Ocasio-Cortez Supporters Love Socialism So Much That They Have Absolutely No Idea How It Works
Democratic socialism, a sort of mythical utopian form of government halfway between a capitalist democratic society and a socialistic communist one, is all the rage on the left these days following the surprising primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District.
Ocasio-Cortez makes no secret of her passion for a more socialist society in America, one where every individual’s basic needs are provided by the government. And that passion is apparently shared by a growing number of American citizens, as was recently revealed by Campus Reform.
Campus Reform’s media director Cabot Phillips took to the streets of Ocasio-Cortez’s district and asked random people about the potential congresswoman and her desire for the government to provide things like “free health care,” “free college tuition,” “a minimum living wage” and “housing as a human right,” none of which should be denied to anybody in her view.
Incredibly, most of those Phillips spoke with were in favor of such policies and government “freebies,” even as they had no idea how it would all be paid for. Watch right here:
Asked where the money would come from, one couple paused and replied, “Oh God … us, I guess.”
Another woman said some of the “free things” should be paid for with taxes and the rest picked up by government, apparently not making the connection that government is funded entirely by taxes on people like her.
“I don’t know where the money would come from, but they can figure it out,” said one man with a laugh.
Phillips suggested more taxes on rich people and the man replied, “For sure man, like, they can afford it.”
Another man suggested we “tax corporations, tax the one percent and find a way to support a living wage,” while yet another maintained that “people with a good idea, and a good reason to spend their tax money, people wouldn’t actually mind paying more taxes.”
Many of the people pointed to “other countries” that have implemented socialist ideas and appeared to be doing well, but were more or less rendered speechless when Phillips asked if they thought Venezuela’s utter failure of a socialist government was one such example.
In the end, all of the people featured in Campus Reform’s video were absolutely clueless about what “democratic socialism” even is, much less how all of the “free” goodies promised by socialists like Ocasio-Cortez would be paid for. Phillips was only too happy to discuss his findings in an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
Phillips noted that even though the responses he received were “laughable” to hear, the rise of a favorable view of socialism among millennials was “not a joking matter” as the consistent failure of socialism was a rather serious issue that young people don’t seem to understand.
“It seems like all these students don’t have a grip on history… They’re not being taught history and economics courses … so many students — it’s hard to blame them — they don’t have a context of history, they don’t know that socialism has failed every time its been implemented,” Phillips said.
“I think a lot of this also stems from how we have demonized success in America,” he continued. “Many people are taught that if you are wealthy, you only got that way because you stole it from someone less fortunate or less privileged.
“And I think after eight years of class warfare under President Obama, young people are now coming of age thinking ‘If someone else is rich it must be because they did something wrong,’ and so instead of teaching people to emulate success, we’ve taught them now to try and drag successful people down, and that’s the wrong way of doing things,” Phillips added.
Sadly, Phillips is absolutely correct in that our nation’s liberal education system hasn’t taught the latest generations about the complete failures and abject horrors of true socialism.
That’s why so many folks today seem absolutely clueless about the utter impossibility of a government providing “free” everything while remaining a prosperous nation where citizens enjoy liberty and freedom.
It’s why there are so many Democrats.
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