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.

 

Why Should We Reject Indoctrination for Our Children?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns freedom of speech, particularly the freedom to NOT have certain words forced upon our children. From the experience of numerous people, we can only assume that the LGBT movement is much like the critical race theory (CRT) movement in that they want to force our children to learn information that is opposed by parents. In other words, both movements want to indoctrinate the children and by making parents irrelevant or an obstacle to their goal. Tim Graham explained it as follows. 

Just like the cause of critical race theory, the parents are not simply irrelevant; they are seen as an impediment to essential progress.

The other words [transgender, cisgender, nonbinary, and consent from a previous paragraph] sound ridiculous in a science class. They are at war with science. They are at war with common sense. And they are at war with religious Americans who feel that God made the human race male and female, not some unscientific blur.

The LGBT lobby does not believe in democracy or debate. They believe that all dissent is “hate speech,” and any opposition to their treacherous goals leads to youth suicide and emotional torture. They fight dirty, always assuming the worst of their opponents and always engaging in character assassination.

They can count on their staunchest allies for support – from Hollywood’s cultural shapers and the “news” media.

            Graham claims that proof of his statement is “in the way journalists have mangled and maligned a bill in Florida to prevent teachers from pushing their gender-bending ideology on children in kindergarten through the third grade.” They refer to the legislature as the “don’t say gay” bill despite the fact that the bill does not say what they say that it says. Graham said that such people do not consider an abortion at nine months to be “horrific,” but “failing to suggest to children that they might be gender fluid is a tragedy.”           

            After citing several news stories [from “CBS Evening News,” ABC’s “The View,” and ABC’s “World News Tonight,” Graham emphasized what was left out of the news articles.

Notice that no one says that parents can’t teach their young children at home about the birds and the bees, or, in this case, how birds can be bees, if that’s how they want to identify themselves. It’s mandatory that all children in schools be taught one ideology.      

I know that when I was a student, I would have been a nightmare for an indoctrinator. I would have fiercely spoken up with opposing arguments. That makes it seem obvious why the LGBT lobby thinks it’s so important to push their garbage on grade-school children, before they can offer the withering critique it deserves.

            This brings us back to the counsel from child-rearing specialists who have for many years encouraged parents to teach their children about sex from infancy. Parents are urged to use correct words to define the various parts of the body and to not shy away from questions asked by children.

            One word of caution is that parents should not assume that a two- or three-year-old child is ready to learn the complete story about babies and how they are made. Nor are they ready to hear how men can be women and vice versa. Our children come to us in innocence, and they should be allowed to remain innocent and pure for as long as possible.

Do Parents Like CRT?

            Parents across America are waking up to the indoctrination of their children with critical race theory. The leftists deny that indoctrination is taking place, but the parental revolt is building. As you probably already know, critical race theory or CRT uses the lens of race to frame every issue. Some races are “oppressors,” while other races are the “oppressed.”

            The proponents of CRT are able to move CRT into the curriculum because too many Americans do not have sufficient knowledge about civics or American history. Many Americans have no idea about the founding of America.

            Opponents of CRT are not opposed to students learning about slavery and racism. However, they believe that young Americans should know about the founding of America, why America entered World War II, what happened on D-Day, and America’s continuing war on tyranny both here in our nation and abroad. We want the rising generation to become informed patriots who love America.

            Governor Ron DeSantis is a Republican and a conservator who is fighting to keep CRT out of the schools in Florida. He recently signed legislation that prohibits critical race theory from being taught in Florida public schools. This week he signed three more education bills into law. Jarrett Stepman described the bills as follows:

One of the new laws will create a survey to provide a look at viewpoint diversity on Florida’s college campuses, as well as add protections for students’ free speech. Another requires that applicants pass a civics test to enter Florida’s public universities.

The third bill will require public K-12 schools to teach students about communism, totalitarianism, and other political systems that “conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States.”

            DeSantis said the following after signing the bills: “It’s crucial to ensure that we teach our students how to be responsible citizens. They need to have a good working knowledge of American history, American government, and the principles that underline our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand the difference; why would somebody flee across shark-infested waters, say, leaving from Cuba to come to southern Florida. Why would somebody leave a place like Vietnam? Why would people leave these countries and risk their life to be able to come here? It’s important students understand that.