Why Do Americans Have Positive Views of Socialism?

According to a Pew study, one-third plus Americans have positive views of socialism. This report boggles the minds of people who understand that socialism does not work. However, it is good to know how it is possible for Americans to have such views. John Stossel reported the following information. 

Little has brought more misery [than socialism] – first in the Soviet Union, then in China, Cuba, Nicaragua, now Venezuela …

One reason young people support socialism is because their social media feeds show videos made by popular but economically illiterate people.

TikTok star Madeline Pendleton has 1.6 million subscribers. My new video shows her telling them: “Socialism is working better than capitalism 93% of the time!”

Where does she get 93%?

From a study published in 1986 by self-described Marxists in the Journal of Health Services.

The authors conveniently ignore the United States and other wealthy countries and compare socialist economies to “capitalist” countries like Uganda, Rwanda, and Somalia, some of which were at war.

It’s so stupid. But based on that, Pendleton tells her followers, “We have all the data showing that socialism does work.”

She also celebrates communism because of its “increased life expectancy.”

That’s nonsense, too. People live longest in capitalist countries like Japan (85 years) and South Korea (84 years). Even in the United States (70 years), where more of us die young because we drive more (car accidents), eat more, shoot each other more often, and try more dangerous drugs, we still live longer than people in China (78 years). Socialism is also superior, says Pendleton, because of “the 90-100% home-ownership rates.”

“One hundred percent,” of course, is just dumb, but China (if you believe the party’s statistics) does have 90% homeownership.

But not under socialism! They achieved that only after privatizing urban housing. Before 1998, when Chinese housing was still socialist, just 20% of Chinese people owned homes….

Another silly social media star, JT Chapman, tells his almost 2 million YouTube subscribers: “The central idea that unites all socialists is maximizing freedom … democratization of power.”

Democratization? In most socialist countries, there’s only one political party.

A popular TikToker calling himself Rathbone tells his hundred thousand subscribers: “capitalism … prioritizes profits over people … [but] socialism … prioritizes people over profits.”

Likewise, Chapman says socialism offers the “guaranteed right to … health care, food, and shelter.”

Well, of course socialism promises those things and claims to prioritize people over profits, but what people actually  get is different….

Finally, Chapman says, “Ownership should be collective.”

Collective ownership does feel good. “We’ll share everything!”

But every attempt at collective ownership has failed….

The bottom line: Incentives matter. No one washes a rental car. Few people care much about what belongs to everyone. It’s just human nature.

Capitalism isn’t perfect, but if we want a better future, and freedom, capitalism is the only thing that works.

Again, I ask the question: Why do Americans have positive views of socialism? It is obvious from the above information that many of them have incorrect information. Maybe they do not know where to find the information, and maybe they are too indoctrinated to really look for the truth. There are probably numerous reasons for Americans having such beliefs, but all of them are based on wrong information.