Quote Originally Posted by gugi View Post
But that's not true. People in communist countries (and I mean China, Cuba, Venezuella, North Korea,, former USSR and Eastern Europe,) do have desire to excel and succeed for themselves.
If you read the Bible, the model that Jesus set and the church practices described there have much stronger emphasis on community than on individualism. If you take a look at successful american corporations there is a constant attempt to build community. There is value in community, that's why most of us come here to post.
I am not defending communism here, just pointing out that if you look at the people they have pretty common goals in life, regardless what kind of their government and structure of society.
Thats the thing about "communism" and why it won't work. If people excel, and invent a better mousetrap say they expect to be rewarded. Communism says the individual is unimportant and the whole is all. So if you have twenty dollars each should have one, if your mousetrap makes an extra ten you only get fifty cents and so does everyone else. YOU are not rewarded for your effort any more than those who made no effort are.

The communities and corporation you talk about build a sense of team and an ethic to work for the common good but the incentive to excel is still the individual reward you receive. The recognition that even the lowliest mail room guy might have the next big idea and giving him a way to voice it is a big leap forward in corporate thought but if they don't reward the mail room guy pretty well he'll just keep his mouth shut.

Even in wolf packs the member who makes the kill is the first to eat even when the kill feeds the whole pack.