Anthology of Ideas

In part one I suggested a merit based system; this idea is complete and utter hogwash. It is not a money-less society; it is a tiger who tried to change its stripes. The problem with a money-less society is that you need away to control resources and reward those that do best without playing favorites. Here we should diverge from the topic at hand and take a look at the options.
Equality be it actual or economic comes in two forms. The first is equality of opportunity and the second is equality of outcome. While the former makes all people equal and then gives them the freedom to decide where to go from there, the later forces all people to be equal no matter what. Economic equality can be forced on people; theoretically the communistic government of the USSR was based in part on this idea. History has shown us that people resist being forcibly economically equalized; because, forced equality takes away personal freedom.

One of the goals of socialists is an economy in which all participants are equal and goods are available to all regardless of family, wealth or occupation. The ultimate goal of such an economy is an entirely money less society in which goods are free for all. Unfortunately a a system such as this is not possible when goods and resources are finite and where some occupations are harder to train for and others are physically harder.
Another problem with this system is that a money-less economy does not encourage hard work. As was demonstrated on the communal farms of Russia, when each worker has little reward for working harder than a minimal amount there is little reason to work harder. If harder work doesn’t mean more reward what is the point? In a completely equal society there is little point outside of personal pride, but even that is taken away with the right (or wrong as the case may be) conditioning.

The spread of early Christianity in throughout the Roman empire was based on what it wasn’t rather than what it was. At the time Christianity began spreading through the Roman Empire, religion had fractured into the main Roman religion which was comprised of the Parthenon of Roman Gods and mystery cults. The mystery cults were based on myths that focused on the cycle of death and renewal and promised a better afterlife. The major mystery cults were the cult of Isis and Osiris, of Dionysus and Bacchus, Cybill and Adonis, and Demeter and Orpheus. These cults were not exclusionary — you could join them all and still follow the main religion — however each of these cults required sizable offerings from their participants so only the wealthy could afford to join them.