Our lot:
It started so wonderfully, my dream. For years I had struggled to achieve and be my own man. Many tears, some blood and sweat and worries I had. I even went some weeks without a paycheck because I hoped tomorrow would be better. That is the capitalists way, so I thought. It is true that I didn't do it, or would never do it, on my own drive or persistence - it would have taken a village. Once I realized this, I quit. Why try to achieve on my own because it is not possible?
She was so nice when she came to visit. She promised improved financial health, bodily health, familial health and a beautiful world for everyone. This was all to be provided for us by the new Gates-Buffet-Zuckerberg tax that was recently enacted to bring the slime down to our reality. Oh, how blissful it was and all was as she promised, until one day my bread and cheese allotment was smaller. I called the nice government lady to ask why and she snapped at me on the phone. She told me to be thankful for what she was doing for me and our society. She told me that after many years of success and profitable growth at a bakery and a dairy business she had decided to take them under her control because she could run them better than they could. However she reluctantly admitted that it was more difficult than she had realized. Her featherbedding had tripled employment at the factories, but production was only one quarter of what it was previously. She insisted that the change was better for us all and that production would soon be exceeding its former levels and she slammed down the phone. Another two months went by and my rations got even smaller. I tried several times to call, but after weeks of calling I was finally told to go buy some cows and help with the common good. Food lines went from Utopia to Queue-topia. Instead of less did with more like it used to be now more did with less. It was great. My electricity bills were three times higher, gasoline was four times higher and my three TV channels extolled the progress being made at the government factories.
I reminisced how nostalgia wasn't what it used to be. I remembered the old days where anyone could succeed. Any individual could rise to the top of the top. How a steelworker's son could be a billionaire if he worked hard enough was willing to take big risks. But that is no longer the way it is. I soon became dizzy from cheese poison, hungry from cheese deprivation and bloated from doughy bread. I was unable to help myself after years of government help. I could only stand at my door and wait for her to return and bring the goodies she promised. But to no avail. I shook and tossed and was deep in sweat when I awoke, and realized it was only a nightmare. It was still a world, for now anyway, where each of us can achieve greatness. Where the individual is not assailed, at least didn't used to be, for his success. Where risks are, somewhat, rewarded. Where your children can be the next Soros or Koch or Buffett or Ford. Where "all men are created equal," not "All men shall be kept equal." The government's way is contrary to our human nature. It has never and will never succeed. Free lunch is not a free people's lot.
Bryan Waller
Marietta
