By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

Sometimes it's useful to take a step back from the argument of the day and look at basic philosophies.

We all have ingrained ideas of fairness, justice, virtue... and these ingrained beliefs are the driving forces that help us decide which side we'll be on when the argument is about something specific like term limits, a balanced budget or welfare reform.

Those of us who care about policy debate, i.e., politics, all have a picture somewhere in the backs of our minds of a perfect society. We know that the government and societal structure in the U.S.A. at the end of the 20th century are the closest to perfection that humanity has ever come, but still a long way from the goal.

With 200 million different Utopias in mind, we push this way and that, trying to move our government and its programs toward those ideals.

As much as I don't like labels, they do have a place in all of this. Without some basic groupings of philosophy, often represented by the platforms of political parties, we never would get anywhere.

Here are a couple of labels you've probably heard: communism and socialism. We whose thoughts tend to occupy conservative points on the political spectrum sometimes use those labels to brand philosophies we don't agree with philosophies often identified as "liberal."

There's a reason for this. We're not just resorting to name-calling, and we're not being mean-spirited (to use the name that political hit man James Carvill most likes to call us).

Communism is a theory of economics and government that's all. If I say that your theory of government leans toward communism, it doesn't mean I'm accusing you of being a spy. It just means I'm saying that your philosophy has something in common with communism, which is defined as: "Any economic theory or system based on the ownership of all property by the community as a whole."

If you believe that some people make too much money and our government and economic system should be set up so that those who have more must give large chunks of it to those who have less, then you believe in a system that is more like communism than what we have now.

In other words, you believe in socialism.

Socialism is all over the political circle. It originally was a phased-in approach to communism, sort of a catch-all name for a variety of theories of community (i.e. government) ownership of the means of production and distribution. Karl Marx and company believed that if you could control production and distribution, you could eventually create a society in which all property is held by the community, i.e., communism.

Socialism now refers to pretty much any political system that values the common good above the individual, or that seeks ways to redistribute wealth from those who earned it to those who need it.

But it's the basic beliefs about morality and humanity behind capitalism and communism/socialism that I'm after here.

We capitalists, in my opinion, take a realistic approach to human nature. We believe that people will work harder and more creatively if they are rewarded... if they can personally benefit from their own efforts and ingenuity. We believe the reason socialism and communism don't work is because people will not work as hard and think as creatively if they know the benefits derived from their efforts are going to be given to someone else, or distributed evenly in society.

Cynical? I don't really think so. I think it's realistic to acknowledge that humans are basically selfish and to set up a system in which people, acting in their own self interest, do things that benefit all of us.

Communism, on the other hand, envisions a perfect world in which everyone will work just as hard for the common good as for individual profit. From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.

The problem in such a system is that no one is thinking about how to make a better mouse trap. Without the profit incentive, the tendency is to either fit into the gray masses as quietly as possible and take what the government gives you, or to become corrupt and use your ingenuity to figure out ways to siphon off community property and use it for your own benefit.

That's exactly what happened in the U.S.S.R. and numerous other communist countries, and it's why communism and socialism always fail. They ask humans to be other than human.

We capitalists believe in a government whose role is merely to create a level playing field, to set up rules that prevent unfair competition, monopolies, fraud and the like, but beyond that to pretty much allow people to keep what they earn, and to receive as much profit as possible if they work hard enough and smart enough, and if they are willing to take the necessary risks.

We're not against government, and we're not against regulation, but we believe in only as much government and regulation as are necessary to insure that everybody has a fair chance at the brass ring. We don't believe that the role of government is to guarantee success in business or to guarantee every individual a comfortable life.

But communism is the extreme, and it has been proved wrong. Next week I'll tie this discussion into philosophies in this country, here and now.