OPINION:
One of the left’s favored ways of pressing forth leftist policies is to convolute, cloud and confuse and to otherwise make unclear its real intentions and true designs — because otherwise, if truths be told, most Americans would flee the Democratic Party and vote Republican. Or Libertarian. Or something other than liberal group think.
That’s to say: Socialism simply thrives on ignorance.
It’s the primary means that it’s woven into the fabric of U.S. society and government.
Terren Klein, the CEO of the polling site College Pulse, just found in a recent survey that Sen. Bernie Sanders has been successful in selling his socialist message to young people, in particular, because of fears of climate change and angst over income inequality.
“When we ask college students what issue is important to them in determining their vote, the number one issue by far is the environment,” Klein said to Hill.TV.
Climate change has been one the left’s biggest and longest-running hoaxes. The fact that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with the United Nations, in partnership with radical environmental groups, in conjunction with other socialists-slash-progressives running in the Democratic Party for president have been able to ramp the fear of 12 Years ’Til Dead among the youth of our nation doesn’t just show the gullibilities of youth; it shows the utter untrustworthiness of science, the failures of public education and the waning influence of God, the Bible and church on the emerging generations.
Socialism preys on ignorance.
“[I]ncome inequality [is] by far the second most important issue among Iowa college students,” Klein went on, The Hill reported.
Income inequality is a concept the left likes to throw around to mean, well, whatever is politically expedient at the moment. To a crowd of pink-hatted women, income inequality means females earning less than males. To an audience of black voters, income inequality means minorities earning less than whites. To an assembly of immigrants, legal or otherwise, income inequality means the racism of the Donald Trump administration.
But here’s the thing, circa America 2020: Income inequality is largely a misnomer. Inequalities in income come because of inequalities in production, inequalities in sales, inequalities in levels of work. Those who work hard are paid for their work; those who work harder are paid harder for their work. And those who don’t like what they’re paid, are generally free to either work harder to prove they should be paid more — or exit their jobs, stage right, and find better-paying positions, through a combination of education, entrepreneurship, networking, ambition and good old fashioned grit.
America is still a country of upward mobility — for those who put in the effort.
A McDonald’s worker shouldn’t make as much as a restaurant owner. A courtroom stenographer shouldn’t make as much as an attorney. A high school nurse shouldn’t make as much as a brain surgeon. Their incomes are unequal because of their education levels, their job demands, their skills, their offerings to a free-market society are unequal.
Socialism grows on jealousy.
“2020: Bernie Sanders’ real base is diverse — and very young,” Vox reported in March.
“Sanders leads poll of young Democrats by double digits,” The Hill reported in April.
“Sanders Dominates Youth Vote,” Common Dreams reported in October.
“Iowa Poll has new leader: Bernie Sanders takes the top spot,” the Des Moines Register reported just this month.
It’s easy to sell the youth of today — the ones raised on instant gratification, the ones trained in entitlement natures — to believe that just because they exist, they have a right to a job, and not just a job, but a good-paying job, and not just a good-paying job, but a job that pays them as well as a top dog CEO with 30 years of corporate experience.
It’s easy to sell the youth of today who know nothing of the once-accepted workplace concept of putting in one’s time that they’re owed something, just because they breathe.
But this doesn’t change the fact that socialism only breeds where ignorance thrives.
Socialists like Sanders, like Ocasio-Cortez, heck, like most of the Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail these days, wouldn’t have a following if today’s youth were properly educated on American Exceptionalism and on U.S. history. Ignorance is simply a socialist’s best friend.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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