Star Trek society
I grew up watching Star Trek. Reruns of Kirk and McCoy, new shows with Pickard and Data, even Cisco and Janeway. I watched them all, at least I did, until some idiot cast Scott Bakula as the captain. Gene Roddenberry allowed us a glimpse into a future without avarice, where all the people of earth were united, and equal. It’s an intriguing world, full of hope and promise. I knew, even as a kid that this world was complete and utter fantasy. As long as there are humans on this planet, nothing like this will ever be possible. I don’t mean the physics-busting idea of faster than light travel; I mean the free, harmonious society that Roddenberry depicts. Absolute fantasy. No more real than the worlds invented by Tolkien or Heinlein.
People are lazy. A normal person, with all of their needs met, will not strive to better themselves. It’s simply not in our nature. Yeah, there’s a few power hungry over-achievers out there who will struggle on, but the vast majority of us, provided with sufficient entertainment, will expend as little effort as possible in getting through life. We need some sort of motivation to get up and do something. As imperfect as it is, capitalism provides that motivation better than anything our race has come up with so far. If you don’t do something to earn a living, you go hungry. There is no better motivator than an empty belly.
I know, there are a few people who simply can’t provide for themselves, and as a civilized culture, we should provide for those unlucky few. I don’t believe that applies to the nearly 50% of Americans currently accepting government assistance. The vast majority of people on welfare today do so not because they are incapable of fending for themselves, but because it’s the easy way out. It requires very little effort to work the system well enough to feed yourself. The vast majority of welfare recipients have a place to live, running water, electricity, television, cell phone… Why go out an actually work for a living? Our government, through its endless entitlement programs is rapidly eliminating the reasons why people work.
To make matters worse, the ‘helping hand’ that welfare started as has become a trap, keeping people from climbing out of poverty. My daughter made some poor choices in life. A few years out of high school, she found herself a single mother of two, incapable of supporting herself. She applied for, and began receiving, government aid. Several years later, with her boyfriend having found a decent job, she found out what I’ve always known… Welfare is a trap. It’s very difficult for a person with no marketable skills to earn enough money to replace what the government gives you. Get a job, making far less than what the government is willing to simply hand you, and you lose your benefits. Financially, you’re better off getting fired from your job, and becoming a permanent drain on our economy.
Say we give the income equality folks exactly what they’re asking for. Take wealth from those who have, and distribute it evenly to those who have not. Presto… everyone is equal. Why would the young man coming out of school strive to make something of his life, when the dude who sits on the couch all day getting stoned and playing video games ends up with the same quality of life? There is no motivation for anyone to produce, invent, or strive for anything. What are you going to do with government provided health care when there are no doctors left? Where does the money come from when there are no more wealthy people to take it from? As Ayn Rand theorized in Atlas Shrugged… eventually, the people who struggle to produce the wealth that society relies on are simply going to quit, if they no longer gain from their efforts.
While Star Trek is wonderful entertainment, it’s hardly a model that we can build a future on. The real world intrudes on such fantasy. Socialism has been tried… it doesn’t work. As long as greed and sloth remain part of the human condition, it never will. I understand the concept that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, but without the motivation provided by self-interest, the future looks more Mad Max than Federation.