I can’t recall where I first heard this joke. I don’t think I created it, but every time I tell it, I’m told no one has head it before. So, while I don’t take credit for creating the joke, feel free to credit me with telling you the joke.

A farmer in the Soviet Union is plowing his field, and comes across a vase. After brushing the dust off of it, a genie appears.

“I am the Genie of the Vase, and I will grant you one wish!”

The farmer thinks for a second, and says, “I have three cows, but my neighbor across the way, he has seven cows.”

The Genie bellows, “Would you like me to give you 20 cows?”

“No,” the farmer replies, “I want you to kill four of my neighbor’s cows!”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the perversion of Communism.

Here’s a more up-to-date tale. A video that explains what happens when you rely on government, and not free markets:

A perfectly good car is destroyed to gain a “free” $4500 from the US Government.  This, as it was said to me by a friend, is the perversion of Socialism.