"Uncle would have wanted things better for all of us."

Finally something interesting enough to write about.


Just who is "Uncle"?

Please read further.

There was a time when I was centrist in my political views.

Before I got wise. Before I realized that people do the best they can under the circumstances. All people. Because people are rather like machines with certain capacities and they just recycle over and over within the same limited range, it's reflected in what we call personality, unless some outside cause intervenes to change things.

A moral principle derives from this. Everyone deserves the very best. Because people always do the best they can under the circumstances. It doesn't mean we can give everyone the very best. There are also practical considerations. But it does mean within the framework of practical considerations we should try to give everyone the best we can. This means thinking in terms of equality. Because no one deserves any more than anyone else.

Ever since I realized this my politics took a left turn.

This week is the 30th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam. There have been interesting programs especially on NPR and public TV.

I'm interested in Vietnam, even more than I was 30 years ago when there was concern about the draft, because it's a communist country. Communism in theory at least is supposed to mean equality.

In the first years following the communist victory there was lots of economic hardship in Vietnam.Then to an extent the government relaxed economic policy and things took off.

So the stuff on TV and radio about Vietnam is interesting. It's a dynamic country that's really thriving. Life is pretty good. There are jobs, education, healthcare.

(It makes you think how many people died. For nothing. Two million or more dead counting all sides, violent deaths with bodies ripped apart by bullets, limbs blown off with explosives, napalm, agent orange... We're talking really big time killing. For nothing. The communist side won and life is good. Probably not a lot different than it would be if the US hadn't lost. Like I said recently we accomplished the same ends in China -- with a ping pong game. If either side had given up and never fired a round the results would be pretty much the same. What a fucking waste.)

But not everyone is happy. Economic growth comes at a price.

On NPR's Wednesday segment of their weeklong Vietnam feature before the morning news they were interviewing this lady who works carrying gravel from a quarry. She earns the equivalent of $2 a day. Of course in Vietnam $2 goes a fair ways. She says she'd like a better job but for now it's better than nothing.

But she does have a complaint. She's irked about party officials and the well to do riding around in limousines while she carries gravel in a bucket.

Then she adds something else. She says "Uncle would have wanted things better for all of us."

Emphasis on the "all".

And who is "Uncle"?

"Uncle" is Ho Chi Minh. The revolutionary, the idealist, the communist, the father of his country.

It's ironic. Ironic because things ARE better. Better but not perfect. Some are still left behind.

And it gives one pause.

It gives one pause that someone remembers the original dream.

It gives one pause especially that there was a person at all whose ideals were so inspiring and who was so looked up to that years after his death some still say "Uncle would have wanted things better for all of us."

Could we ever use someone like that.

***

My points are several. I do believe people do the best they can under the circumstances. I believe in helpful intervention. I believe in equality. I don't know much about Ho Chi Minh but it's good to know there's someone who apparently really believed in equality. No question Vietnam's economic growth has a lot to do with entreprenurialism. But I also feel for what this lady is saying and I hope Vietnam finds the right balance between economic policy and concern for one's fellow man to make it a truly moral nation.