Why socialism doesn't work

"Taking the hard earned money of
others and giving it to underachievers"

Obamacare got passed a couple weeks ago. When I heard the news, I was devastated because it means that the US just took one step closer to Socialism. I haven’t read through the entire bill, because it’s written in confusing legal terminology and it’s hundreds of pages long. I have read parts of it and I've read what people have written for and against it. But honestly, I don’t need to know every single detail about Obamacare. I already know that socialized medicine is a bad idea because socialism doesn't work.

Do you know that socialism has been attempted in this country before? From the very beginning, actually! Socialism sounds like a great idea. It’s no secret that some people have too much while others have nothing. Socialism is man’s attempt to equalize the playing field. Why don’t the people who have too much share with the people who don’t have enough? Why not make things a little more fair in an unfair world?

Jamestown, one of the earliest settlements in America, was founded in 1607. The settlers decided to try a “common store” system, a form of socialism. They decided to take all the food that people produced and store it for common use. Then they could distribute it fairly and evenly. Everyone would work for the common good. No one would go hungry. Women and children who had no men to provide for them would still get fed. It seemed like a great idea.

Except it didn’t work. That winter, nearly half the settlers died from starvation. The whole town ran out of food. After that, they decided to do away with the common store system. It had been a complete and utter failure. The next year, each family was given a parcel of land on which they could produce their own food. They were responsible for themselves. The survival rate the next year was much better.

I can tell you why it didn’t work because it’s common sense. I know myself and I know human nature. I’m not going to work hard if I don’t get to keep anything for myself. Even if I know it’s for the greater good and even if I care about my neighbors, I’m not going to work as hard as I would for myself and my family.

If, under a socialist system, I saw someone else being lazy or slacking off, it would make me mad. Why aren’t they working as hard as I am? I’m certainly not going to bust my butt when we’re all going to get the same amount of food anyway. If I saw someone else working harder than me, I’d think, “Good. They’re picking up the slack for me. They can do more because they’re stronger and bigger. They should be working harder because they need to contribute more.” Either scenario would encourage me to do less than I could. In fact, why work at all if I’m sick or tired? A few days off won’t matter. I’m still going to get the same amount of food whether I work or not.

Do you relate? How would you react if you knew everything you worked for was going to be taken away and redistributed evenly among everyone? Would you be discouraged from working hard and doing your best?

Here’s the other scenario. I get to keep everything I make or harvest. I can either use it or trade it for something else. I know winter’s coming and food will be scarce. I’m going to make damn sure my family and I don’t starve. I’m going to be out working until my fingers bleed and my back aches. I’m going to be canning fruits and vegetables at night when I’m back inside my house, even though I’m tired and weary from a long day of work. I’m not going to miss a day of work unless I’m so sick I can’t get out of bed.

And as hard as all of this would be, I would take a certain pride in my work. As I’m gathering fruits and vegetables, I would imagine how they’re going to taste for dinner, instead of picturing them on someone else’s table. I would smile at my family’s surprise and delight when they found out I’d traded some of our crops for chocolate and candy. The winter would be hard and we’d have to be careful with our food, but if we worked hard, we’d have more than enough.

We might even have some food to spare for the people who didn't have enough. We'd try to take care of each other and help each other out when necessary. But the choice would be mine. It would be MY food to give away, not a collective OURS. It would be my generosity that would cause me to take compassion on my neighbor. No one would have to tell me to help out or force me to share. If my family was blessed with enough, we’d want to bless others.

Do you like capitalism? What about it seems unfair? Do people who work harder profit more, or is there an element of luck in who gets the biggest rewards? If you had more than enough, would you help other people?

I know this is not specifically about socialized health care. It’s about socialism IN GENERAL. The examples are based on Jamestown because it was a small community that attempted socialism. I used it as an example because I think the equal distribution of food is a concept that is easily explained and understood. I wanted to illustrate the basic principles of socialism to demonstrate why socialism doesn’t work. In a future post, I may try to tackle the flaws of socialized health care.

Old Port pics

More about the Old Port Race. I ran out of time in my last post to talk about how the rest of my family did. As you'll recall, the Old Port race was a family affair:

Leslie was there, too, cheering us on and taking pictures. I wasn't there for the start of the 5k because I was already running, but here's Bud leading the pack. (Shirtless boy in the front)

Bud pulled ahead and ran most of the race by himself near the front of the pack. He finished sixth overall!

He also finished first in his age group in 20:43 and got some cool trophies.

My dad finished in 30:00 and my mom finished in 46:33. I'm super proud of both of them!

It was a great race day for the whole family!

Old Port Half Marathon

I signed up for the Old Port half marathon because I wanted to have motivation to keep training over the summer. When I’m in Maine I have the potential to be lazy; to just relax and sit on the dock with my book every day. I needed something to encourage me to run consistently! When I told my mom about the race, she decided to sign up for the 5k and convinced my dad and brother to sign up, too. It was fun to have my family involved!

The Old Port race was cheap (only $40!) and small (it was limited to 1500 racers). I think a few hundred people ran the 5k and the majority of people ran the half marathon. We got there about an hour before the race started and had enough time to find parking, pick up our race packets, take a few pics, and make our way to the starting line, which was a mile away from the finish area. I got to the starting line around 7:15 and the race started at 7:30am.

When I got to the starting line, I was confused because there were no corrals and people weren’t lined up yet. It turns out there were only two waves: females started at 7:30 and males started at 7:45. There were no ropes, no barriers - everyone just lined up in the road and we were off with the gun! I started near the front of the pack, which was actually pretty discouraging because people were passing me the entire race.

The first couple miles were mostly downhill. In my excitement and eagerness to stay with the crowd, I went a little too fast in the beginning. I forgot to start my watch at first, so I don’t know how fast I ran the first mile, but it was definitely under 9 minutes. I ran the second mile in 8:08 – way too fast! I didn’t want to use up all my energy in the first miles so I tried to slow down. I ran mile 3 in 8:36 and mile 4 in 8:45 – much better. A girl came up alongside me running about the same pace, so I ran with her for a while. Then she started to pull away and I didn’t try to keep up.

Around mile 5, the heat started to affect me. It had been hot and sunny all day, but the first few miles were somewhat shady. After that, much of the course was in direct sunlight and I could feel the sun beating down on me. I told God I would be thankful for any cloud cover, any shade, or any breeze that he provided. It was just so darn hot! Mile 5 had an uphill section on a grass path through the woods and across a hot field. That slowed me down a little. I ran mile 5 in 9:13.

Mile 6 was back on pavement. Still hot, but bearable. I ran it in 8:55. I had run the first six miles in about 52 minutes, so I was on pace to finish in under 2 hours!

However, after that, things went downhill. I was getting tired and hot and my miles started getting slower and slower.

Mile 7: 9:06

Mile 8: 10:01 (stopped for a minute to take a gel)

Mile 9: 9:12

Mile 10: 9:46

I was getting worried that I wouldn’t finish in less than 2 hours. It was so frustrating! I was pushing myself and I still felt myself getting slower and falling short of my goal. I started beating myself up for even having a goal. If I didn’t, I could’ve just slowed down and been happy with any time. But I had this dumb goal that didn’t even mean anything to anyone but me. I told myself it didn’t matter if I didn’t make it. I could try again another day, at another race.

Still, I had run those first few miles so fast. Wouldn’t that make up for my slow miles? I tried to do some mental calculations, but my brain was tired. I figured out that I could still make it, but I didn’t know exactly how fast I needed to run. I just knew I couldn’t give up. I focused on one step at a time, one agonizing mile after another.

Miles 10, 11, and 12 were pretty brutal. The course went around Back Bay Cove on a gravel path. It was really hot, there was no shade, and the trail seemed to go on FOREVER. I thought I was never going to get around that stupid body of water. To make it worse, the SAG stops started running out of Gatorade. They still had stuff they called Gatorade, but it was very watered down. I started feeling the effects of dehydration. After mile 10, I felt like I had no energy left, even though I had taken an energy gel during mile 8.

I honestly don’t know how I ran the last 3 miles. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be done with running forever and never push myself past my comfort zone ever again. I told myself this wasn’t worth it. (I think that was the heat and dehydration talking. I’m not usually so discouraged during a race!)

Despite all my negative thoughts, two things kept me going. First, other people were starting to walk, but I never did. Even though I wanted to, I never stopped running. I told myself that other people may be faster than me, but my strength is that I never give up! Secondly, my goal time was still within reach! At mile 10, I had been running for 1 hour and 30 minutes, which meant that all I had to do was run the last 3 miles in 10:00 each. Even my tired brain could do math that simple. A 10:00 pace isn’t that hard. All I had to do was keep running.

Mile 11: 9:51

Mile 12: 9:27

Mile 13: 9:35

The last three miles seemed incredibly long, but they were all clocking in under 10:00! (The numbers aren’t even entirely accurate, because I kept forgetting to hit my watch. But close enough.) After mile marker 13, I barely had the energy to sprint the last 0.1 mile, but I did… and I saw a 1:58 on the race clock!!! I couldn’t believe that I’d just run a sub-2 hour half marathon!

My time: 1:58:51


I have to attribute my time to God’s grace and my improved training regimen. I actually didn't run a very good race. I started out too fast, I let the heat get to me, and I let myself get dehydrated (after the race was over, I chugged an entire bottle of water!). I’m amazed and humbled that I was able to meet my goal. This race was challenging mentally AND physically. I learned a lot about myself in those 2 hours. I learned that I have strength and determination. I learned that I can be mentally tough, despite the negative voices in my head. And most of all, I learned about what it means to persevere – to keep going no matter what trials and temptations I face. This is why I love running.

James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Bluff

Bluff is a game I learned from a friend at school. I taught it to my family and we've played a round or two almost every night this week. It's really easy to learn and all you need to play is some dice!

Here's how it works:
-Everyone gets the same number of dice. The dice should total between 20-30 among everyone. Usually I use these numbers: (However, you can modify this. More dice per person = longer game).

• 3 players: 7 dice each
• 4 players: 6 dice each
• 5 players: 5 dice each
• 6 players: 4 dice each

-Everyone rolls their dice without letting anyone else see the numbers they rolled.

-The first player bids on how many total dice there are of a certain number. For instance if he has four 6's and there are 24 dice total, he might bid "Seven 6's", counting on there being at least three more among the remaining dice.

-The second player has two choices: She can either raise the bid or challenge. If she raises, she has to bid at least one more in quantity than player #1. However, she can bid the same number or a different one. If player #1 bids "Seven 6's", she has to bid eight of something. She can bid eight sixes or eight of any other number. The other choice is to challenge player #1. If player 2 challenges, everyone shows their dice and you count up how many sixes everyone has.

-Here's the catch: Ones are wild and they count towards the number of the current bid. After a challenge, everyone puts forward all their ones and all of the number being bid on.

-Play continues around the table with each successive person raising the bid until someone challenges. If a challenge is successfully met (ie there ARE actually seven 6's or more), then the challenger loses a die. If the challenge is lost (ie there are only six 6's or less), then the bidder loses a die. As the total number of dice decreases, the bidding gets tricky.

-The game continues until only one person is left with any dice. The bidding (and bluffing!) gets really interesting when the game gets down to two players.

Helpful tip: My friend who taught me the game told me that on average about 1/3 of the dice are any particular number. I've found this to be true, although sometimes surprising things do happen! But usually if you bid under 1/3 of the total dice number it's a pretty safe bet; too much over 1/3 and you're in dangerous territory. I usually tell people about the 1/3 rule. It doesn't ruin any of the fun of the game, and it helps new players find a reasonable bid.

Long explanation, but it's actually a really simple and easy game! Everyone in my family enjoys it, including my brother who hates games. Good one to try for a quick and simple family game.

Aches and Pains

I've been blogging recently about how I love running. However, it’s not all fun and games and good times. I've already been experiencing a lot of aches and pains in my marathon training. There is normal muscle soreness and blisters, which I expected, but I've also had other stuff going on that’s been frustrating.

For one, I’ve been getting lateral foot pain, to the point where it hurts when I walk. It usually doesn’t hurt too badly while I’m running, but after a run it flares up. I asked my dad about it and he doesn’t think it’s a typical area for a stress fracture, so I think it’s tendonitis - probably involving my fibularis muscles.

Then there’s my IT band syndrome. It doesn’t bother me too much, but my IT bands are tight after I run. Sometimes they get pretty sore and achy and I have to roll them out. I really need to get a foam roller or a marathon stick and then I think this won’t be too much of a problem.

My biggest issue is my right knee. It’s the most problematic because the pain starts getting bad towards the end of a long run, and it gets so intense that I have to stop running. It is so frustrating to have to stop and walk because of my knee, but I don’t want to injure myself by running when I’m in pain. My knee not only hurts, it feels unstable, like it’s going to collapse. As a PT-to-be I’ve tried to diagnose myself. I think my knee pain could be due to the fact that I have weak hip abductors on my right side. That weakness could be putting more strain on my right knee. I really need to start doing some hip strengthening exercises to see if that helps with my knee and foot pain.

Anyway, this isn’t a post to complain, just to be honest about some of the problems I’ve had while training. Marathon training isn’t easy and my muscles need to adjust. Even though I’ve been running pretty consistently for over a year now, some of my muscles are still weak. I’ve found that with previous aches and pains I just have to do what I can, rest when I need to, and listen to my body. Many of my previous musculoskeletal problems have gone away on their own. I hope this darn knee pain goes away soon!

A few summer pictures

This is what I've been up to this week in Maine:

Let Summer begin!

My clinical is over. I went to work for the last time on Friday and then my CI took me out to lunch afterwards. That was so sweet and thoughtful on her part. Really, my experience in outpatient wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My CI was nice, the clinic was a good pace for me, and I saw a variety of patient diagnoses. I learned a lot there this summer. I felt a lot more confident in my ability to treat patients by the end of my affiliation. Even so, I still don’t like outpatient PT and I don’t ever want to work there. I’m glad it’s over.

One thing that really touched me is how sad some of my patients were to see me leave. One sweet elderly lady gave me a card thanking me for helping with her therapy. She was so sad that I wouldn’t be working with her anymore. I’m glad I could make a small difference in my patients’ lives in the short time I was there.

Now I’m in Maine and I’m so happy to be home! After doing a job I really didn’t enjoy for the past two months, it’s so incredibly amazing to be at home enjoying the lake with the people I love. I’ve missed my family a lot recently. It’s so nice to be together with them again!

Hot July

This July came blazing in with temps that reached 105 degrees in Richmond! Up until the past couple of weeks it hasn't been that hot in Richmond this summer. But the last few weeks more than made up for it- the heat and humidity have been awful! To make matters worse, a series of tornadoes came through the Richmond area last week, causing many houses to lose power. Some people have been without AC for a week in this heat! Thankfully, my apartment never lost power. I guess there are advantages to living in a huge brick building without any trees nearby.

My first experience with the tornadoes happened when I was at clinic. Our clinic has big glass windows all along one wall of the gym where we can see the parking lot. That day it went from being nice and sunny to the sky darkening, trees blowing, and wind howling within minutes. The next thing I knew there was a deafening torrential downpour and trees were flopping around like rag dolls. The rain was literally going sideways! It was scary, but also kind of cool to see such a powerful storm!

The storm got so bad that they issued tornado warnings. We had to take all the patients to central rooms, away from windows. I was in the middle of an eval, and I had to take my patient to a different treatment room. Soon we had other patients from the waiting room joining us to get to somewhere safe. It was quite an exciting day at the clinic!

The tornadoes are over now (I think), but it's still brutally hot. It's been over 100 degrees for the past few days. Luckily I'm going to Maine tomorrow for the remainder of the summer, so I get to escape the heat!