(PJ Media) The state of California is implementing full Marxism before our very eyes under the guise of “equity.” And so now there can be no possible doubt if there ever was for anyone: instituting Communism has been what “equity” initiatives have been about all along. Now three of its most powerful utility companies are saying that they’re going to charge based not on how much of their product was used, but on how much money the user makes.
In simpler times, if you bought something, you paid for it. Rich or poor, tall or short, black or white, female or male, wise or foolish, everyone paid the same amount for a product. But in our more enlightened era, we know how unjust that really is. It deprives the poor of access to vital goods and services, and that injustice must be redressed.
That’s what Communism is all about, at least in theory: leveling out economic differences between people by confiscating earnings from the rich and awarding them to those who have less. This is the fundamental reason why Marxism, despite its extraordinarily bloody historical record, still appeals to so many people, rich, poor, and in between: it appears to redress the injustices in life and provide everyone with a decent living.
The problem with it arises from the fact that capitalism is inescapable. It is an iron law. It is not actually an economic system that can be discarded and replaced with a better one. It is simply the way human interactions work. If the California utility companies are going to make people who have more money pay more for the same goods and services they could get for less money if they had less, there will be several results: wealthier people will seek to hide their wealth through various means, so as to pay the lower rate. Some enterprising entrepreneurs will make a good living by helping them do this. So from the Marxism of the utility companies will come more capitalism.
Also, people will see that there is no point in working harder to try to earn more money, as the state will just confiscate it in various ways. Consequently, people will work less, and less hard. The standard of living will decline, because productivity will have declined. This is why Communist countries have always been economic failures: they block the capitalist incentive that people have to work hard, and thus destroy the only path to prosperity.
