I often wonder if resident guru, now prophet, Edgar Allen Beem rereads his pieces, wishing he could hit “delete.”

Please read his last, egotistically dubbed “Universal Notebook.” It’s deletion worthy. Beem prophesied the end of our human world this century. Why? Competition. The competition which has reduced prices (when logically adjusted for currency inflation) of everything from Apple computers to those $4 prescriptions. Or, think Hubble photos and a competitive space race with the (defunct) Socialist USSR. Yes, originally competitive – not cooperative.

He actually said, “If the 21st century is not to be the last century in human history, cooperation must replace competition as our local, national and global modus operandi.” The title of this anti-capitalism rant: “Cooperate or perish.” How typical of his ilk to be dispiriting and demeaning. How appreciative is his liberal congregation, however. (Pardon my assumption that defenders of Beem’s “universal” knowledge are usually hand-wringing, apprehensive, progressive, well-meaning liberals. They just are, unabashedly.)

Competition, Beem claims, is useful for sporting events, game shows and amusements – fun, but meaningless. He adds, “the entire global economy is far too important to be left to competitive gamesmanship.” He must agonize that socialist economic experiments of “cooperation for the common good” just keep failing. Their misguided leaders ultimately succumb to human nature. Meanwhile, capitalistic competition, Schumpeter’s “creative destruction,” and fearlessly entrepreneurial humans will continue to raise standards of living – universally, including, thanklessly, his.

Bill Gardiner
Yarmouth