Thought of the Day 05.16.08

In the office here, we have a microwave which everyone uses, and, every few months, it becomes obvious that the it is no longer a safe environment for food. Various burrito explosions, soup boilings-over, and other events only CSI could describe have their cumulative effect, turning the white interior into something significantly less savory. But we all go on using it, carefully covering our food, not out of concern that we’ll add to the mess, but out of concern that the mess will add to us. Yet I’m sure that none of the employees’ microwaves at home ever approach this level of neglect. What’s the difference?

Private ownership: where each suffers the costs, enjoys the benefits, and can decide for himself when those factors justify any maintenance. In contrast, the office microwave belongs to everyone, and thus it belongs to no one. And so it awaits the sacrifice of some generous soul, in this case our traffic manager, who’ll perform the necessary cleaning at disproportionate personal inconvenience.

In a nutshell, that is why I know that capitalism and private ownership of property will always work better than communism, or anything like it.
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3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

insightful
A "mine, mine, mine" attitude seems so counter-christian. Our Christian "love God and your neighbor completely" and the communist/socialist "share and share alike" are both based on an idealistic conception of humanity that seem unattainable. So, religiously we strive to be as we were created, but politically we treat it as an impossibility?
Does this mean that an "alternative" to Christianity would also work better for similar reasons?
interesting ...

May 16, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Andrew Tallman said...

Indeed. It's such a frustrating reality because we know that the Gospel spirit is to live giving and sacrifice, but the reality is that so many situations where this is practiced only enable the selfish to take advantage of it.

We're all deeply flawed, and even the best of us are more productive when there is a personal incentive than when we would receive the same reward for no effort whatsoever.

It's a lot like money. The ideal use of money is that it entices otherwise unproductive people to act as if they are loving towards others by working to provide things they desire. Should we be productive for the intrinsic value of blessing others? Of course. but if we won't, well money at least gets us to act as if we were that way.

For those of us who might do so anyhow, there's another wrinkle. I might prefer to do all the most productive things in my life for free as gifts, but then who will donate me my rent, my car, and my food? Voluntary generosity is an excellent accompaniment to an economic system like capitalism (and truly an essential part of, quite frankly), but codified systems based on goodwill and generosity don't fit the sinful reality of mankind.

As for your final question, which I love, we constantly find ourselves frustrated that the New Testament doesn't guide us more politically. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world, and I believe it. Thus we create a bright line distinction between how governments operate and how individuals operate and hope that both preserves the space to be decent privately and also the functional necessity to have governments handle those who are not. Good stuff. =)

May 16, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Dave said...

If someone makes a mess in the microwave and doesn't clean it up, are they GOING TO HELL (!!) too?

May 17, 2008 at 12:06 AM

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