Socialism: Make America Venezuela

A shocking new poll by the non-partisan Gallup organization should vex all Americans.  In a nationwide survey, the firm reported that Democrats are more positive about socialism than capitalism. While the results are astounding, the findings help explain the party's leftward surge.

The research, which included a sample of 1,505 adults aged 18 and older, signals a sharp turn in attitudes about socialism. Fully 57 percent of self-identified Democrats and independents who lean Democratic hold a positive view of a system once considered anathema to most Americans.

By comparison, 48 percent of Democrats and leaners approve of capitalism.  Looking at the demographics, older Americans from both parties have a dim view of socialism.  Young people, aged 18-29, are the most ardent supporters with a majority (55%) approving of socialism. 

For decades, Americans associated socialism with Marxist Communism, a Utopian theory of a collectivist society characterized by the equal distribution of wealth, property housing and other goods.  While the theory captivates the naive, in actual practice socialism has a record of utter failure.

But many who should know better, including politicians, Hollywood glitterati and economists, now are openly embracing socialism.  Perhaps that has swayed Democrats' opinions on the allure of a thoroughly discredited system.  Fortunately, their views do not reflect the majority of Americans.

In the Gallup poll, about 37 percent of all Americans have a rosy view of socialism.  By an overwhelming majority, nearly 70 percent of Republicans favor capitalism.  Only 13 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican are in favor of socialism. 

Those who believe socialism will make America great need to look to Venezuela, once one of the world's richest countries now wallowing in despair. The South American nation is on the brink of collapse after jettisoning capitalism two decades ago, replacing it with socialism.

The country, with the largest proven oil reserves in the world, has squandered its wealth by heavily spending on government subsidies for residents, including 'free' health care. Experts believe the nation's inflation rate may hit one million percent by year's end.  (One million is not a typo.)

The Venezuelan Central Bank has stopped issuing economic data in an effort to hide the country's chronic decline.  Before it halted the practice, the bank's statistics showed that in a single year (2015) the per capita income plunged from $15,929 to $6,042.  People are suffering in extreme poverty.

Venezuela's currency is in shambles, tumbling to an all time low.  At the end of July, country's currency, the bolivar, was practically worthless. It took 115,000 bolivars to equal one U.S. dollar.  Venezuelans lug pallets full of currency to the grocery store just to buy essentials.

As a result of hyperinflation, there are dire food and medical shortages.  The country ran out of toilet paper and was forced to dispatch army troops to a paper manufacturing company occupied by angry residents.  Recurring electricity blackouts and growing thug violence are a common occurrence.

Food riots erupt with alarming regularity.  Hospitals have no running water.  Thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing the country, escaping into neighboring Columbia.  In response, the government has cracked down on dissent, jailing opponents and ratcheting up propaganda.

Dunderhead Hollywood nabobs like Sean Penn, Oliver Stone and Michael Moore once pointed to Venezuela as a shining example of the benefits of socialism.  They have been strangely silent as Venezuela plunges into economic and societal oblivion.  The media has been mum too. 

In the face of his nation's crisis, President Nicolas Maduro is continuing the practice of his mentor Hugo Chavez, looting the private sector, seizing companies and taking over farms, while fattening his personal fortune at the expense of his poverty-stricken people. This is what socialism looks like.

Democrat Bernie Sanders, a self-avowed Democratic Socialist who enchants young people with his message of free college and free health care, has been the standard bearer for socialist policies.  Now Democrats candidates for elective office are openly endorsing the same ideals.

Those Americans who shill for socialism should be exposed as charlatans.  They are peddling an economic and social solution that ruins the lives of people and bankrupts countries.  The only equality socialism guarantees is shared misery.  That's reason enough to soundly reject socialism.