Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watdragon!hwarkentyne
From: hwarkentyne@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Kenneth Warkentyne)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Communism
Message-ID: <5486@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Date: 3 Mar 88 18:04:20 GMT
References: <1988Feb24.140628.28040@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> <1433@looking.UUCP> <1988Feb26.225840.21116@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> <1437@looking.UUCP> <303@brambo.UUCP> <5484@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: hwarkentyne@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Kenneth Warkentyne)
Distribution: ont
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 37

In article <303@brambo.UUCP> morgan@brambo.UUCP (Morgan W. Jones) writes:
>              ....  In a (quasi) capitalist society such as ours,
>there are people who are prepared to work hard for their success and
>are happy, those who aren't prepared to work hard and are happy, and
>those who aren't prepared to work hard but aren't happy.  It is this
>last group, those who aren't prepared to work hard and aren't happy,
>that cause the problems.
>...
>PS - There are people who validly fight for social reforms, for the
>benefit of mankind rather than themselves.

The PS aside, Morgan is ignoring those people who are prepared to
work hard and still aren't happy.  It is usually these people who
cause problems since making trouble is not an easy job -  you must
be prepared to work hard.  His contention that the problems of society
are caused by people who "aren't prepared to work hard" is painfully
naive.  In a way it's kind of frightening.

Perhaps Morgan would like the Government to introduce a test to
weed out those who aren't willing to work hard from those who are.
The former could be sent to a colony on Baffin Island to confirm
Canadian sovereignity over the arctic.  The latter could be given
a years supply of Kraft Dinner, a subscription to the local paper,
and a $50 bill.

I think that all of us agree that every human being has the right to
have an equal chance to succeed in life.  The problem comes in
interpreting what constitutes an equal chance.  For me, an equal
chance means growing up in decent living conditions, having a good
elementary education, and being able to persue higher education
if one has the aptitude regardless of how much money one has.
Also, if a person finds himself out of work, he should be able
to live while he is trying to find another one.  I believe that
society owes these necessities to its members and that the best way to
provide them is through government agencies.

Ken Warkentyne