It is again cap and gown season, with notes of “Pomp & Circumstance,” wafting through the air all across the country. I will again be attending several high school and college graduations later this month. My youngest still has high school graduation ahead of her, and my first-born, mother of the Mighty Mites, will soon be sending them off to Pre-K. One of the ways I have hung on at least to the spirit of youth is working with college students, at my alma mater and elsewhere. Those visits at times offer a good viewpoint into our potential future as well.
In more than a few of those college visits, particularly when given a chance to speak, I pose a question to the student audience of Millenials. Would you support a system – or the idea that no matter what you are studying, your individual GPA or other contributions you make to your community during your college years – that you should all graduate to employment at the same salary and benefits? All things being equal?
Almost every hand in the room goes into the air. Should you be rewarded for higher grades, working your way through school or participating in philanthropic and community service work, or serving in any number of capacities as student leaders? Only the higher achiever’s hands go up. What I have been describing is socialism, and the system that has brought us successfully to here today is capitalism, which rewards performance, effort, and achievement.
I am an American and a patriot, but not so arrogant as to suggest that there are not some attractive aspects to socialism or communism, however in every nation living under those systems that I have visited, there is both rampant corruption as well as stark poverty clearly in evidence.
What about work ethic? Sweat equity? Paying your dues? Earning what your talents and skills are worth? These concepts might as well be written in hieroglyphics, as they are not being taught or shared in the classrooms that I encounter today. Families and parents have a stake here, too. Most college students I encounter are HOPE scholars here in Georgia.Maintaining that free tuition requires a B or better grade-point average. A majority of students and families choose not to risk weaker academic performance with any requirement of part-time employment. Real world work experience, even part-time, is invaluable to understanding how our real world works.
Third-world countries and many parts of the world view all Americans as wealthy. I do not begrudge anyone else’s success. Having received several smaller scholarships in my college days, the one I am proudest of required an essay in support of capitalism, or as the donor creating that fund stated, “…demonstrating your thoughts and antipathy against the redistribution of wealth.”
I used antipathy in my opening paragraph, I am convinced that was probably the tiebreaker that won me that award. Engaging in conversation frequently with younger voters and students, capitalism, profits, and creating wealth almost universally bring scowls.
Capitalism is a system by which one puts tangible assets at risk – property, funding, other hard assets – to make possible the building or financing or support of other potentially for profit enterprises. The socialist lives modestly in the same house/area for much of their lifetime, in a manner similar to their neighbors. The capitalist takes out an equity loan against their home, investing that capital in other real estate, a business enterprise or even a friend.
What Capitalism I think may need is a rebranding. Legacy media outlets almost universally stopped using the term “Liberals” to describe Democratic Party policy in the era of President Bill Clinton. What you now hear is “Progressive” an arguably much more palatable label, particularly for swing voters. Progressive seemingly indicates concern for our future and making ‘progress,’ versus simply an always expanding role for government at every level, local, state and federal.
How about Meritocracy? Professional sports, and even the NCAA and Olympics already operate in a meritocracy, athlete pay, contracts, sponsorships, etc…both chase and drive performance. Academic scholarships primarily follow and proceed along a similar track.
Or perhaps we just should ask our younger counterparts for a new name for capitalism like having “rizz” or being “on fleek.” Maybe if they rename it, they will come to appreciate the many benefits of this system, which remains in many ways the envy of the western world. Me, I think I will just pull up “Material Girl,” “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friends,” or “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,” on Amazon Music or Spotify.
