Socialism Is the Problem, Not the Solution – RedState

By Chris Talgo

For more than 150 years, politicians eager for power have instituted various forms of socialism as an ultimate solution supposed to all the problems of society. But as history has demonstrated it over and over again, socialism never solves the most annoying problems of society; In fact, this aggravates them while promoting a whole series of new trials, tribulations and involuntary consequences.

Even if socialism has caused mass poverty, death, destruction and misery almost wherever it has been implemented, young Americans still think that it deserves the benefit of doubt.

According to a series of surveys recently published by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute, voters most likely aged 18 to 39 years think that socialism can rectify the difficult economic circumstances which they face.

Here is a rapid snapshot of the most alarming results:

In the first survey, 53% of young people said they wanted a democratic socialist winning the presidential election of 2028, and that 76% agreed “somewhat” or “strongly” that “large industries such as health care, energy and large technologies should be nationalized to give more control and capital to people.”

In the second survey, 62% believe that “the American economy is unfair for young people” and 55% said they would support a law to confiscate “excessive wealth”, especially secondary residences, luxury cars and private boats, to help young people buy their first houses.

In the third survey, 59% said they will support a law that would impose a maximum annual income ceiling for individuals, from only $ 100,000 per year.

I don’t think I go out on a member when I say that these results would shock the socks of older Americans.

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Unlike most young people interviewed, older Americans (including me) have a much stronger sense of corruption, evil and anti-American socialism.

I remember that in the end of the 80s and early 1990s, the Soviet Union and its communist block in Eastern Europe were the villains in the world while the United States and the West were the good world.

Strangely, more than three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapsing from the Soviet Union, it seems that the roles were reversed.

Now, at least in the minds of too many young Americans, the West is the oppressors while socialist enclaves like Cuba are the oppressed “victims”.

Even in Western and northern Europe, some countries have experienced socialism to some extent since the end of the Second World War, leading to myth that Scandinavian socialism is the future.

No matter how, where or when it has been put into force, socialism has still not provided the solutions promised by its defenders.

This is because socialism is intrinsically imperfect.

Unlike free market capitalism, which encourages creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, risk -taking and diligence, socialism rewards indolence and delays in the thought of beaten track.

Socialism attacks the darkest features of humanity. He evokes envy and suspicion. This does not inspire grandeur; It stimulates fear and disgust.

I hope that this is the message that young people receive with regard to socialism in the academic world, but I am more than aware that this is not the case.

During my five years as a teacher of social studies in high school, I saw my colleagues give their students a white version of socialism which emphasized all the good hypothetical things while minimizing / ignoring the horrors of the real world.

The general theme was that socialism is morally superior to free market capitalism; However, it simply was not fully implemented correctly.

Like it or not, this false story of socialism has darkened the spirit of the generations of young Americans.

Sometimes things should be put in black and white. On socialism, there is no gray area. Socialism is bad. Socialism deprives people of dignity, goal and their personal freedom.

I hope that young Americans realize that socialism is not the solution, it is the problem, before it is too late.

Chris Talgo ([email protected])) is editorial director at the Heartland Institute.