One of the major precepts in communist thought is that every citizen should be treated roughly the same in terms of status and compensation regardless of what type of work they do. Communists believe that by mandating an equal distribution of wealth and recognition to all workers they eliminate the poverty and misery that plagues the lower classes in capitalist societies.
That sort of thinking can be very seductive. Certainly when you are poor it may very well seem unfair that some people have so much while you are working hard just to stay afloat. But in practice the communist model has not been very successful.
If you take away the big brass ring that goes along with success, you take away the motivation for people to truly excel at what they do. Without that motivation, mediocrity becomes the standard and communist countries have had great difficulty competing in a global economy with more progressive, competitive, free-market-based countries.
Although the number of truly communist countries left in the world is dwindling, the idea that an ideal society can be created by treating everyone the same regardless of their abilities and ambition lives on in some circles. Recently it turned up in a very surprising place the U.S. Army.
During the closing months of the Clinton administration, certain high-ranking officers in the Army hatched a plan to bolster morale within their ranks. You might think that a good way to do this would be to improve soldiers' pay, training and working conditions. But that's why you aren't a general, my friend.
The Army brass came up with a much better idea. They decided that the best way to improve the morale of their troops would be to mandate that they all wear the same kind of hat. But we aren't talking about just any old hat here. The hat in question is none other than the legendary black beret, which has historically only been worn by an elite group of soldiers known as the Army Rangers.
Apparently, the thinking goes that if every soldier is issued one of these coveted berets they will all automatically experience that special, beret-wearing feeling that makes the Rangers such an outstanding unit.
But the idea has not met with universal acceptance. Current and former Army Rangers in particular are offended by the plan. They feel that the black beret should remain the symbol of excellence that it has always been, instead of watering it down to be just another standard-issue part of the uniform. It seems that some of the Army brass has forgotten how important symbolism and tradition are in the military culture.
Although most of us have never been a part of an elite military unit like the Army Rangers, we understand that rewarding excellence and commitment are part of what makes our society successful. If the leadership in the U.S. Army wanted to update their standard uniform to promote unity within their ranks, there are many ways they could have accomplished that objective.
This was not the way.
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