Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist, has a significant fan base called the millennials – the 1980s- and 1990s-born Generation Y.
Many of them say they are pro-socialism. The problem is the millennials don’t know what socialism is. The few who are confronted and asked are stunted for an informed answer. Once their minds pass the thought of “free” stuff being provided without work on their part, they’re vacuous.
Merriam-Webster defines socialism as “a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies.”
There is about a hair’s difference between socialism and communism. Both hold the theory that assets are owned and controlled by the “community” or the “state,” i.e. the government. There’s no critical thinking occurring to wonder exactly who will be in control of the “state” or “government.” Who gets to be the totalitarian, the autocrat?
Socialism and communism are presented as “all are equal.” The bad joke is that factually some are more equal than others – and that person or party will be the authoritarian.
To those with the mindset of refusing responsibility or being unmotivated to work for their wants, Bernie is and should be very popular. He’s dangling the piñata of free offerings to the takers while not admitting that the rest of us will be mandated to pay for the candy. Bernie’s not on the hook. He has a cushy “job” financed by workers, and his future is guaranteed an income with life-long perks.
It would take a real loser not to succeed in popularity when you are endlessly offering someone else’s stuff.
Almost exactly one year ago, June 4, 2015, the Investors Business Times published an article recognizing a report by Emily Ekins, a research fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute.
Ekins states that young people are unable to define socialism; they simply do not understand it.
IBT then quoted a survey from a 2010 CBS-New York Times poll finding that a mere “16 percent of millennials could define socialism” as contrasted to about one-third of people over age 30.
Reason-Rupe conducted a separate poll in July 2014 showing “64 percent of millennials said a free market system was best for the U.S. Only 32 percent wanted a government-managed economy.”
The latter statistic is frightening. Nearly one-third of this group wants a “government-managed economy.”
Ekins concluded that millennials “just like the idea of a social safety net,” yet they do not “want the government to run Amazon, to run Google, to run Facebook or Uber.”
Ekins’ conclusion is glaring. It appears the targeted groups reject a national authoritarian body ruling over things they are familiar with.
Digesting the political vote-getting chatter by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders asserting Wall Street and big business need to be diminished under the control of their kind of government, the core challenge is rarely presented: Name a country where socialism or communism have ever succeeded. What land has bettered its people under such tyranny?
It’s appalling that the candidates are not challenged with that query.
Coincidentally, the L.A. Times ran a story last Monday on the deplorable conditions in Venezuela.
Former President Hugo Chavez avidly imposed Venezuela’s socialist revolution. He was the president for 14 years before dying and identified with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela including serving as its president in 2012.
Chavez’ death brought no changes to Venezuela with the “election” of Nicolas Maduro, a former multiple Chavez-appointee and understudy of Chavez.
The Times article tells of the lack of electricity, potable water, food; in other words, all of the necessities for survival.
The people are forced to la cola — the lines.
Citizens travel many hours beginning in early morning to stand in line for another seven to 10 hours to find the store shelves empty of rice, bread, milk, flour and sugar. Meat and dairy sections are nonexistent.
Armed national guardsmen control the sites. Shoppers must show government-issued IDs to buy goods. Their purchases are limited; no hoarding allowed.
Many shoppers are single mothers with multiple children. Mothers must show their children’s birth certificates to buy the restricted number of diapers.
Crime and corruption are rampant.
Venezuela’s largest-denomination note is the 100-Bolivar bill. It’s now worth one U.S. cent. Inflation is predicted at 1,200 percent next year.
While the poor and working classes are the prevalent victims, the wealthier have access to U.S. dollars, allowing a much different standard of living.
All are not equal after all.
Thus is daily life under Bernie Sanders’ and his followers’ socialism. It’s Bernie’s “future we can believe in.”
Believe it.
Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety.
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42 Comments
Someone should thank Betty’s generation for not only ruining the planet for ours, but killing any chance at a financially stable future. Enjoy hell Betty because you just left gen Y to live in the one you created in this country.
Example – one semester college class under socialism experiment because the class votes to do this against he professors advice. First test grades are all over the place, but now the students that work hard for their As only get a B- like everyone in the class because that is the average. Next test the A students don’t work so hard and the failing or D students think it is a free ride and do even worse. Now the class gets a C+ on the test – everyone gets the same thing averaged out. This continues until the end of the semester where the hard working students will not do anything because they don’t get anything for it and the slackers are getting better than they normally would so they keep doing very little to nothing. The entire class fails the entire semester because the average ends up an F. That is not successful folks. Socialism is the end of success and the American Dream. NOTHING is FREE – someone is paying for it and in the end it is YOU!
Thank you for an excellent article showing just how broken our education system is that the youth are voting for something they have no understanding of. That is my paid and worked for educated opinion.
Apparently milianials know more then most ignorant Americans give them credit .
The United States has had one Four Term Elected Democratic Socialist President.
A democrat and two Republican Presidents who had Democratic Socialist views . Ted Roosevelt and Dwight D Eisenhower. Bernie Sanders views are no different than any of the afore mentioned presidents !
Democratic Socialism is Good .
Marxist Socialism is Not !
So remind again , who exactly needs to get educated ?
Also betty consider this ,,,
Not every republican is Fascist BUT
Every Fascist is a right wing republican.
Wake Up ! If you live in the U.S. you live NOW pretty much in a Democratic Socialist
Federation form of government. Same with about all of Western Europe, Canada and Australia.
The ‘American Dream’ is dead. You ARE replaceable and somebody WILL do your job for less money than you make.
Conservatives tout small town America but don’t care that Wal-Mart has bulldozed virtually all traditional small businesses like hardware stores and drug stores. They tout small town farm culture but defend Big Ag which has literally destroyed most family farms. Now they’re going to crap all over what used to be the backbone of America (factory jobs) all so the 1% can get even more while they vote for the embodiment of that corporate greed in Trump.
You falsely believe you are against slavery but you buy products made overseas by slave labor, it expands shareholder value and you do not seem to mind.
This is not life, this is servitude to a system and its masters. This is why I strongly believe that the movement of Bernie Sanders can turn us away from this nightmare and maybe start to set things right if enough of us are willing to fight. #BernieSanders2016
You have fun with that
Figures the people who have grown fat off the broken system would be against fixing it^
You are distorting the point, we want a balanced priority list,the good ole boys will not release their chokehold without a fight, I am so happy you like our oligarchy , Bernie proposes a democratic form of socialism, which is like a redundancy . One nation… created equal, not privileged till the rest CROAK DEAR !
hope she doesn’t own an Apple product or fancy sneakers
Oh yeah, ad hominem makes you look smart.
Super fat bro!
This millennial isn’t supporting Bernie. You know why?
Coming from a third world nation I experienced poverty. My parents and grandparents worked hard to get our family here. They didn’t ask help from the government. They wanted to come to America because of the opportunities that were here not because of the handouts. Living from a shack in the Philippines to a house in Santa Clarita I learned that it was the hard work of my family that got me here. Bernie Sanders is a joke. “Oh but other counties have socialism and they are living a nice life” look at Venezuela they are on the brink of collapsing. Look at Soviet Russia. If I want to work hard and do overtime to get 100+ thousand dollars per year but taxes take away at least 20k why would I wanna work hard in the first place? We’re humans. It’s in our DNA for us to adapt to a situation. If we adopt socialism how do you think we’ll adapt to it? My generation is obsessed with free college. Why don’t they suck it up get in debt and work and pay it off later? My generation was raised in such a delicate way that when you say something completely not offensive they freak out and get offended. Suck it up this is life stop being such a fool. So if you want to teach me why Socialism is great please feel free to reply to so I can teach you Economics and History. Freedom is what represents America. Freedom and Liberty, the founding fathers found this country on those ideals. They wanted the us to make our own path not walk the same path of many.
This is America the Land of Opportunities NOT the land of free college and handouts if you want that then go somewhere else.
Bernie’s policies are not communism nor are they socialism purely. He proposes Democratic Socialism which affords healthcare for the masses, something every other industrial nation provides for their citizens. The simple reason the US doesn’t is a corrupt insurance industry who vastly inflates the price of medical goods and services.
He proposes regulating large financial institutions which lead to the economic collapse from the sub prime mortgage industry.
He proposes equal pay for women, ending the glass ceiling.
Those are just policies off the top of my head that are definitely beneficial to you and I, citizens of this country.
Don’t even get me started on why he’s a better choice than Trump or Hillary. These are my opinions of course. Take em or leave em.
By the way, community college was free in America before you were born. Corrupt politicians took that away. Don’t think that for a second they won’t make something that’s free now which you take for granted something you pay for later on. Something like, clean water. And then someone will come along and say to you years from now that America is the land of opportunity, not the land of free water, and handouts. How would you feel about that?
How do you explain his tax plans then? I’m going through college to be a nurse. When I get out my average pay is 70k per year how much of that 70k will go to the government? What does the government do with that money? R&D for the latest weapons ex. F35. I wouldn’t mind if trillions of dollars went to Nasa or medical research. I tried to understand how socialism is good, don’t get me wrong it has good intentions but if it was applied to the real world we would be in trouble. I love how you care about politics though. Just don’t choose a party or trust one person. Its a dangerous route. Be open minded and just don’t listen to one person or ideal, because being extremely left or right won’t help anyone.
Smh. As someone above already posted, there is a distinct difference between Marxist socialism and democratic socialism. Everything you tout is a skewed perspective on a generalization of socialism without understanding the nuances of what socialism actual is, theoretically (practical application of marxist socialism, in poor countries, does not really compare to what democratic socialism looks like in rich countries, so your points, along with Betty’s above, are moot). Go do some more research if you care to educate yourself, and hopefully you get a grasp on the difference. And to view all that “free” stuff as handouts, is an old, played out argument that doesn’t make any sense (why wouldnt you want all of our citizens to be better educated and taken care of on a health care level? Dont you want our country to prosper, as opposed to having a huge lower class vs a small mega rich upper class?). Every country on this planet that affords their populations these rights you call handouts, economically prosper much better than the US. Just look at the numbers for the statistical backing to this, but I’m sure, your close minded perception will call it some kind of an agenda to blah blah blah etc etc. I always feel sorry for people with your perception, because it’s just selfish and hateful. Then people like you talk all this garbage about making America great, but what does that even mean if it means inhibiting a giant portion of the population from basic rights like health care and education? Please, educate all of us on that perspective, sobe noone else has been able to yet…
Here’s the USA’s international rating for your clarification…
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3080446.html
Alex W Krampovitis oh democratic socialism like Denmark right? with a tax rate of 60%? If college was free its value would drop immensely. Then we would be begging for medical school to be free. I understand what democratic socialism is. You’re going to teach a future nurse about healthcare? would you like an essay?
Also thanks for proving my point that everyone gets butthurt when I try to explain something thats not offensive
Need to learn the difference between Marxist Socialism and Democratic Socialism. The examples you quote are Marxist Socialist .
Democratic Socialist countries like Denmark , Sweden , Finland ,Norway, Germany, Australia, Canada . Also this country has had several democratic socialist presidents. Two were republicans who had the Same views as Bernie Sanders . You see this is the problem in our country.
Respectfully , Ignorance.
Alfred Villanueva community college was free in California 1980.
Yeah, he’s been fed a line by his elders and he’s regurgitating their talking points. I hope the approval of the baby boomers will help console you when we elect Bernie for President.
Alfred Villanueva I have had to pay Taxs under Clinton’s tax rate making over $135.000/yr .
Yes I had to pay more but Things were Good for everyone and I NEVER really missed it . I understand your frustration but you can thank the republicans War on Working Americans over the last 30+ years for the situation we are in today . I Live it !
BTW it was the Democratic Socialist party in Venezuela that did everything possible to stop the Marxist Socialist party but the Marxist Socialist party ruled via intimidation , violence & murder.
Democratic Socialist & Marxist
HATE EACH OTHER !
Do you know How Much of my tax dollars the U.S. Gives the PI ?
I dont like that either ! We shouldn’t give them Anything!
What causes you to make the broad and generally sweeping statement that millennials don’t know what socialism is? Vast overarching superlatives which marginalize entire population demographics betray your utter lack of understanding regarding this issue and your clear bias.
You’ve basically stated that an entire generation of young adults don’t know what something is, which is commonly covered in most lower division remedial classes on history. This is utterly dissatisfying and disappointing.
My first impression of this was based on the tag line. After I read the article I am convinced that the vitriol and bias stem from a fundamental inability to understand the modern world.
It amazes me how many senior citizens are conservative republicans. Who are they going to blame when their Social Security and Medicare are gone? The Republican politicians can care less about them and continue to try and cut their benefits. Things they believe are entitlements but have been paid for by all of us!
They literally have NO STAKES in the future so they can cling to their idealism even as the ship they sail sinks; they will perish before the water line reaches them, and doom their younger followers to a short terrible enslaved existence.
Says the woman wearing enough jewelry to buy 2 of my cars, while I work 50+ hours a week in poverty. K.
Remember, she also basically called you an idiot who doesnt know what socialism is.
Oh and your entire generation too.
Would not be the first time she spewed something out she’s so far disconnected with. Too bad it probably won’t be her last either.
Perhaps SCVNEWS could present a politically and socially balanced combination of editorial submissions???
Up to you. We publish everything that is submitted.
Doesn’t matter. As long as they all vote for him they are doing the right thing.
What is sad is we live in a world of sound bytes and snappy labels. I am not a supporter of any of these Candidates, but Bernie is a Democratic Socialist, not simply a Socialist. There is a difference. There are many, many socialist programs already in place in this country and there have been for many, many years. What do you think pubic schools are, Police, Fire, the Public Library. We are easily led and easily deceived, because many, are completely uninformed.
It’s important for people who are writing opinionated propaganda to falsely portray Sanders in an effort to undermine him. It’s obvious and blatant.
Plenty of Europeans live with fair Socialism. I am all for Democratic Socialism. Tell Sweden and Denmark what an awful job they’re doing, I dare you.
April they also have a much smaller population.
It is unfortunate that Betty’s message is always replete with her usual mean spirited and condescending “good Christian” attitude that seems to define righteous conservatives such as herself and Brian Baker. What would she do to narrow the increasingly widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of us, all while wealthy individuals and corporations can get away with paying no taxes?
Yes, Venezuela is a great example of socialism gone off the rails, but she deliberately ignores the fact that corruption and incompetence are also major factors in Venezuela’s fall. One need only look to our neighbor in the north for an example of moderate socialism that works, or go to Europe or Scandinavia for successful examples of how socialism isn’t some kind of capitalistic nightmare, but the logical and obvious choice to manage social welfare and health. It is my personal belief that the only people against universal health care are those who can easily afford to get it i.e the affluent among us.
Frankly, I wouldn’t vote for Bernie Sanders either; I am an independent, mainly because both parties in this country have utterly failed to listen and act on the issues that affect us (us being the middle class) for over four decades now. The liberals want free everything on the backs of the dwindling middle class taxpayers, and the conservatives want tax cuts for the already wealthy using the tired and thoroughly discredited refrain of “trickle down” economics, also on the backs of the dwindling middle class, because all of the corporations are moving their headquarters overseas to avoid paying taxes…
No small wonder then that that same dwindling middle class hitches its collective wagon to a megalomaniac reality star in a final act of desperation, while those “ignorant millennials” who don’t know a socialist from a soap opera hitch their wagon to a “unicorns and rainbows” idealist who hasn’t had a real job since he graduated high school, mainly because they also see no support or empathy from the Right for the dwindling middle class, only a willingness to sacrifice them on the altar of tax breaks for the already rich, less regulation (except for unions, voters and women, of course!) for the polluters, and more tax breaks for the rich…..did I mention that already?
Everyone claims that their vision of America is the “true” one, but I see no one who simply asks; where are we as a country going, and is that where we actually want to be?” without a politically partisan subtext. True statesmen and stateswomen are those rare individuals who can see where we need to go, regardless of politics, and make the necessary changes to make it happen.
Unfortunately, in a country of 320 million people, we can only manage to come up with a megalomaniacal clown, a consummate but cold hearted weasel and a self proclaimed socialist with as much chance of becoming president as I have.
Maybe those who have the power to make these decisions in their respective parties need to step back and ask themselves how this all came to pass and why?
Californians WILL vote for Bernie Sanders on June 07. He is ‘actually an FDR Democrat’. We’ve got his back and he’s got ours! June 07, we’ll all be at the polling places in our California districts ‘feeling the BERN’.
Betty FOXwatcher- Please learn the difference between Socialism and Democratic socialism.
Bernie is promising no free rides but a re-direction of our national financial resources back to the people (that’s us all, even you) and not the obscenely wealthy. How is that a bad thing?!
Clueless, misinformed and dishonest. … YOU!