Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Yo quiero Taco Bell ....

The Taco Bell in the student center doesn't give you a number when you place your order. Instead, they ask your name. Then they yell it across the entire food court when your food is done. I've always wanted to give them a fake name. Someone ahead of me did that once. "Mickey Mouse! Crunchwrap Supreme!" Today the name called before mine was Ferris. I wanted to counter with "Bueller" but hesitated because what if it was actually the guy's name?

Today I wanted to be Shia.

Other days Emily or Rachel or something generic and believable so I would be the only one who knew and enjoyed my lame jab against conformity. Yesterday the name Ariel almost slipped out. Inevitably, though, I always chicken out because my real name is on the ID card I pay with, and for some reason I care about how much respect the Taco Bell cashier in a college student center has for me.

Wouldn't it be awesome if every day I gave the first name of a different U.S. Supreme Court Justice? So many rich choices: Ruth, Antonin, Clarence, Sonia.

Anyway, that's not really the point of this post. It's this: Socialism is not evil.

I don't necessarily think it's good economic policy, but it's not evil.

And reading letters to the editor in the campus paper equating socialism with communist dictatorships or supporting socialist policies with supporting the shredding the Constitution and appointing a monarch ruins a perfectly good Burrito Fresco with mild sauce.