John and Mark come from the same poor community where many are unemployed and families have received government welfare for generations. Neither man gives much thought to God; neither has time for religion. But one of them ends up enabling many of his neighbors to rise above poverty and regain their dignity and the other one unwittingly keeps his neighbors bound in perpetual poverty.
John comes across as very aloof to the needs of those around him. He is very ambitious and hates being poor. His goal is to start his own company and make money. He is driven by dreams of a house by the ocean and the possibility of owning a yacht at some point.
Mark is different. He resents people like John who are just focused on making money and he is angered by the disparity between the rich and the poor that he sees in the city. Mark wants to become an activist. He wants to figure out how to transfer money from those who have too much and pass it on to those who have too little. He is confident that it is possible to redistribute wealth wisely and compassionately, if only the right people are in charge. He feels good about being a caring person and he finds fulfillment in fighting for social justice.
John is able to borrow seed money from family and friends and begins to work his tail off to start his own business. Slowly his business grows and he begins to hire people to work for him. His employees are from the local area. They are unskilled and for the most part have a pretty lousy work ethic. But he has no choice. No one wants to move to an area where the schools are so bad. Getting the business off the ground and keeping it viable is extremely difficult; it’s awfully hard work. But John keeps at it because he can picture himself one day sitting on his deck looking out over the ocean.
As time goes by John is able to hire more and more people. Eventually he notices that a number of his employees find better paying jobs and leave his company. Although, formerly unemployed for years, working for him has helped them regain a sense of self-worth and get back on their feet. With renewed confidence and fresh ambition they move on. He finds this quite frustrating because he is regularly needing to search for and train new employees, most who haven’t worked in years and need a degree of ‘vocational rehab’ to become decent employees. But he does what he has to do to keep the company going.
And another thing. He never thought he would need to invest in drug and alcohol programs for his workers. But he needs them to show up and he needs them sober. So his management team has come up with several ingenious incentives to encourage drug and alcohol rehab participation. It’s quite costly, but still worth it for his bottom line.
The other night John was recognized by some Republican congressmen for his contribution in lowering the unemployment rate in the district and helping to get people off drugs. Boy, he didn’t see that one coming!
If only government regulations weren’t so oppressive and corporate taxes so high, he could expand the business at a more rapid rate and would be able to hire more people. There are days when he seriously thinks about moving his business to a different state with fewer regulations and lower taxes. But he does what he can because now that he has his house by the ocean, there’s a small cabin cruiser that he would love to own.
Mark travels a very different path. He has no desire to be a greedy business owner focused on making money. So he becomes a community organizer and spends his early years lobbying officials and organizing marches and demonstrations to bring about change. Anything that will convince city, county and state governments to invest more money in needed assistance programs. Where this money comes from, he doesn’t care. He’s oblivious to, or chooses to ignore, the impact rising taxes are having on the business climate of the city. He just knows the rich have too much of the pie and the poor need more of that same pie. He believes there is only so much wealth to go around and the more greedy corporations have, the less there is for the poor.
Mark is fortunate. He is able to serve as a community organizer because he can live with his Dad. His Dad has a good job and is willing to house and feed him. His Dad even provided Mark with a car, so he could get around and pursue his good work.
It never occurs to Mark that the house that shelters him was built and its plumbing and wiring and carpeting and roofing, etc. were produced by companies in pursuit of profit. For some reason, it never dawns on him that the food he eats and the grocery store he shops in, the gas in his car and the car itself all come from businesses who exist to make money. He doesn’t see, or else he doesn’t care, that in the process they hire thousands of people and pay them a living wage, enabling them to feed their families and live in houses and drive cars. All he can see is those shiny extravagant office buildings and he despises corporations for their greed.
Then one day Mark’s dad comes home jobless. The company he worked for is moving to another state where the taxes are lower and there are far fewer regulations. He can no longer support Mark. It slowly dawns on Mark that his part time job at a local convenience store will no longer suffice.
After giving it a lot of thought and talking to friends, Mark decides he can do the most good by running for political office. In contrast to John, he doesn’t need a house by the sea but he does need power. He needs a position of power so he can do good! He knows that with his heart and with his intelligence he can help develop better ways to redistribute wealth to help the poor. He is a good man, with a good heart, not like his greedy schoolmate, John.
His first step is to make a list of successful businessmen and women in the city who have not left the state for lower taxes. He needs their money to finance his campaign. He works hard on his presentation so it will not be obvious that what he is actually saying is, “I need your financial support so I can be in a position to raise your taxes. I want to have access to more of your profit to do with what I know to be best!” Mark realizes he will need to lie at times and hide certain annoying facts, but that’s okay because he’s convinced his heart is in the right place and he is on the side of good!
Of course, Mark cannot donate to the poor himself because he doesn’t have his own money. He has not produced a dime in his life. Thankfully, he is caring and smart enough to know how to convince or force others to give up their money. He doesn’t feel bad about this; they have too much to begin with anyway. Boy it feels good to not be like John; to actually care about equality.
20 years from now who will have benefited their neighbor the most, John the “greedy” capitalist or Mark the “bighearted” socialist?
Why Capitalism works – 5min video by George Gilder
Socialism Makes People Selfish – 5min video by Dennis Prager
