RON HART: A lesson from a legend: Obama's socialism gets an F

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” — Thomas Jefferson

I was told a legendary story about a college economics professor and his attempt to educate his “Age of Obama” students back to a sense of reality. Cocktail party stories are not always true, especially after three drinks, but this one is a good lesson.

On the first day of class, the professor questioned his students to gauge their temperament and their knowledge of economics. He was astounded to discover that every student in the class thought Obama's move toward socialism would work. They understood that no one would be poor and the rich would be made to take care of the less fortunate.

Government was going to be the great equalizer.

Shocked and concerned for the future of this country and what the public education system had taught — and not taught — these young people, the professor devised a plan. Never before had he failed a single student, but he felt compelled to educate this generation.

On the second day of class, he repeated their view of Obama's socialist utopia and laid out his plan for that semester's grades. It would be an experiment on the “Obama Plan” and its long-term viability.

The class would take tests just as in other classes, but everyone’s grade would be that of the class average.

There would be no As because that would be wrong and would be advantageous to only a few. The class was excited at the prospect, anticipating an easy semester with minimal work or study required.

The first test was taken a week later; the class average was a B. Students who had studied hard began to get upset and voiced their concern.  The three A students had second thoughts and transferred to another economics class. The students who did not study much were pleased with the B.

The mid-term test rolled around, and the students who had not studied much for the first test prepared even less for this one. With the three A students gone, the middle-of-the-pack students slacked off, reasoning that they would not have much impact on the average grade.  They decided just to coast and accept the collective grade. 

The class averaged a D.

The grumbles began, but now it was too late to drop the class.

By the time the next test came, the students felt no compelling reason to study and “carry” the others in the class. The class made a collective F on the test. Group scores spiraled downward while blame, disputes, name-calling and accusations of sloth escalated.

Ultimately, this tenured professor failed all of the students, since their collective effort warranted an F. Yet he taught them — and all of us — an invaluable lesson, one often forgotten at our peril in this “Age of Obama.”

When there are incentives, competition and rewards for those who work hard and do well, all of society benefits. When there are not, as in the old Soviet Union or any communist country where a statist government says it will provide for all, it does not work and never will.

Do not expect this professor to get the Nobel Prize in Economics, which is only given to liberal ideas advanced in some convoluted way that somehow results in children in third-world countries getting food and an Ipod.
This professor's lesson is not the narrative that the famously liberal academic profession wants to teach.

It is only when faced with the reality of the situation does one really understand a lesson such as this one. And if we do not learn it, as Thomas Jefferson said, our democracy will be lost forever.

Ron Hart is a Southern libertarian columnist who writes a weekly column about politics and life. His e-mail is RevRon10@aol.com.