Communism looks good on paper, but it fails miserably in practice because it is not based upon the principles that govern the natural world. Most animals are extremely territorial and competitive.

The males of many species spend their whole lives fighting to establish and establish their “private property” and their position in the power hierarchy. For instance, the famous howler monkeys scream all morning to re-establish the tree space they lost during the night to other monkeys.

Wolves urinate on trees to establish their territory (property) lines, many birds fight viciously for private space in fields and marshes, lions and other big cats attack intruders that dare to enter their territory. The list goes on and on. Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, are belligerent creatures that will fight to the death for territory and power. Sounds familiar? Sharing wealth and power equally does not seem to be in the natural order of things.

Dr. Lafferty, a pioneer in the field of leadership studies, has proven that here are 14 different styles of leadership. The best leader in any institution is the one who has an open mind, listens to the suggestions of his employees, formulates a plan of ac6tion based upon the abilities of his workers, and then encourages them to use their creativity to excel at the job. With a leader like that, the workers are capable of reaching their highest potential. They are happy to go to work and voluntarily do their very best. Everyone profits with this kind of a scenario.

Conversely, the worst kind of leader is the one who tries to control every move his followers make. He is too insecure to trust his workers, and therby creates a deeply negative atmosphere in which no one can thrive. There is no room for worker creativity or initiative in scenarios like these, and no one profits.

Democracies thrive because workers are encouraged to use their initiative. It is no accident that the countries with the highest standards of living and worker satisfaction are democratic. Raw capitalism can be cruel, but this has been tempered with social safety nets that catch the less fortunate among us.

It is not surprising that there is a high level of absenteeism and alcoholism in communistic countries ruled by “control freaks.” No human can reach his full potential under these circumstances. What a pity that the Estonian people just voted in a communist president. The West is willing to help them to join NATO and to re-establish the thriving, democratic economy that the country had between the 2 World Wars.

For how long are people going to fall back upon a system that clearly does not work?

CRISSA CONSTANTINE

Arvamus

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