Are You a Producer or a Parasite to Society?

In today's society where poor economic conditions exists it has become most important to look at who is helping society become better and who is hurting the situation. One way to gauge if you are amongst the ones helping or hurting society and its economy is to ask yourself if you are a producer or a parasite. Let's look at some jobs and activities and see which category you fall into.

It is obvious that farming is, most definitely, one of the most productive professions one could be in. Without food production everything else is meaningless. Those that grow, pick, package and transport and sell the food are extremely important to society. Assuming we are all fed then we need other products to survive as civilized humans such as soaps, toothpaste and brushes, clothing, transportation, books, etc. These things are items produced by factories. Factory owners and factory workers are high on the list of productive people.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the parasites. Most politicians, people on welfare and food stamps, the clergy, criminals, some bankers, the Fed. Almost all government workers produce nothing and take away money from the producers and give it to non-producers. Teachers and professors that teach anything not ultimately useful to a productive society are also non-producers.

One could also argue that the judicial system such as judges, lawyers, and police that use their time convicting victim-less crime are non-producers. The U.S. Constitution makes it clear that the main function of government and the police is to protect property and individual rights. Any other use of that power is parasitic. What about computer repair techs and auto mechanics? Depends on who they are working for. Is the automobile or computer used towards productive or non-productive pursuits? If the computer is being used to view porn or the car is being used by any of the aforementioned non-producers then the repair personnel are also being, unknowingly, parasitic to society.

Let us turn our thoughts toward writers. A writer is a producer if the information makes for a more productive society. If a writer, musician, comedian, movie producer is entertaining people that are productive then so are they. Since they have no choice who is reading, watching or listening to them they owe it to society not to portray the parasites as producers in any way.

Medical personnel are in a unique position. If your job is to save and make people's physical lives better you are a wonderful contribution to society. Who knows, if one saves the life of a parasite it is possible the non-producer can later change and become a true benefit to society.

This points to a debate going on for centuries. It is sort of an Plato vs. Aristotle, Ayn Rand kind of thing. The world is backwards when it comes to the two philosophies. We have been living Plato's philosophy where the person gives up their individual freedom for the good of the whole. Plato believed society is here to make sure the majority of individuals are taken care of. John Kennedy's quote "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" appears to make sense on the surface but is Platonic in nature. This philosophy does not work. Aristotle had it right. If the individual takes care of his or herself, and everyone does it, then the whole society is automatically taken care of and very little government is needed. If everyone would take responsibility and take care of their own individual needs then there would be plenty left over for the ones that cannot, in reality, take care of themselves.

The main reason I am writing this has to do with what I see happening in this world. I believe all of the world's economic woes has to do with there being less and less producers and more and more non-producers. Non-producers cannot survive for one minute without the funds they take away from the producers. It is like having seven Chiefs and one Indian. The one Indian is working as hard as he can to support the seven chiefs. We must make some of the Chiefs into Indians or no one will survive.