Would Hershey Bar Exist in Socialism?

What makes a man strive for success? Sometimes it's the need for power, sometimes just plain greed. But, I believe, most of the time, it is the dream of a better life.

Milton Hershey is one of my personal heroes. He came from very humble beginnings, with little education, but an incredible drive and determination to succeed.

"A successful entrepreneur...eventually. Following a four-year apprenticeship as a teenager to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, candy maker, Hershey in 1876 attempted to start his own candy business in Philadelphia. Despite six years of hard work, it failed. So he moved to Denver and found work with a confectioner who taught him how to make caramels using fresh milk. He then started up a second candy business in New York City. It also failed. Undaunted, he returned to Lancaster and once again tried making a go of the caramel business. This time, it worked. Soon, his Lancaster Caramel Company was shipping all over the U.S. and Europe, employing 1400 people and turning him into one of the area’s leading citizens." From http://www.hersheys.com/discover/milton/milton.asp

It just amazes me that he failed so much, and had so little, but never stopped trying. Furthermore, once he succeeded, he gave generously to others. He made sure his workers were paid well and treated fairly. The town, Hershey, PA, was created around the company, and made especially for the workers. The town's infrastructure was especially built by Hershey to provide a community for the workers and their families.

Hershey’s success was not simply a matter of luck. Having learned from his past failures, he had become a shrewd and astute businessman. He believed, along with the more forward-thinking industrialists of the age, that workers who were treated fairly and who lived in a comfortable, pleasant environment would be better workers. Accordingly, he set upon building an infrastructure to take care of the people who were employed by his company. He had plans drawn up for a model community that included housing for executives and ordinary workers alike, schools, churches, parks, recreational facilities and a trolley system. Unlike other “company towns,” Hershey’s was not intended to exploit its resident workers, but rather to provide for their welfare. As time went on, Hershey saw to it that the town (named Hershey, naturally) added a community building, a department store, a convention hall, an amusement park, a swimming pool, and schools. Lots of schools. Excerpt from the same website.

Without Hershey's determination for success, Hershey PA would not exist. Hershey's charities, that still exist today, would not exist. And the most important (especially in the mind of a severe chocoholic) Hershey's Chocolate would not exist.

My question is this.....do you think that in a socialist environment, Hershey would have kept pursuing his dream? In an environment where is it understood that we should all be the same class and earn the same amount of money with little hope of advancement, would a man still have a burning drive to succeed? What would be the point to try over and over again to make a better life, when government provides everything and takes away everything you earn?

As a small (very very small) business owner myself, I'm scared. At this point, I end the year in the red, so there are no profits to speak of. I make enough to keep a hobby going, really. However, I think it's every business owners dream to "make it big". It is certainty my lofty dream. I would love to be supplying my products on a nationwide level, actually making money to provide for my family and give back to the community. But then I think, gee, if I ever go over that $250,000 margin, the government will swoop in like a hungry chicken hawk and grab my hard earned success. They already make it hard on businesses now, with all the taxes, rules and regulations.

The closer we move to socialism and big government, the more daunting the dream of being a business owner. I'm not sure I want all that headache.

Give me Socialism, and take away my American Dream. That is what I believe.

I'm not really sure what Hershey might or might not have done. It all comes down to, what drives us to succeed? I think it's a hope for something more. If there is no hope for something more, if the government holds all the cards, where is the drive?

(By the way, my website is www.muck-a-luck.com. Hey, I'm a capitalist...I had to plug my business in this article somewhere!)