I’ve just finished watching the movie, “Enemy At The Gates”. It is a true story about a Russian Sharpshooting War Hero Vassili Zaitsev. The scene is towards the end when Vassili is sitting in a hideout with a Political Officer named Danilov. Danilov was the one who’s writings made Vassili’s conquests famous throughout Stalingrad and all of Russia. Enter the girl, Tania. Vassili and the Tania fall in love and the political officer is jealous. After praising Vassili, out of jealousy he then dictates an article to defame Vassili.

The next scene shows the Tania hit by shrapnel and Danilov, the political officer thinks she is dead. He is later seen with Vassili and makes the following speech: “I’ve been such a fool Vassili. Man will always be man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal. Where there’d be nothing to envy your neighbor. But there’s always something to envy….a smile…a friendship…something you don’t have & want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor….Rich in gifts, poor in gifts: rich in love, poor in love.” Danilov then gives up his life to save Vassili and help him root out the enemy sharpshooter and achieve the goal he had been trying for most of the movie.

It was a powerful illustration of how many people think about Socialism. They think it would be a better place if all wealth were distributed equally. They think that this class warfare will end if only the money were distributed equally there would be nothing to be jealous of and we all..in the words of Rodney King, “just get along”. It would seem to appeal to everyone’s idea of fairness; at least the perceived fairness as seen through the eyes of the individual Socialist. One problem is that one’s perception of fairness might be different than their neighbors. Does fairness mean all is a median? Is median a statistical average? Is average equal? Where is the statistical base?

If all things were equal who chooses what equal is? What do we compare equal to? Do we compare it within our own State, Country, or do we expand it into the entire world? Do we all need to live in mud huts, get rid of our indoor plumbing, and return to a community well to satisfy the terms of monetary fairness as seen in some of the poorest countries in the world? You may laugh but that could be the next logical step in this growing global economy.

One error is the sliding scale of equal and the other is that we are not dealing with a perfect world.

In a perfect world we wouldn’t need Socialism because [click to continue…]

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