Required reading for some letter writers

We get letters. We get lots and lots of letters. And, these days, too many of them have phrases like the ones in this single letter:

“Capitalism ‘worked’ when people actually had a conscience. It is no longer enough to make a ‘reasonable profit,’ the greed of people has made capitalism the bane of humanity. …

“I have NEVER seen an athlete or CEO worth 20, 40, or 60 million dollars a year no matter what people say the ‘market’ will support. For every dollar they squeeze out of the market the cost of their product to the consumer goes up. Pricing people out of the market. …

“People will only take this level of inhuman treatment for so long until they rise up and overthrow their oppressors. Isn't that why we all have the right to keep and bear arms? To overthrow those who no longer represent the needs of the many, but choose to sell their souls to the greedy few?”
Why does this sound so familiar?

The “needs of the many,” “capitalism the bane of humanity,” “overthrow,” “greed.” And the concept that there is only so much wealth to go around, that every dollar taken by one person is a dollar taken from another. Or that the value of all labor should be the same no matter the productivity of certain workers.

I recall addressing a high school class probably 25 years ago on the topic of freedom of the press and speech. It was after I’d written something some teacher took offense with and then forced his or her students to read it and be likewise offended.

I recall one student asking in amazement, “Do you mean students should be allowed to read things like the Communist Manifesto?”

My answer was, “No, you should not be allowed to read things like the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, it should be required.”

And now that I think about it, perhaps a semester could be devoted to explaining why the concepts spelled out in both were such failures. And as we trace the writings of Jefferson and Madison to Locke and Rousseau and Montesquieu, we could trace Marx to his forebears.

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
— Karl Marx, 1875

“Let each produce according to his aptitudes and his force; let each consume according to his need.”
— Louis Blanc, 1840

“Nothing in society will belong to anyone, either as a personal possession or as capital goods, except the things for which the person has immediate use, for either his needs, his pleasures, or his daily work. Every citizen will make his particular contribution according to the activities of the community according to his capacity, his talent and his age; it is on this basis that his duties will be determined, in conformity with the distributive laws.”
— Morelly, 1773.

If greed is bad, altruistic sharing is worse. It was proven as far back as 1620. Or don’t you recall that part of our history?