In early February, the U.S. House of Representatives held a vote on a simple resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism.” Ordinarily, one would assume that a resolution calling out socialist policies, which the resolution notes, have resulted in “famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide,” along with some of the “greatest crimes in history” would be a no-brainer “yes” vote among all Democrats and Republicans.
However, we live in extraordinary times, to say the least. Incredibly, 86 congressional Democrats (nearly half of the Democratic caucus) voted against the resolution! On the other hand, every single Republican representative made the commonsense decision to vote in favor of the resolution.
So, why in the world would 86 Democrats vote against a resolution that takes socialism to task? Perhaps, the answer is as simple as this: Nearly half of today’s congressional Democrats are closet socialists.
For example, here is what Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said regarding her refusal to vote “yes” on the resolution. “Americans know better than the fearmongering we see here today,” Waters said. “They know, for example, that when the pandemic hit and people were dying all across this country, it was the federal government that stepped in to provide trillions of dollars of support to small businesses, workers, ranchers, students, seniors, and would you believe it, even Republican members of Congress.”
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) went even further, saying, “Historically, Republicans have tried to label as socialist any Democratic actions that improve the lives of Americans.” She added, “This is what Republicans call socialism. From climate action and public education to affordable care and Social Security, Republicans classify popular government programs to help working families as socialism.”
Notice how both of these elected officials failed to address the central point of the resolution, which simply sought to denounce an evil ideology that has wrought utter poverty, destruction, misery, death, and subjugation wherever and whenever it has been implemented.
For instance, as the resolution states, “Between 15,000,000 and 55,000,000 people starved to death in the wake of famine and devastation caused by the Great Leap Forward in China.” And, “the socialist experiment in Cambodia led to the killing fields in which over a million people were gruesomely murdered.” Make no mistake, the list of atrocities committed under the banner of socialism is so long we may never know the full story.
Yet, despite the historical record of massive suffering due to socialist experiments, along with the indisputable fact that free-market capitalism (the polar opposite of socialism) has lifted billions from abject poverty, seems to be lost on the 86 braindead Democrats who still have a soft spot for socialism. At this point, it is safe to say that these 86 imbeciles are either historically illiterate or so obsessed with controlling We the People that they view socialism as a useful tool in their quest to exert maximum power while they enjoy all the spoils.
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
