A lot of attention is being paid to socialism, Marxism, progressivism, and communism. Quite a few Americans believe that the unholy trinity (Pelosi, Reid, and Obama) and their minions are dragging the United States closer to the European model of socialism or communism as evidenced by Obamacare, Obamacars, Obamabanks, and a vastly expanding federal government payroll.
Communism sounds like a great idea. Everyone pitches in to get the work done and everyone shares in the wealth. What could be better than that?
I have secretly been conducting an experiment in communal activities for the past decade or so. The subjects were my family my studies of their behavior was unbeknownst to them. I have to note that none of my family was harmed during my experiment.
The family unit seems like the most basic element of society. Our familial bond should provide a strong foundation for communist principles to succeed. You know that “blood is thicker than water” stuff. My laboratory was our house; and more specifically our kitchen. I have always had a strong sense of the importance of family meals and strive to have them as often as possible and we ate in the kitchen.
Miriam-Webster defines communism as “a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed.” As I contemplated our kitchen for a focus of my experiment to simplify 
my study my eyes fell on the dishwasher. What a perfect focal point! We all benefit from clean dishes (ownership), they are available to all whenever we need them (available), and our shared efforts will maintain their availability.
My hypothesis was that if communalism truly works then our family would always have enough clean dishes. My experiment started when my children reached the age when they could reasonably do household chores. Dishes seemed a natural since anyone can tell the difference between clean and dirty, they all know where the dishes go since they routinely use them, and washing is as simple as rinsing and placing in the dishwasher.
As my experiment progressed the early results did not bode well for communist principles. There were times when I purposefully would leave the dishwasher full and dirty with the result being both the dishwasher and sink full of dirty dishes. If I ran the dishwasher, but did not put the dishes away the sink still filled up with dishes and when we no longer had clean dishes they would take out only the clean dishes that they needed at that time.
As with traditional communism our kitchen soon turned into a totalitarian state. Family members had to be threatened to maintain order (dishes). Non-compliant members were sent to gulags (their rooms), privileges were revoked, and gloom fell over the nation (kitchen).
It wasn’t all bad and often the dishes got done without anxiety, but we all, at times, lapsed into acting in our own self interest and consequently outside of the interest of the group. Dished piled up, paper plates had to be called in as a substitute. Communism did not work with something as simple as loading and unloading the dishwasher. How can we expect it to work in a complex society? We shouldn’t! The only places it stays in place is where there is a dictator (Stalin, Castro, Chavez, Mom, & Dad).
Communism just doesn’t work without force.
A side hypothesis that sprung from my experiment is my Dish-Magnet Theory. I have noticed that if there is even on small utensil placed in our sink, it is highly unlikely that the next person to use a dish will put it in the dishwasher. Even a teaspoon left in the sink seems to give the green light to deposit piles and piles of dirty dishes. More to come on this subject.
