I've heard the revolution word a lot recently, and I'm not sure why all of us are throwing it around. I posted about this last year, and I believe that the reasons are similar to what I posted about - people who do not feel that they are being justly represented in a so-called democracatic republic. On the other end of the spectrum, however, there are those who are not satisfied with the state of life we live in right now. They are jealous of those who have more than them.
However, I recently watched a documentary on Catherine the Great of Russia and bits of a documentary on the French revolution, and they have made me realize how difficult, dangerous, and unecessary real revolution really is.
First of all, when the Russians revolted under Catherine (not the great Communist revolution over a century later) they existed in feudalism. This social setup places those at the bottom of the ladder in near slave conditions. There was absolutely no way for these people to move up in society, become financially independent, or even get out of poverty without either the aid of the upper class or revolution. However, in the wake of their revolt, they also showed a scary world - one where they slaughtered all the wealthy and educated members of society, all the leaders.
In light of this documentary, I became enraged at the sentiments of some people in America today. More and more I feel that there are very few legitimate reasons to complain about being poor - for instance, poor health and handicaps - but for the majority of people, it is simply a matter of choosing not to complain but to do something constructive about their situation. We are no longer barred by feudalism, which means that any one person can live the American dream. Incidentally, sometimes it seems that those who have the greatest barriers are those who rise to success above us all - those whom I would understand if they gave up instead surprise us all and fulfill their dreams. It is because Americans, even the poorest of us, are too well off and cozy that we have lost the ability to work hard for our goals. It is easier to sit in middle class and complain about not being rich than to actually work hard to be rich.
The other perspective was of the French Revolution, which happened around the time of our own. Here we had men overthrow their government, much like we had done. However, the aftermath was incredible. Those who disagreed were beheaded, more and more every day. The church was banned - extremes were taken to rid the country of religion. A counter revolution began. Yes, America had a war to win our independence and a rough start to boot, but every account of the French Revolution sounds like sheer terror for everyone involved.
When I study revolutions around the globe, it seems to me that it is rarely the case that a country can successfully carry one off and then stabilize as we did. Even America had a civil war within 84 years of our founding. Latin American countries are rocked by instability. Iraq and Afghanistan are having difficult elections. How European countries stabilized into democracies is beyond me, although I know they had hundreds of years to perfect the systems of government they use, slowly ceding more power to the people, rather than all at once as we did.
One thing that I think helped our revolution was that we had a governing body in place before we even began. While the continental congress did not ultimately begin to rule, it established great leaders who worked together for the common good. No one man stood to profit by the war, and a republican system was already at work before the war was even won.
Revolutions also tend to bring about extremes in government. It is no wonder, because if they are started by politically charged people, then the result will be extremists in power. Communism is one such extreme, whereby the people throw this system of government together without thinking of the past, present, or future implications.
As I mentioned before, in America we have little reason to complain about being too poor. Those with communist and socialist leanings are either well-intentioned or lazy and greedy. We have the necessities of life, but we just want more.
Imagine if we took the GDP and spread it out evenly, per capita, to everyone in America. Say this is about $30,000 a year. That's liveable, especially if you have a two or more person home! Or say we take all the property - savings and equity - in America and redistribute it evenly. Say we just give everyone $100,000 to start off with. Or say we even do both. Even steven. All from scratch.
The truth is that in a short time, perhaps even within a year, the classes we now see will be back in place. The poor will be poor and the rich will be rich. This is because those who are rich now know how to save and work hard and make good investments. Those who are poor now do not.
Now, there are obviously other factors involved in what makes someone rich or poor. Education is key - and this education inevitably comes from your parents, not the schools. I went to public school and a state college, so as far as I'm concerned I was afforded no additional advantages than your average student. If there was an educational difference it came in my predisposition to learning and support from my parents.
I write this because ultimately everyone loses in impassioned revolution. Some lose their lives. Others lose what they have worked hard for. We all lose our dignity. And those who start the revolution may find that they have ended up in the same place they started in, only now they have the guilt of what they have done to contend with.
I don't think that we are on the verge of major revolution in America. But I think people do need to think about what some of the words they throw around mean and imply. Unless changes are made out of love for the common good, then they are imperfect changes and will not bring about the reform we envision.
No comments:
Post a Comment