3 Reasons Why So Many Millennials Love Socialism
Aug 3, 2018 17:24:19 #
no propaganda please
Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun
3 Reasons Why So Many Millennials Love Socialism
Posted Aug 03, 2018 by Michael L. Brown
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It’s true that socialist Bernie Sanders is anything but a millennial. And it’s true that socialism was popular long before any millennials were born. But there’s no doubt that socialism is becoming increasingly popular among young people today. Why?
According to the Daily Caller, “Young people view socialism as more attractive than older people. Of people ages 18-29, 55 percent considered socialism favorably compared to other age groups, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. Only 37 percent of people between the ages 30 and 49 viewed socialism as positive. 27% percent of people between 50 and 64 years old thought of socialism positively.”
So, millennials, especially younger millennials, have a very favorable view of socialism. But do they – or most of us – even know what it is?
Prof. Jay Richards offers this helpful primer.
“Marx and his disciples claimed that ‘capitalism’ must give way to ‘socialism,’ where private property would be abolished and an all-powerful state would own everything on behalf of the people. That’s what Marx meant by the word socialism, and that’s the main dictionary definition.
“This was only supposed to be a stage, though, not the end of all our strivings. At some point, under socialism, people would lose their silly fondness for property, family, religion, and other evils. A ‘new socialist man’ would emerge and then the state would ‘wither away.’ Everyone would enjoy peace, prosperity, and the brotherhood of man. Marx and his acolytes called that final, stateless paradise ‘communism.’”
And how has that vision worked itself out in history?
Prof. Richards states: “Here’s the point: Those regimes led by mass murderers with their gulags, death camps, man-made famines and killing fields were socialist. That’s not slander. It’s what these countries called themselves. USSR stood for the ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.’
“You gotta break millions of eggs with socialism to make the communist omelet. Socialism, you might say, was the necessary evil to reach the bliss where no state would be necessary.”
Yet the lure of socialism continues, getting stronger in the last few years, especially among American youth. Why?
Here are three simple reasons.
1) Young people want “equality.” The word “equality” has become almost sacred to the younger generation, and in many ways, that’s a good thing. They want a level playing field. They want everyone treated fairly. They want to leave behind our discriminatory, racist past. All that is positive.
Unfortunately, there is often a passion for equality that is not based on realism (or function, as in all the talk about “marriage equality,” where sex differences are blurred).
The fact is that life is not always fair. There are winners and losers. And some people work harder than others, because of which they succeed more.
That success is well-deserved and should be appreciated. But all too often today, success through hard work is scorned.
Question: “Why should you have more than I do?”
Answer: “Because I worked hard for it.”
Response: “But that’s not fair.”
Socialism, then, is the fix!
2) Young people today have a deep sense of entitlement. Conservapedia.com defines the entitlement mentality as “a state of mind in which an individual comes to believe that privileges are instead rights, and that they are to be expected as a matter of course.”
I am owed a free lunch, and it’s got to be a good lunch too. The lunch of my choosing. I deserve it.
As explained by Dr. John Townsend in his book The Entitlement Cure, “Entitlement is the belief that I am exempt from responsibility and I am owed special treatment. Entitlement is: The man who thinks he is above all the rules. The woman who feels mistreated and needs others to make it up to her.”
This dangerous attitude is crippling a whole generation. As expressed by Kate S. Rourke in her article, “You Owe Me: Examining a Generation of Entitlement,” “Children in the most recent generation of adults born between 1982 and 1995, known as ‘Generation Y,’ were raised to believe that it is their right to have everything given to them more than any other previous generation.”
Socialism plays right into this mindset, especially the fuzzy, idealized, quite-unrealistic socialism being put forward today: “We all get our free lunch!”
Unfortunately, that can only happen when the government owns all the lunches. Do young people understand this?
3) Young socialists haven’t done the math. The obvious question is this: “If you’re getting a free lunch – no, if we’re all getting a free lunch – who’s paying for it?”
The immediate, thoughtless answer is: “The government!”
And that leads to the real question: “Who’s paying the government?”
The answer is as painful as it is obvious: “You are!”
As one news commentator suggested, there’s no reason to wait for the government to become socialist. Just start paying more taxes today and do your part. Right!
Do you remember the viral video clip where a young Florida woman, Peggy Joseph, was ecstatic after hearing candidate Barack Obama speak in 2008? She said, “I won’t have to worry about puttin’ gas in my car, I won’t have to worry about payin’ my mortgage.” Obama will take care of it!
Six years later, working as a nurse and the suburban mom of four kids, she was asked by filmmaker Joel Gilbert, “Did Obama pay for your mortgage and did he pay for your gas?”
She laughed and replied, “Absolutely not! Mortgage got worse and gas prices got higher … At that time we needed a change but a change for the better not the worse.”
When I asked my assistant Dylan, himself in his early 30’s and the married father of four, why he thought so many young people were into socialism, he answered, “Perhaps because of being so absorbed with social media that they’re used to soundbite answers and haven’t thought it through.”
Or, as Jay Richards stated, “Too many of us are still clueless about socialism and communism. I blame biased media and fuzzy thinking.”
The bottom line is that most young proponents of socialism simply haven’t done the math. Had they done so, they’d start working the capitalist system a little harder. They would find it far more rewarding than socialism.
Posted Aug 03, 2018 by Michael L. Brown
Tweet
It’s true that socialist Bernie Sanders is anything but a millennial. And it’s true that socialism was popular long before any millennials were born. But there’s no doubt that socialism is becoming increasingly popular among young people today. Why?
According to the Daily Caller, “Young people view socialism as more attractive than older people. Of people ages 18-29, 55 percent considered socialism favorably compared to other age groups, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. Only 37 percent of people between the ages 30 and 49 viewed socialism as positive. 27% percent of people between 50 and 64 years old thought of socialism positively.”
So, millennials, especially younger millennials, have a very favorable view of socialism. But do they – or most of us – even know what it is?
Prof. Jay Richards offers this helpful primer.
“Marx and his disciples claimed that ‘capitalism’ must give way to ‘socialism,’ where private property would be abolished and an all-powerful state would own everything on behalf of the people. That’s what Marx meant by the word socialism, and that’s the main dictionary definition.
“This was only supposed to be a stage, though, not the end of all our strivings. At some point, under socialism, people would lose their silly fondness for property, family, religion, and other evils. A ‘new socialist man’ would emerge and then the state would ‘wither away.’ Everyone would enjoy peace, prosperity, and the brotherhood of man. Marx and his acolytes called that final, stateless paradise ‘communism.’”
And how has that vision worked itself out in history?
Prof. Richards states: “Here’s the point: Those regimes led by mass murderers with their gulags, death camps, man-made famines and killing fields were socialist. That’s not slander. It’s what these countries called themselves. USSR stood for the ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.’
“You gotta break millions of eggs with socialism to make the communist omelet. Socialism, you might say, was the necessary evil to reach the bliss where no state would be necessary.”
Yet the lure of socialism continues, getting stronger in the last few years, especially among American youth. Why?
Here are three simple reasons.
1) Young people want “equality.” The word “equality” has become almost sacred to the younger generation, and in many ways, that’s a good thing. They want a level playing field. They want everyone treated fairly. They want to leave behind our discriminatory, racist past. All that is positive.
Unfortunately, there is often a passion for equality that is not based on realism (or function, as in all the talk about “marriage equality,” where sex differences are blurred).
The fact is that life is not always fair. There are winners and losers. And some people work harder than others, because of which they succeed more.
That success is well-deserved and should be appreciated. But all too often today, success through hard work is scorned.
Question: “Why should you have more than I do?”
Answer: “Because I worked hard for it.”
Response: “But that’s not fair.”
Socialism, then, is the fix!
2) Young people today have a deep sense of entitlement. Conservapedia.com defines the entitlement mentality as “a state of mind in which an individual comes to believe that privileges are instead rights, and that they are to be expected as a matter of course.”
I am owed a free lunch, and it’s got to be a good lunch too. The lunch of my choosing. I deserve it.
As explained by Dr. John Townsend in his book The Entitlement Cure, “Entitlement is the belief that I am exempt from responsibility and I am owed special treatment. Entitlement is: The man who thinks he is above all the rules. The woman who feels mistreated and needs others to make it up to her.”
This dangerous attitude is crippling a whole generation. As expressed by Kate S. Rourke in her article, “You Owe Me: Examining a Generation of Entitlement,” “Children in the most recent generation of adults born between 1982 and 1995, known as ‘Generation Y,’ were raised to believe that it is their right to have everything given to them more than any other previous generation.”
Socialism plays right into this mindset, especially the fuzzy, idealized, quite-unrealistic socialism being put forward today: “We all get our free lunch!”
Unfortunately, that can only happen when the government owns all the lunches. Do young people understand this?
3) Young socialists haven’t done the math. The obvious question is this: “If you’re getting a free lunch – no, if we’re all getting a free lunch – who’s paying for it?”
The immediate, thoughtless answer is: “The government!”
And that leads to the real question: “Who’s paying the government?”
The answer is as painful as it is obvious: “You are!”
As one news commentator suggested, there’s no reason to wait for the government to become socialist. Just start paying more taxes today and do your part. Right!
Do you remember the viral video clip where a young Florida woman, Peggy Joseph, was ecstatic after hearing candidate Barack Obama speak in 2008? She said, “I won’t have to worry about puttin’ gas in my car, I won’t have to worry about payin’ my mortgage.” Obama will take care of it!
Six years later, working as a nurse and the suburban mom of four kids, she was asked by filmmaker Joel Gilbert, “Did Obama pay for your mortgage and did he pay for your gas?”
She laughed and replied, “Absolutely not! Mortgage got worse and gas prices got higher … At that time we needed a change but a change for the better not the worse.”
When I asked my assistant Dylan, himself in his early 30’s and the married father of four, why he thought so many young people were into socialism, he answered, “Perhaps because of being so absorbed with social media that they’re used to soundbite answers and haven’t thought it through.”
Or, as Jay Richards stated, “Too many of us are still clueless about socialism and communism. I blame biased media and fuzzy thinking.”
The bottom line is that most young proponents of socialism simply haven’t done the math. Had they done so, they’d start working the capitalist system a little harder. They would find it far more rewarding than socialism.
Aug 3, 2018 17:52:04 #
no propaganda please wrote:
3 Reasons Why So Many Millennials Love Socialism b... (show quote)
Many years ago, in the early 1950s, I went fishing with my grandfather. I caught a small bluegill, and granddad said, "We'll have to throw that one back, he's too little."
My shallow argument was that I would take the fish home, put it in the bathtub full of water, and feed him crickets from the yard, until he was large enough to eat, ... in just a few days." Facts like the family needing the bathtub to bathe, cricket catching is boring after a few minutes, the growth speed of fish is in years not days, etc. were beyond my knowledge and childish thinking ability.
I was about 4 or 5 at the time, but sadly, today, teens and young adults have about the same reasoning and intelligence that I had back then, and so they are about as shallow as I was then. Most of them can't get to the, "Who is going to pay for your free $hit?" question, since they're stuck at, "The government will give it to me." unworkable solution.
Why do I like a Republic and capitalism? Because I can have just about anything I want, if I'm willing to do the amount of work required to earn the money to pay for my wants and needs. I was proud to work for what I got, so I've never been a low-life slime, expecting someone or the guvmet' to give me everything.
Aug 3, 2018 17:55:36 #
EL
Loc: Massachusetts
Simply put, they don't get the math. FREE means nobody pays for it. It all just comes from outer space.
Where'd we get all these brainless idiots???
Where'd we get all these brainless idiots???
Aug 3, 2018 18:06:18 #
EL wrote:
Simply put, they don't get the math. FREE means nobody pays for it. It all just comes from outer space.
Where'd we get all these brainless idiots???
Where'd we get all these brainless idiots???
Idiots and fools breed faster than intelligent and educated people.
Aug 3, 2018 18:27:08 #
no propaganda please wrote:
3 Reasons Why So Many Millennials Love Socialism b... (show quote)
Young people are not taught history and analytical thinking either.
Aug 3, 2018 18:38:19 #
Aug 3, 2018 18:40:36 #
no propaganda please wrote:
3 Reasons Why So Many Millennials Love Socialism b... (show quote)
But nationalized healthcare and free public colleges doesn't require anyone to sacrifice their property and that's as far as the Socialist Bernie has dared to go and that's what younger people are looking at when we talk about socialism. Of course conservatives will do anything to try to scare people off of any form of socialism even if they and their children will be the ones who will benefit from it's advancement.
Aug 3, 2018 19:06:11 #
Crayons wrote:
maff's hard, get~s me my my my cal-q-L8ter
Math or spelling either. Forgot those.
Aug 3, 2018 19:16:38 #
PeterS wrote:
But nationalized healthcare and free public colleges doesn't require anyone to sacrifice their property and that's as far as the Socialist Bernie has dared to go and that's what younger people are looking at when we talk about socialism. Of course conservatives will do anything to try to scare people off of any form of socialism even if they and their children will be the ones who will benefit from it's advancement.
You apparently haven't read anything on what "free" nationalized healthcare is going to cost us. Just the cost of healthcare insurance under Obamacare has placed healthcare out of reach for many families.
Aug 4, 2018 10:13:38 #
PeterS wrote:
But nationalized healthcare and free public colleges doesn't require anyone to sacrifice their property and that's as far as the Socialist Bernie has dared to go and that's what younger people are looking at when we talk about socialism. Of course conservatives will do anything to try to scare people off of any form of socialism even if they and their children will be the ones who will benefit from it's advancement.
Again are you four or five, whose going to pay for this, and what's wrong with the idea of paying your own way. The idea has served me very well for my 69 yrs. You should try it it works !!!!!!
Aug 4, 2018 14:33:50 #
PeterS wrote:
But nationalized healthcare and free public colleges doesn't require anyone to sacrifice their property and that's as far as the Socialist Bernie has dared to go and that's what younger people are looking at when we talk about socialism. Of course conservatives will do anything to try to scare people off of any form of socialism even if they and their children will be the ones who will benefit from it's advancement.
Yup. Just a little bit of socialism at a time until we get there... this bit is fine, get used to it so we can do just a bit more... let us educated smert people take care of you rabble. Never mind our three big houses (Bernie) and our corruption and embezzlement issues (Bernie’s wife) we actually have your best interest in mind, don’t worry about a thing, just keep giving us your money and we will take care of everything just like all the other countries that eased into socialism, don’t worry about Venezuela, they just didn’t do it right. We won’t make the mistakes every single other country that has descended into socialism has encountered because we know better than they did and heck, we are halfway socialist anyway so what’s a little more going to hurt. We will just get the money from the rich folks and big corporations because they won’t possibly move their assets offshore or out of country because they believe in the state and want to take their earnings and support everyone. Sorry Charlie, I have read history books and so far, socialism has never ever turned out the way it was advertised. It always looks good on paper. It never ends up good in practice.
Aug 4, 2018 17:01:54 #
Trooper745 wrote:
Idiots and fools breed faster than intelligent and educated people.
That's one of the most intelligent things I've read here.
Aug 4, 2018 19:19:33 #
PeterS wrote:
But nationalized healthcare and free public colleges doesn't require anyone to sacrifice their property and that's as far as the Socialist Bernie has dared to go and that's what younger people are looking at when we talk about socialism. Of course conservatives will do anything to try to scare people off of any form of socialism even if they and their children will be the ones who will benefit from it's advancement.
Free public colleges? Has anyone told the colleges and professors that they won't be getting funding and paychecks any longer? It's all free now.
Do you have any idea how much "free national healthcare for the US would cost? More than our current GNP, probably. No, make that a certainty, since a bunch of brainless bureaucrats will be in charge of it.
Aug 4, 2018 21:07:46 #
Get a life.
Where did your country's infrastructure come from, you dimwit.
Where did your country's infrastructure come from, you dimwit.
Aug 4, 2018 23:34:15 #
useful mattoid 45 wrote:
Get a life.
Where did your country's infrastructure come from, you dimwit.
Where did your country's infrastructure come from, you dimwit.
There is an option called quote reply. It automatically directs your reply properly. You should learn to use it before calling anyone a dimwit, dimwit.
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