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Jacob Gray
English 111
Socialism
12/14/15
Socialism versus Capitalism
Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in a democratic
nation that was made wealthy by capitalism. He was living a grand life.
He had worked hard for his house, his clothes, and his car. He grew up
in a society where people knew that if you work hard you can achieve
anything you desire in life, and thats exactly what this man did. He
achieved his only happiness through hard work and perseverance. He
was living the life he wanted and it was all going great until, another
man, in a far away land, came into the world with a new radical idea.
Some people believed these new radical ideas and slowly this man
gained support. Soon enough, there were people who were running for
office in his democratic nation I am not allowed to tell you the true
ending to this story, but at the end of the day, you will be able to
decide for yourself what is truly right. This radical idea is called
socialism.
Socialism, defined by dictionary.com, is a theory or system of
social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and
control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land,
etc., in the community as a whole. It believes that everything should

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be shared with everyone no matter who it truly belongs to. The
government takes out private property and ownership and takes
control. Whatever you make, a large sum will go to the people. It will
really go to the government so that they can decide where the money
should go. Capitalism, defined by dictionary.com, is an economic
system in which investment in and ownership of the means of
production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and
maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as
contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. This is
the idea that everyone is responsible for himself or herself, who is, in
turn, better for the economy according to the laissez faire principle and
all the simple teachings of all high school economics classes. Ones self
interest will actually benefit the public. In this economic style, people
can achieve their dreams through hard work and perseverance. If you
work harder than ever before, you will achieve great things.
The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other
peoples money- Margaret Thatcher. Socialism is not related to
Capitalism at all. Socialism is closely related to communism, which is
seen as an extreme, but no matter what one will always find someone
who will swear against the two systems. Both would say that they are
corrupt and do not work to benefit the majority of the population.
Many, on both sides, would say that would destroy the economy. They
both, apparently, have their own unique ways of doing it.

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Capitalism ensures that everyone has an equal chance of getting
what they want in life through hard work and perseverance. There is no
privileged class in Capitalism. Everyone had to work to earn his or her
money. Socialism, on the other hand, makes a privileged class. It
deteriorates incentive to work by taking more away from the working
class that works hard to earn a living. The whole purpose of Socialism
is to make a mass redistribution of wealth(Why socialism is not for
America). It promotes laziness and creates social injustice. Some will
say that Capitalism is worse because they believe it is easier to stay
rich and become richer and that the poor get poorer, but as long as
one works hard, one can obtain their happiness in life.
The main argument against Socialism is that in completely goes
against the Constitution and what the founding fathers set up in this
country. By giving up the power to the State and national governments,
the public will suffer violations of personal freedoms, injustice,
destruction of liberty, right to private property, right to parental rights
in education, and freedom of religion (Why socialism is not for
America). The Constitution was created to work along side Capitalism
and nothing else. The functionality of it would be completely destroyed
by any other system besides it. Some believe that the people will just
have to change the constitution to make it more compatible with
another system such as socialism, and thats what a man like Bernie
Sanders will probably do. If he doesnt he would be faced with breaking

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and going against the constitution which could pose a serious problem
for him.
Here are two scenarios to help with the understanding of the two
separate concepts. You are in a very difficult AP class in school. Many
of the students are failing the class and the teacher is trying to come
up with a plan to help everyone. The teacher comes to the class
explains a system where the grades would be shared, and at first
everyone thinks its a fantastic idea. Weeks go on and the class begins
to figure out what a disaster this new system truly is. The smart people
try to bring up the classs average by improving their own grades, and,
on the other hand, the lazy people who dont want to work think the
system is fantastic because they dont have to do anything and they
will all still pass. In the end, everyone passes the class with a C- even
though many worked harder then others, but they all get the same
credit. The other scenario is quite different from this one. Everyone
earns what he or she deserve and worked for. The harder one works,
the better ones grade will be. If everyone worries about his or her own
grades, the class average will naturally rise. Everyone gets what he or
she deserves, and the average soars. Socialism, in turn, helps the
minority, while Capitalism benefits the whole.
Both systems are different. They are only present because
someone believes in their ideologies. Without the support of the
people, these systems mean nothing. They would simply be crazy talk.

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People will naturally believe what they want to believe whether they
want to or not. Their ideas and the way they were brought up will
defined who they really are for the rest of their lives. If you believe in
Socialism, it will work the way you want it to. If you believe in
Capitalism, it will also work the way you want it to. They are just
different ideas and beliefs put together to form and economic system.
In the beginning, there was a story of a man who lived his life. There
was no ending to that story because we, the people, have the
opportunity to create our own ending. We morph it into what we want
and believe in. We have the power to vote and change the outcome of
our future and the Nations future. It is vital that one knows the
importance of getting out to vote when election time comes around
because one vote could be the difference between life and death, pain
and happiness, or democracy and tyranny. Get out and vote.