By: Andrew Moran
It has almost become a trope for Woke America to blame the world’s problems on capitalism, from the young generation’s failure to launch to the pending insolvency of government programs. It is the chic thing to do today as millions sip on their Starbucks lattes, tweet their displeasure on their Apple iPhones, and sit inside an air-conditioned or heated home to bash the very system that has afforded them such luxuries. Not everyone is buying the cynicism. A new poll revealed that capitalism remains the popular economic model, proving that the public prefers abundance over shortages and markets over gulags. While capitalism may have bumps, bruises, and a collapsed lung from the daily beatings in academia and the mainstream media, the system endures. Are Americans making capitalism great again or are they ensuring it remains great?
Capitalism Gets Top Marx
As NBC and The Wall Street Journal asked the public’s opinions on the 2020 election and President Donald Trump’s impeachment, the pollsters also sought Americans’ views on capitalism and socialism. The findings were fascinating.
The survey revealed that 52% of respondents viewed capitalism positively, and 19% shared the same view on socialism. Here is the interesting part: 18% held a negative opinion on capitalism and 53% opposed socialism. Put simply, capitalism is as popular as socialism is unpopular.
To no one’s surprise, Democratic primary voters, including the 18-34-year-old demographic, possessed a net-positive impression of the failed ideology. But the important discovery was that crucial voting groups – independents, suburban voters, and swing-state individuals – had a greater negative sense of socialism.
The Broletariat
After the fall of every socialist government, whether it is the Soviet Union or Venezuela, the consensus is that socialism is a failure. As countries embrace free-market capitalism and become wealthier in the process, any reasonable person would concur that capitalism is the superior economic model. Unfortunately, we reverted to pre-enlightened times when reason was absent, choosing to embrace principles and doctrines that have been exposed for their tragic implications.
And yet, according to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other progressive policymakers and activists, the only solution is to adopt the hallmarks of socialism. Leftists wish to prescribe medicine to an absent illness, preferring to kill the patient by insisting that he or she is sick so they can prove that capitalism is dying and socialism is the cure.
As Liberty Nation’s Jeff Charles recently reported, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez claimed that we could not “capitalism our way out of poverty.” But that is exactly what is happening. Around the world, capitalism is lifting millions of people out of destitution – the global poverty rate is at an all-time low. Even the impecunious in America are better off than middle-class households across the pond. Leftists could make the case that social programs are making these achievements, too, but the question then becomes: How are these costs being covered?
Why do 18-34-year-old Democrats detest socialism? The answers vary. Perhaps their disdain is born out of the philosophy of “if you own a rug, then you own too much.” If that were the case, then they would still be on the third edition of the iPhone and imbibing black coffee instead of obnoxious lattes. Maybe they want to go against the grain and claim to be intellectually superior. A credible explanation could be about control; Project Veritas highlighted Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign staffers saying they would like to toss their opponents into re-education centers.
Either way, people want to own more than a rug, they are satisfied with their high living standards, and average folks prefer not to send individuals they disagree with to death camps. This might explain how capitalism remains popular in America today, despite the perpetual handwringing and pearl-clutching and the rise of the woke wing of society.
Socialism Kills
The findings of this NBC/WSJ poll are comparable to other studies that have found out that left-leaning youth are open to the teachings of Karl Marx. Every year, the Victims of Communism (VOC) Memorial Foundation releases data that show 20- and 30-somethings in support of socialism, tyrannical figures, and totalitarian government. The upside is that many millennials are unable to define communism and socialism, likely assuming that it is just a bunch of free stuff that will only cost rich people. Whether you want to call it democratic socialism or you want to bury your head in the sand and ignore the atrocities committed in the name of Joseph Stalin and Nicolas Maduro, socialism belongs in the dust bins of history and should never be resuscitated as a suitable replacement to free-market capitalism.
This was originally published on Liberty Nation.
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