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"Poll shows a disturbingly high number of young people would vote for a socialist"
by Brad Polumbo
Young people are turning toward socialism, and to some extent, even communism.
At least, that’s what the results of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s latest annual poll suggest. The survey was conducted by the reputable polling firm YouGov, and it surveyed a representative sample of 2,100 Americans.
The results are downright disturbing. The new data show that 64% of Gen Z and 70% of millennials say they’re likely to vote for a socialist. Meanwhile, 20% of millennials think the Communist Manifesto “better guarantees freedom and equality” than the Declaration of Independence.
Bizarrely, 36% view communism favorably, and 15% think the world would be better off if the Soviet Union still existed. And 22% of millennials think “society would be better if all private property was abolished,” while 35% view Marxism favorably.
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Executive Director Marion Smith said, “The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year’s report. When we don’t educate our youngest generations about the historical truth of 100 million victims murdered at the hands of communist regimes over the past century, we shouldn’t be surprised at their willingness to embrace Marxist ideas.”
Smith is spot on, particularly about one fact: It is conservatives, libertarians, and free market advocates of all stripes who share the blame for this disturbing surge in support for socialism. We have failed to make the case for capitalism to the next generation, while people such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have made massive inroads peddling a falsely rosy socialist vision to Gen Z and millennials alike.
We have clearly failed to demonstrate how in supporting socialism, young people are not only betraying their own freedom but their own financial future as well. As I’ve written previously:
"The nearly $22 trillion national debt is only climbing higher each year, and ultimately, we are the ones who will pay the price. If our socialist sympathies are left unchecked, budget deficits will skyrocket and young people will be on the hook for countless billions more in taxes every year just to cover the annual interest payments. Over the long run, the mounting national debt will strangle the economic growth that’s so vital to our future. Even worse, it will leave our livelihoods forever vulnerable to a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions that will emerge if the government eventually can’t pay its bills."
We simply haven’t done a good job tying the failures of socialism in the past and present, such as in the Soviet Union and Venezuela, to the ideas that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are pushing now. But in fact, there’s a very clear overlap. Under the so-called Green New Deal, the government would control over half the economy, leading scholars to call it “the biggest single government expansion the United States has seen since the 1930s.” As Republican Sen. Rand Paul recently put it, “What AOC is supporting [and] what Bernie is supporting is Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and all these terrible ideas.”
And in the same way the two socialist sweethearts sell their agenda using the language of “rights,” such as a right to a living wage, health care, or housing, well, former dictator Hugo Chávez promised many of the same things in Venezuela as he imposed increasing government control of the economy, eventually leading to pure dictatorship and ruin. To make the historical comparisons even more notable, the Soviet Constitution infamously guaranteed many of the “rights” modern socialists now advocate for, although obviously none of these were observed in practice.
That young people can’t see any of these parallels is surely in part due to left-wing indoctrination on college campuses, but it’s also a failing of conservatives and libertarians to reach the next generation where they are. Ocasio-Cortez talks to her fans on Instagram Live, while the average Republican congressman is a baby boomer. Meanwhile, some GOP legislators don’t even know how to use email (cough Lindsey Graham cough).
And while socialists offer (albeit horrible) policy proposals for the rising cost of college, student debt, and health care, conservative solutions on these issues important to young people aren’t exactly placed at the forefront of GOP messaging.
So, conservatives have every right to be upset and distraught at the disturbing survey results showing economic illiteracy on the rise among young people. But free market advocates should also look in the mirror and acknowledge that our own failings are part of what got us to this point.
by Brad Polumbo
Young people are turning toward socialism, and to some extent, even communism.
At least, that’s what the results of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s latest annual poll suggest. The survey was conducted by the reputable polling firm YouGov, and it surveyed a representative sample of 2,100 Americans.
The results are downright disturbing. The new data show that 64% of Gen Z and 70% of millennials say they’re likely to vote for a socialist. Meanwhile, 20% of millennials think the Communist Manifesto “better guarantees freedom and equality” than the Declaration of Independence.
Bizarrely, 36% view communism favorably, and 15% think the world would be better off if the Soviet Union still existed. And 22% of millennials think “society would be better if all private property was abolished,” while 35% view Marxism favorably.
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Executive Director Marion Smith said, “The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year’s report. When we don’t educate our youngest generations about the historical truth of 100 million victims murdered at the hands of communist regimes over the past century, we shouldn’t be surprised at their willingness to embrace Marxist ideas.”
Smith is spot on, particularly about one fact: It is conservatives, libertarians, and free market advocates of all stripes who share the blame for this disturbing surge in support for socialism. We have failed to make the case for capitalism to the next generation, while people such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have made massive inroads peddling a falsely rosy socialist vision to Gen Z and millennials alike.
We have clearly failed to demonstrate how in supporting socialism, young people are not only betraying their own freedom but their own financial future as well. As I’ve written previously:
"The nearly $22 trillion national debt is only climbing higher each year, and ultimately, we are the ones who will pay the price. If our socialist sympathies are left unchecked, budget deficits will skyrocket and young people will be on the hook for countless billions more in taxes every year just to cover the annual interest payments. Over the long run, the mounting national debt will strangle the economic growth that’s so vital to our future. Even worse, it will leave our livelihoods forever vulnerable to a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions that will emerge if the government eventually can’t pay its bills."
We simply haven’t done a good job tying the failures of socialism in the past and present, such as in the Soviet Union and Venezuela, to the ideas that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are pushing now. But in fact, there’s a very clear overlap. Under the so-called Green New Deal, the government would control over half the economy, leading scholars to call it “the biggest single government expansion the United States has seen since the 1930s.” As Republican Sen. Rand Paul recently put it, “What AOC is supporting [and] what Bernie is supporting is Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and all these terrible ideas.”
And in the same way the two socialist sweethearts sell their agenda using the language of “rights,” such as a right to a living wage, health care, or housing, well, former dictator Hugo Chávez promised many of the same things in Venezuela as he imposed increasing government control of the economy, eventually leading to pure dictatorship and ruin. To make the historical comparisons even more notable, the Soviet Constitution infamously guaranteed many of the “rights” modern socialists now advocate for, although obviously none of these were observed in practice.
That young people can’t see any of these parallels is surely in part due to left-wing indoctrination on college campuses, but it’s also a failing of conservatives and libertarians to reach the next generation where they are. Ocasio-Cortez talks to her fans on Instagram Live, while the average Republican congressman is a baby boomer. Meanwhile, some GOP legislators don’t even know how to use email (cough Lindsey Graham cough).
And while socialists offer (albeit horrible) policy proposals for the rising cost of college, student debt, and health care, conservative solutions on these issues important to young people aren’t exactly placed at the forefront of GOP messaging.
So, conservatives have every right to be upset and distraught at the disturbing survey results showing economic illiteracy on the rise among young people. But free market advocates should also look in the mirror and acknowledge that our own failings are part of what got us to this point.
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