealth just won’t work…

The climbers will ALWAYS find the loopholes.  You’ll spend eternity sticking your fingers in the holes of the dam as another leak springs up somewhere else.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

As for me… I will work harder…This does not make me better or more noble than the climbers.  It’s just me.  And I understand why my way will never be the way of American society.  It goes against EVERYTHING that is the “American Dream ” of the self made man.  I’ve never really taken part in that dream.  I’m apparently someone else’s dream.

Oh, and, yes… I’m a HUNDRED percent aware of what happened to Boxer at the end of Animal Farm.  I understand what happens when my usefulness is gone.