And now, exclusively from the Left Wing of the GROGco Research Facility, comes an automobile designed especially for dedicated Marxists.
Each passenger has his (or her) own steering wheel in the ultimate (and worlds first we might add) ideologically designed car.
There is no back seat. Back seats are inherently unfair. All passengers are in the six-passenger front, with a full compliment of automotive controls at their disposal, including steering, brakes, accelerators, turn signals, etc.
In an unforeseen glitch while product testing, the car never managed to leave the garage because all test driver occupants could never simultaneously agree on direction, speed, or mirror adjustment; however, the more adamant among the Left Wing Engineering Staff insist that once the driving public gets used to driving by committee, they will come to accept the principles of fair play and equality built into each and every car.
Already a small army of lobbyists are petitioning the government to incorporate these principles into future CAFE Standards.
(It should be noted that the Right Wing of the GROGco Research Facility thinks this idea is a load of crap and is pretty much representative of bent lefty thinking... there was a strongly worded unsigned note to that effect found in the lunchroom suggestion box)-- Grogster, May 21 2013 The Conference Bike http://www.conferencebike.com/ [theircompetitor, May 25 2013] I do seem to recollect seeing some photos of the German prototype of this, made in 1944, on the "Ein reich, ein volk, ein führer, ein lenkrad" principle.
It didn't really go anywhere (if you see what I mean) principally as it would never move to the left.
As the country was suffering acute fuel shortages by then, it was impractical to produce something that if you wanted to go somewhere to the left, you had to do three right turns just to get there.-- not_morrison_rm, May 21 2013 This is a silly and misguided analogy - I'd have described the capitalist car in the same way, with each passenger having equal opportunity to steer themselves in their preferred direction.
Surely, for a Socialist car, there should be a hatch above the steering wheel from which a suitably qualified government bureaucrat can steer, in accordance with the 5-year plan. Allowing individuals to drive themselves means that drivers who are good at driving will arrive at their destination faster, which is inherently unfair. All road-comrades should arrive at exactly the same time, with the exception of high- ranking party members, who need to get everywhere first.-- zen_tom, May 21 2013 If this weren't already, it probably would have been.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 21 2013 I remember reading a report on a planecrash - the plane was controlled in a similar manner.-- Loris, May 21 2013 There could be a Leninist version, in which the steering input from each wheel was reported to a biweekly-elected commitee of peers and the final bearing of the automobile discussed and agreed upon by the needs of the people (the people steering the car, that is).-- Alterother, May 21 2013 I thought this would be about mass drivers.-- pertinax, May 21 2013 [ZT] Nah, for a free market capitalist car, everyone has their vehicle and they can go anywhere they want, as long as they don't mind the rich guy with the tank driving over and parking on top of them.
Borderline MFD rant.-- MechE, May 21 2013 I think there are quite a few ideologies represented that are not necessarily Marxist, but are generally left wing. Egalitarianism is not Marxist, nor is direct democratic control. I enjoyed reading to the part of the text that contained the ship of fools analogy, and thus the moral of the story. Invoking ship of fools is almost always right wing, which is not original.-- rcarty, May 21 2013 If someone dies he is not alive anymore? And there is lesser incidence of him reoccurring?
Enter The Selector something like a sci-fi television show with a laugh track starring someone with a high-tech device which he uses to stop incidences reoccuring by identifying key variables in his environment that have an evolutionary morphological effect on later happenings. Somewhat like a time-travel show, the protein protagonist with a proton gun observes statistical data streams generated by unknowing masses in the seperated aspects of their daily lives. His partner utilizes another strategy almost exclusivey, using her reproductive powers to make certain incidences reoccur.-- rcarty, May 21 2013 //An MC-130E Combat Talon 2//
Ah, no - it was a civilian passenger flight. I'm not sure but I think it may have been "Air France Flight 447". In essence the co-pilots were confused by low visibility and inaccurate instrument readings and put the plane in a stall. At some point the pilot arrived, and tried to recover by putting the plane into a dive to regain speed. However, a co-pilot negated their input by continuing to try to pull up.-- Loris, May 21 2013 This can function in either left or right way: when the car finally crashes (and it will) all the drivers will say "I didn't do it"-- piluso, May 21 2013 Its not a matter of what will feel nice to you, sooth your raging swollen ego. Look around you. Everything was built on a foundation hewed many generations ago. Everything. Success isnt measured in how good you get to feel. Its in leaving something of worth after you are gone. Systems that can do that deserve respect. Systems that fail to do that deserve disdain. Your jungment about left/right lacks any essence of discernment.-- WcW, May 21 2013 Thx man.-- WcW, May 22 2013 How could you mention "disdain" (as opposed to "datdain", for things further away) and not mention "jungment", which I'm presuming is judgement from a Jungian perspective.-- not_morrison_rm, May 22 2013 Well the democratic car would give each person a simple lever to move left or right. The combined average lever movement would show a left or right pointing arrow in front of the actual driver who would be free to ignore it if he wished.-- pocmloc, May 22 2013 I'm having a hard time finding an idea in this rant.-- Voice, May 25 2013 As zen_tom points out, in fact steering in all directions is the essence of a free market, with the output being a sum of all the vectors. True leftist fashion would require a bureaucrat who knows better steering from the back while taking no responsibilities for any crashes.-- theircompetitor, May 25 2013 Like the right wing bureaucratic decision to deregulate the banking industry in the US causing a catastrophic financial crash?
Or the decision to undermine all American labour in favor of bolstering the manufacturing sectors of foreign left wing economies?
Or the decision to simultaneously wage a war on drugs, build massive housing projects, and put multiple handguns into the hands of every Americans that puts 2 out of every 100 Americans in prison, and 70 percent of the remaining too fat to commit crime?
Or the decision to fight fascism in the 40's only to adopt it in the fight against eastern catholics, south americans and asians in the next four decades?-- rcarty, May 25 2013 no, rcarty, like the left wing bureaucratic decision to subsidize housing for those who can't afford it causing the financial crash. BTW -- deregulate the banking industry? Have you ever seen a mortgage application?
And deciding to "undermine domestic labor" when costs are lower elsewhere is like deciding to let water flow downhill.
Your examples are decisions of people in power not markets.-- theircompetitor, May 25 2013 Anyway, theres a squirrel outside, so I'm going to run after it.-- rcarty, May 25 2013 Turn far enough to the right and you end up going left and vice versa.-- popbottle, May 25 2013 That's like reaching to scratch your balls to end up wiping your ass.-- rcarty, May 25 2013 //True leftist fashion would require a bureaucrat who knows better steering from the back while taking no responsibilities for any crashes.//
\\[list of right-wing bureaucratic decisions with unfortunate consequences]\\
//Your examples are decisions of people in power not markets.//
Priceless!-- Loris, May 25 2013 All steering wheels are equal, but some have more power-assistance than others.-- caspian, Jun 06 2013 They are still equal, in the same way that all (humans) are equal. Some are tall, some are short, some have vaginas, etc. All steering wheels are steering wheels, regardless of dimension, mechanism, or gender.-- Alterother, Jun 06 2013 random, halfbakery