Inheriting a deep recession and hyperinflation from the failed Carter administration, Ronald Reagan’s bold measures of across-the-board tax rate cuts, deregulation, and disciplined monetary policy broke the back of inflation in record time and ushered in a robust recovery that spanned for two decades. This vindication of the power of unshackled capitalism prompted some to predict the end of socialist ideology.

Not a chance. So, why do socialists persist? You might as well ask why mosquitos persist. It’s what comes naturally. Socialism is a devil’s brew of delusional utopianism, economic malpractice, hatred of capitalism, and unlimited government control of every aspect of our lives. It’s a philosophy based on envy and resentment dressed up as “social justice.” Socialist ideology survives because capitalism, or any “ism” for that matter, can never deliver utopia. As Irving Kristol put it, capitalism may not be the best economic system of all imaginable worlds, just the best of all possible worlds. Capitalism is the economic dimension of liberty. And its track record produces the highest standards of living and individual freedom wherever it prevails.

Unable to impose full-fledged socialism all at once, Democrats in the past downplayed the “S” word and settled for a form of creeping socialism that has grown exponentially over decades. A cornucopia of federal “entitlement” programs and related programs of state and local governments now dominate overall government spending, culminating in today’s “welfare state,” driving the national debt to $39 trillion.

Enter the ‘democratic’ socialists

Now, in the Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani era, the “S” word has been proudly resurrected with socialism’s modern-day Frankenstein’s monster, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Its radical agenda is driving the feckless Democrat Party to its lunatic left. DSA calls for nationalization of railroads, utilities, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, insurance, real estate, finance, and hospitals along with government control of the media and internet. It would free prisoners, abolish prisons, disarm and defund the police, “demilitarize” the border, end detention and deportation of illegal immigrants, and eliminate ICE.  On national defense and foreign policy, DSA would dramatically cut U.S. military spending, quit NATO, and close all U.S. military bases in foreign countries.

In a blatant affront to the U.S Constitution, DSA’s platform would also trash the institutions of checks and balances, and the separation of powers by eliminating the presidency, the Senate, and the Supreme Court with all power vested in the House of Representatives. This moronic diatribe isn’t a “platform,” it’s a temper tantrum.  Nonetheless, DSA is admired and taken seriously by the Democrat Progressive Caucus in Congress.  The deafening silence you hear is from other Democrats who lack the courage to call the DSA out for the insurrectionists they are.

Opening act for communism

Furthermore, the DSA platform declares, “Our fight is to end capitalist exploitation. In overwhelming the old barbaric, order of capitalism, the working class will not only liberate itself from its own shackles, but all of humanity from the parasitic death-drive of capitalism.” It’s no coincidence that this is the language of Marx and Lenin. DSA’s notion of “democratic socialism” is only foreplay for outright communism. In the words of David Jenkins, a top leader of DSA, “Our goal is communism.”

But communism is a terrible model of government with an unbroken record of economic failure and repression of liberty in the communist dictatorships of the Soviet Union,  North Korea, Cuba, and China. China’s repression of liberty is as bad as ever and it’s economic gains in recent years were mostly the result of opening up its economy to state capitalism and limited private enterprise. Mock elections in all of these states outlaw opposition political parties. The candidates of the Communist Party are their only choice. DSA’s vision of socialism and its inevitable evolution to communism is rooted in government control of everything. That’s the totalitarian model of all communist states. And a nation’s economy is far too complex to be efficiently controlled by a central government.

In equalizing compensation regardless of talent or effort, socialism misjudges human nature, imagining that individuals will work as diligently and creatively for the benefit of others as they will for themselves and their families. Humans aren’t bees in a hive or ants in a colony. By penalizing success and excellence with higher taxes, socialism gets less of that. By rewarding failure, mediocrity and sloth with redistributed income, socialism gets much more of that.

Echoing leftist Democrats, 62% of our young people now tell pollsters they favor socialism to capitalism. As George Will has observed, the trouble with the younger generation is they haven’t read the minutes of the last meeting.

Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for Complete Colorado.

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