by William Blakely
The other night I was at the Mohegan Sun Casino (business unfortunately, not pleasure) and during some of my off time I decided to take advantage of the luxuries that were made available to me. While sitting in the poker room playing a few hands, my attention was split between my cards and the news playing in the plasma screen on the walls. I found myself distracted when they cut to a full screen graphic of a recent poll. This poll stated that 53% of Americans supported Capitalism to Socialism. That's right, only 53%! There were 27% of those polled who favored Socialism and 20% who weren't quite sure which they preferred. Now being the social person that I am, I decided to make a comment for the whole table to hear. As quickly as I made my statement, all around me the other players sprang up with their own opinions which were a healthy mix of Bush-bashing and snips about how Capitalism has basically failed America. I wanted to hear them all out. I didn't argue right away, I merely sat back and listened while I waited for my moment to strike. We continued to play as we spoke and a few hands later there was a big pot going on between four players on the table; three of them all-in with the pot close to five hundred dollars. I would love to tell you that I took all these liberals money but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. A gentleman who previously lectured me about the evils of capitalism happened to win the hand. I smiled to him and said "So your not a fan of capitalism, right?"
He responded "No, not particularly."
I said, "Ok, so you should only take half of that pot and split the rest among the table, after giving a portion of it to the house, right?"
"Now why would I do that?," he replied.
"Well you said you favor socialism," I said.
"Well I'm not a huge fan of capitalism, but I don't think it is fair [for me to share the winnings]. I earned this pot," he said.
I looked at him right in the eyes and said, "My point exactly."
Now I know that this probably isn't the best example but I'm trying to point out the fact that there are people that are in favor of spreading the wealth, until it comes to them giving up their money.
I saw this poker game as the economy and a parallel of how things work. Everyone starts out with different amounts of chips, just like everyone in life doesn't start at the same level. Based on decisions you make you can either gain or lose money (and even lose money with good decisions and vice versa). The monetary decisions that we make in our life affect where we end up. With every pot that is accumulated, the house, both in the Casino and in the economy, takes a portion of that. When we win a big pot it should be ours and we should not have to give back to the other players. I know it sounds a little abstract when you first read this but think about it. Maybe if more of those 47% of the poll could understand some of the basics of socialism and President Obama's economic policies, then they would fold their hand rather than playing and risking their own money, just to spread the wealth to the other players.
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