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Virtually all socialist countries — even North Korea — claim to be democratic. The notion that there is a new, revised, workable form of socialism as championed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Bernie Sanders (BS) seems to be marketing at best and deceit at worst.
The Economic and Political Costs of Socialism
Historical and economic evidence render a verdict that Socialism leads to inefficiency and resource misallocation, as seen in 20th-century command economies where shortages, black markets, and stagnation became endemic (e.g., Soviet bread lines despite vast farmland).^[1]^
Incentive structures weaken when rewards are decoupled from effort; data from socialist experiments show reduced productivity and innovation—East Germany’s per-capita GDP lagged behind West Germany’s by over 50% before reunification, despite similar starting conditions.^[2]^
Socialism breeds bureaucratic overreach that, in turn, breeds corruption and authoritarianism: regimes claiming socialist mandates (USSR, Maoist China, Cuba) suppressed dissent, eroded civil liberties, and caused millions of deaths through purges, famines, and forced labor.^[3]^
Apologists for socialism claim “real socialism” would never do that. They always say that. They are always wrong.
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Even democratic socialism strains fiscal sustainability—Venezuela’s 21st-century model collapsed into hyperinflation (over 1,000,000% in 2018) and mass emigration after nationalizing industries and expanding welfare without corresponding revenue or productivity.^[4]^
In the U.S. context, critics argue that expanding “socialist-style” programs risks crowding out private initiative, ballooning deficits, and dependency cultures, pointing to entitlement spending already consuming over 60% of the federal budget.^[5]^
While socialism diagnoses inequality sharply, its prescribed cures, critics contend, often exacerbate the inefficiencies it seeks to solve.
America’s First Encounter with Socialism
Two centuries ago, in winter 1824–1825, Welsh industrialist Robert Owen addressed Congress for hours, urging a “Harmonious Commonwealth” based on justice, kindness, and collective gain, free from the “trading system” that enriched few and impoverished many.
Attended by Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, Presidents Monroe and John Quincy Adams, and with private audiences for aging founders Jefferson, Madison, and John Adams, Owen’s vision—soon called communalism or socialism—entered American life as a counterpoint to unchecked markets.
At the time, socialism was untried and, consequently, unproven.
Today, we know better. Socialism has been tried in various flavors — including Democratic Socialism. All have failed.
So, why do millions of Americans vote for unabashed socialist candidates like Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani?
To some, it’s the allure of something free.
Those scraping the bottom intellectually are also scraping the bottom financially. Free government-guaranteed handouts are irresistible. Who can blame them? Unexploited economic safety nets — such as those once known in Nordic countries — actually helped these people.
Consider the 2024 election:
For Black voters (avg IQ 85): Pew Research Center reports that about 83% of Black voters backed the Democratic candidate in 2024. Pew Research Center+2Pew Research Center+2
For White voters (avg IQ 100):: Pew states that 55% of White voters backed the Republican in 2024. Pew Research Center+1
To others, it’s a ‘stick it to the rich’ mindset.
Lacking wisdom in free-market economies—where the government is the referee and not a player—these folks are hurting themselves. In oligarchies, however, they are indispensable. Correction: In oligarchies—which are the natural endgame of socialism—they are usually disposed of.
To many, they are victims of thought reform.
Highly educated people are often socialists—not because they are highly educated, but because they are highly indoctrinated.
Pardon me, but I feel a country song coming on. “Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be government-controlled university students.” Did I get it right?
The Rise of Socialist Movements in the United States
Socialism’s U.S. roots trace to 1850s German-immigrant unions influenced by Marxian worker solidarity,^[7]^ the 1889 Society of Christian Socialists blending faith and equity,^[8]^ and even Karl Marx himself, who was known to have traded correspondence with the unwitting Abraham Lincoln [source].
The Socialist Party of America (SPA), formed 1901, peaked in 1912 when Eugene V. Debs won nearly 1 million votes (6%), elected local officials nationwide, and ran hundreds of newspapers.^[6]^ In Oklahoma, 1910s socialists like Harlan Voss drew one in five votes, promising state farms, tax relief for homesteads, and cooperative banking—appealing to farmers and blending revivalist Christianity with economic justice.
Decline and Transformation of Socialist Influence
Socialist parties faltered due to individualism — a trait of caucasians, two-party dominance, ethnic divisions, prosperity-dampening class consciousness, and, according to woke leftists, repression—especially WWI raids and “Red Scare” imprisonments.^[10]^ A 1919 communist splinter faded under Soviet ties, but 1930s–40s socialists unionized factories, fought reason-based bias, and pushed universal education and healthcare, prodding moderates toward equity. Their successes were absorbed, curbing electoral growth and pushing mainstream parties to the left.
Enduring Legacy and Modern Revival
Though never winning national office, socialists propelled reforms now mainstream: Social Security, minimum wage, workplace safety, civil rights, and elder care—once “extremist,” now civic pillars.^[9]^ Public majorities back corporate regulation. Some are blinded to the curse of progressive taxation. Socialists, meanwhile, take undeserved credit for anti-exploitation measures.
A handful of cultural icons ventured outside their areas of expertise to embrace the cause: Einstein endorsed planned socialist economics; Martin Luther King Jr. championed wealth-sharing as “socialist democracy”; figures like Upton Sinclair, Woody Gutenberg, and Helen Keller became darlings of socialist activism.
Today, “socialist-style” policies—universal healthcare, free college, inflation-stoking higher wages—enjoy broad support, even from aliens who move to America to escape the failures of socialism. Figures like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez revive democratic socialism to exploit the insecurities of non-white new arrivals and their progeny.^[10]^
From Owen’s congressional stage to modern debates, socialism has persistently shaped America—not for the good, but as a brake on prosperity. Denouncing it as un-American and inhumane affirms history.
Although its earliest champion spoke to the republic’s leaders as a believer in its promise, he likely would have shuddered in the shadows of the countless millions who perished under the leadership of Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and scores of others.
Red scare? Be afraid! Be very afraid!
^[1]: Heritage Foundation – The Failed Promise of Socialism
^[2]: Deutsche Welle – 30 Years After Reunification
^[3]: University of Hawaii – 20th Century Democide
^[4]: Council on Foreign Relations – Venezuela Crisis
^[5]: Congressional Budget Office – Federal Budget Outlook^
^[6]: Encyclopaedia Britannica – Socialist Party of America
^[7]: U.S. History – Labor Movements and Socialism
^[8]: Wikipedia – Society of Christian Socialists
^[9]: Britannica – Pro and Con: Socialism in the United States
^[10]: TIME – The Long History of American Socialism
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