Governments, Economic Systems, and Cows Quiz

Answer: socialism

While there are many definitions and varieties of socialism, one of the key concepts seems always to be the premise that government should regulate the distribution of goods produced by the people. Some socialists would even argue that government should regulate the very means of production as well.

The goal is usually a society in which all its members have a balanced and equal opportunity to survive.

Answer: communism

Communism in its purest form is the existence of a moneyless and classless society in which all of society's members share everything in common, including all means of production. Obviously, such a system would rely on an innate goodness of mankind. The analogy in the question jokingly explains why such a system most likely will fail. First of all, most people would be too selfish to comply so that the government would have to interfere to force compliance. Second, people often seem innately corrupt, self-serving, and greedy, which is suggested by the neighbors' banning together to kill another neighbor so that those who are alive might have more than they originally did.

Answer: fascism

Fascism is a political and economic system that advocates adherence to a dictated understanding of national identity free from any external cultural influences. Fascism relies on a militant, authoritarian government run by a dictator and insists on devout nationalism and service to one's nation.

As far as the economy goes, regulated private enterprise is allowed, but state controlled enterprise is also permissible and necessitated by situations that might require protection of the state's identity. Fascists typically saw nationality and race, instead of class as the communists believed, as sources of conflict, and many of them also saw man's place in society as that of "warrior" while the woman was the "maternal nurturer".

Answer: Nazism

Nazism is a more radical form of fascism. This social system relies very heavily on the belief that a superior race exists, particularly the Aryan race, and that most other races are inferior and must be purged from society, if not the planet. However, the purging does not stop with merely eliminating various races; it incorporates the killing off of homosexuals, the disabled, the nonconformists, and anyone else those in power deem inferior or a threat to the national program. Nazism has traditionally favored the concept of private property; however, because this system promotes national solidarity, it often interferes with private enterprise to set wages and salaries.

Answer: capitalism

Capitalism as an economic system not only adheres to the concept of private ownership of the means of production (owning the cows) but also to the concept of private profit, meaning that the individual who owns the means of production has the freedom to use that means to increase his or her accumulation of wealth (thus the selling of one cow to buy a bull to produce more cows to produce more milk . . . . ).

Answer: New Dealism

The New Deal was a series of laws and executive orders created during the first term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who attempted to bring an end to the suffering experienced by Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Its goals were referred to as the Three R's: "Relief" for the unemployed and the poor, "Recovery" of the national economy," and "Reform" to prevent another horrible economic situation from happening again.

While many critics argue that Roosevelt's New Deal policies brought hope and salvation to countless Americans, others complain that it stunted growth of business and created a much larger American bureaucracy.

The cow analogy above is bitterly commenting on the association of the New Deal with the growth of bureaucracy.

Many complain that the larger the federal government grows, the more inept it becomes at handling society's issues. Basically, these individuals would argue that governmental interference is exactly as the scenario above: an exercise in futility.

Answer: anarchism

Anarchism in general advocates the eventual abolishment of a government, which is understood to be unnecessary if not downright harmful. Government's interference with individuals and their relationships is regarded as destructive and unjust. Anarchists tend to believe that power corrupts those who possess it.

However, as the scenario above suggests, people seem to be corrupt whether they rule others or whether they are free to rule their own individual lives.

Answer: feudalism

In a feudal economic system, there would exist a few lords who owned large parcels of land. These lords would allow others to use parts of the land or work it for their own subsistence in exchange for their providing services for the lords. Those using the land and providing services to their lords were either vassals or serfs.

These services could be of a military nature (a vassal was allowed a piece of land or a fief in exchange for his military service) or they could be of an agricultural or domestic nature (a serf was allowed a piece of land in exchange for his manual labor).

A serf was not the same as a slave, for as one can see from the scenario above, he was allowed to own certain possessions of his own.

Answer: Platonism

Platonic philosophy, and I'm offering a very overly simplified explanation here, argues that what we perceive as reality is forms of what is truly reality--the ideas themselves. In other words, there is something greater than that which we see around us, and that which we see around us is only a representation of that something greater. That which we see around us depends upon that which is greater for its existence, but that which is greater does not depend upon what we see around us for its existence.

In other words, whether or not human beings had ever encountered the form of a triangle, the idea of what a triangle would be would always have existed and always will exist. The scenario above parodies Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in which people living in a cave grow dissatisfied with the shadows they see on the walls of the cave and begin mentally and spiritually to long for something closer to reality.

Answer: surrealism

Surrealism is an artistic movement, although surrealists themselves would argue that the movement is a revolutionary philosophical movement expanding beyond the world of art; art was just the primary medium of expression chosen by the surrealists. Anyway, surrealism aims to shock and surprise through the juxtaposition of images, words, and ideas that have no logical or traditional connection.