Tinian Times: Roadwork continues

Roadwork continues along upper main street through the village. It looks as though every piece of equipment on the island is being used!

On one end of the work, they continue to dig-up the old road down to the limestone base

On the other end, they have begun to install new limestone roadbase.

They have, perhaps, dug-up about a third of the road from Broadway to the dock.

There has been a high wind/wave warning for this entire week. There has been a very strong trade wind blowing all week that has created unusually high tides and waves, especially along the east side of the island. This has caused problems for the swimmer, Jim Bell, who has already swam the west side of the island, and had planned to begin swimming the east side this week...

Oh well...

There are usually very small waves on the beautiful beaches of Tinian. But the high tides have covered much of the beach, and the large waves make swimming difficult.

A few months ago, new fan palms were planted along Broadway. Much like the Parable of the Seeds in the New Testament (some seeds didn't grow, some grew but weeds killed them, some grew but died for the heat, and some grew and bore fruit), these plants have had various outcomes: some have dried out and blown over...

Some have survived, but grown very little...

Some have struggled, but continue to strive to fulfill its purpose...

And some have caught hold and grown into beautiful plants...

Unlike the parable of the seeds (where the seeds were planted in different locations: along the wayside, among weeds, or in good ground), these were all planted in the same ground...

Perhaps there is a lesson here too: that plants, like people, are all different. Even if everybody was born and raised in the same type of family, they would still all turn out differently: some work fail, some would be mediocre, and some would become shining lights.

I believe that this is the reason that Communism doesn't work. The Communist ideal, as portrayed by Karl Marx, was a utopia where every person could work where and when they wanted, and where everyone would be paid and treated equally.

This would be accomplished by a compassionate government: since no one person's work or livelihood would be considered more important that another's, the government would ensure that everyone was paid the same for whatever work was done; and, in turn, the government would also ensure that everyone received the same material benefits.

This was done by having the government own everything--there would be no private property. Then, the government would control the means of labor: they would hire and pay everyone the same wage, and they would be able to set prices to ensure that everyone was able to afford the things they need. Everyone would always be equal... an interesting ideal...as long as everyone was the same!

As inticing as Socialism/Communism is in theory, in practice, as is now well documented, it is a complete failure, and leads to the complete loss of freedom and the collapse of society. The reason it did not work (not counting the evil men who ran the government) was the principle of the plants we see on Broadway... Communism could only work if every person was the same--they learn the same, work the same, produce the same, consume the same, etc. As soon as one person became lazy, or consumed more than his neighbor, the system failed: Why should I work hard when my neighbor doesn't? Why should I work on a farm when my neighbor gets to work in an office?

Soon, no one would work hard, because they received the same reward whether they worked hard or not. Soon, in order to get people to work in areas that were difficult, or needed, the government would be required to FORCE them to do so. As the encentive to work was removed, and as people stopped working hard, the production of the entire society would fall to a minimum.

Both actually happened. The production in the USSR fell to the point that they could no longer feed their own people (much like what is happening in North Korea); then, in order to increase food production, the USSR forced thousands of people from the cities and onto farms to grow food. Even this did not work, as the people who were forced onto the farms simply worked as little as possible. Often whole fields of crops simply rotted on the ground while people in the cities were starving...

It was only a matter of time before this type of society would collapse. Which is exactly what happened. Unfortunately, we continue to see Socialist/Communist principles championed around the world: constantly holding up the 'ideal' of unity and equality, but refusing to look back at the proof of its utter failure to work.

In turn, people have begun to criticize Capitalism, and point to the problems that are now experiencing as proof that it is corrupt and flawed. However, the problems that we see are not the fault of the principles of Capitalism, which is based upon the freedom of individuals to buy and sell at will. They are caused by a combination of greed, corruption, and government interference in the market--none of which can be attributed to the basic principles of our society, and all of which would bring ANY type of society down.

It has been long understood that Capitalism can only work when people are both free to buy and sell, AND are also honest in their business dealings. As Alexis de Tocqueville said: "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Unfortunately, we are now seeing the fulfillment of this prophecy.

I love to see how the palm trees rise from the coconuts that fall from the trees.

The Dynasty Hotel continues to prepare for Christmas... we will have to return to see what it looks like at night, all lit up!

Construction continues at the amphitheater. They are working very hard, and the progress they are making is great--perhaps they will be done by Christmas!