***This article is in response to Discussions for Change: Vol. 1***

Imagine this: you are in a class. The teacher decides that he will do a new grading system. Everyone does what they do throughout the year, and then at the end, the teacher does his magic. He decides to create grade equality by giving some of the A’s from the straight A students to the struggling students and the students with D’s and F’s. He then gives some of the D’s and F’s to the straight A’s students. In the end everyone passes the class, but no one is outstanding. This is a great example of socialism: The poor are brought up, the rich are brought down, everyone is equal but cannot be happy. Human nature wants more than mediocre, most people strive to be great. Why try when you can be just like everyone else with no effort. Human nature wants capitalism.

Capitalism creates something no other economical system creates: entrepreneurs. This might not seem huge, but it is. Entreprenuers have to avoid greed in order to maintain their self-interests. First of all, they need to save in order to start their businesses, but they also have to care not about their desires, but the desires of their potential customers instead. Along with this, the profit of a business is not measured by greed and money, but by the satisfaction of the customers. Their business can not expand if they are not satisfying people enough to want to buy their products. Socialism also eliminates greed, but entrepreneurs too. Without entrepreneurs, the technology you are reading this on would probably not exist, because the government would regulate the people with these ideas.

Socialism does a great job of bringing the poor up, but it lacks giving anyone the chance of rising further and fulfilling their full potential.

Capitalism is not a competition for who can make more money off of the hard work of others. Instead, it is a competition of lowering prices to gain business. This ends up by making everything more affordable, for the poor too. If a business raises prices, it loses customers and therefore profit.

What’s ironic about socialism is that it creates greed. Free healthcare, free college, set prices encourage people to want more freedom from what they are being given. Equality brings the poor up, but doesn’t give them a chance to be more. Along with that, socialism makes people dependent on the government, creating people that not only lack a driven life, but a self-centered one. Instead of asking “How can I bring myself up?” people would ask “What can the government give me?” and “What am I entitled to?”.

However, capitalism gives people a chance, whether they take advantage of it or not is their choice. Here’s an example: Andrew Carnegie was a poor immigrant who transformed the steel business and became a billionaire. So if you want to bring the poor up, help non-profits like the Denver Rescue Mission, that help give people a chance to pull themselves up. Along with this, shop small. Go to stores you normally would not go to. This takes away business from big companies. This helps both the poor and people wanting to help themselves rise up.