Socialism for all

As the argument about free market capitalism and socialism heats up, many are uncomfortable with the way capitalism picks winners and losers. This unease showed up a number of years ago as schools tried to minimize competition. Some began to place less emphasis on awards like valedictorian while others offered participation trophies. Those opposed would say, when you get out into the real world you will find fierce competition, so one way to minimize that, is to move to a socialistic society. Instead of separating people by personal achievement, all people will become more alike. Instead of some achieving more than others, most will be somewhere in the middle. Mediocrity will become the norm. Others say that will not happen, that people by their nature will strive to excel. Will that be the case for just a select few or will most take the hard road to achieve?