I Can't Have Been the Only One...

WARNING: May contain the political ravings of a disgruntled college student. Did anyone else get a distinct Ayn Rand vibe from the season premiere? The first thing I thought of when I saw the equality cutie marks was Anthem and its main character, Equality-something-or -other. I don't remember all the numbers attached to his name. In any case, several attributes of the town and its philosophy went right along with Anthem and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: "to excel is to fail," and "you can only be friends with like ponies" sound a lot like "the will of our brothers be done." From a ideological standpoint, of course. In short, the town was an example of a Marxist utopia, or communist. Everyone is the same; no one is special. Now, I know that economic states and cutie marks are different, but there are some things I want to point out here for all those who think that socialism or communism is the answer to our economic woes. First, the fact that everyone (or pony) must be the same. So what happens when someone does excel? We can't bring everybody else up to their level, so we must bring them down to where they're no better than anyone else. This carries with it a big problem: if no one can be better than anyone else and no one can rise in skill level, that means everyone must be brought down to the level of the worst pony or person in that skill. Consider the baker in the episode. Surely even without a cutie mark, she'd be able to read a recipe and make something halfway decent? Not if there was someone in the town who couldn't, because that would make her better than they were. Therefore, if even one member of the society sucks at something, everyone has to suck at it, too. Second, the fact that the leader kept her cutie mark. See, the communist utopia only works if one member is special and can therefore lead. The person in charge usually gets the richest and best the town can offer (she has her own house at the head of the street). So what exactly makes them special? What gives them the right to be richer or better? It's simple: they have the ability and the will to think. The pony in the episode deceived her constituency, meaning that she had to plan and think about what she was doing. We see a mirror of this in our own society: anyone who gets ahead (politicians, business owners, etc.) has the ability to think and execute their ideas. The thing people don't seem to get is that this ability is not an ability, but a choice! You must recognize that you have ideas just like anybody else, and the courage to act upon them in a meaningful manner. But if everyone has the potential to think, doesn't that mean that everyone had the potential to get ahead, or get rich? YES!!! The people in our world who don't get ahead, or are unhappy with their lives are the people who refuse to think because they believe it is too hard, and that they are entitled to a reward anyway. They want the easy way out: everyone gets the same treatment, the same rewards, and the same life. Well, we've seen what that's like. So what sounds better; everyone sucks at everything they do, or everyone can get what they want with the application of themselves? If this is how MLP is going to start their fifth season, I have a feeling I am going to thoroughly enjoy this.