Love him or hate him, Sen. Bernie Sanders appeals to millions with his calls for generous government-funded programs.
It can sound promising when he doesn’t delve into the specifics or repercussions of his plans, especially with younger generations who don’t have firsthand exposure to the Cold War and the horrors of communism.
Townhall’s Marina Medvin compares Bernie’s visceral appeal to that of a man in a conversion van luring unsuspecting kids inside with promises of candy and puppies.
Per Marina Medvin:
Back in my day, I was taught to be wary of people luring me with promises of Utopia. I was taught that if someone offers something for free, I should tell them, “no, thank you, I can’t afford it.” But those days are gone. At the start of the new millennium, adults have lost sight of teaching kids the basics.
Today’s youngest voters grew up tightly packed in bubble wrap, never exploring on their own, never making mistakes from which they can learn, never getting to understand reality. These young people spent their lives dependent on authority, on guidance. Yet those who were supposed to guide them have failed them. Millennials grew up as a generation expecting handouts but not learning work ethic or personal responsibility, never finding the inner drive to succeed independently. The idea of autonomy and freedom are genuinely frightening concepts for these youths. Socialism simply fits their expectations more comfortably. If you grow up with white-glove care from a nanny, why wouldn’t you ask for a nanny-state to continue coddling you through your illusory adulthood? (And illusory it sure is.)
Which brings me back to the old man who wants to show us the puppies in his van. I was taught to stay away from the man because my mother wouldn’t be there on the street with me as I played. You see, I didn’t grow up in bubble wrap. I was able to go out on my own as a kid, make choices, make mistakes, learn lessons, explore the world. It is easier for me to understand human nature than it is for today’s youth. So when old man Bernie asks me to come into his unmarked van to pet a puppy, I turn my back in disgust. I know that there is no such thing as “free,” that someone always pays for it. I know that if someone is offering something to me, he wants something in return. I also received a historically-accurate and thorough education about the evils of socialism and the forced division of wealth, and I can navigate through a politician’s fairy tales. I adored people like Margaret Thatcher, who passionately hated socialists. My favorite quote from the Iron Lady to nescient socialists of her day is, “Grow up, get a real job for a change and learn something from history and economics!”
It’s not as easy for generation bubble-wrap to see past the puppies. They don’t admire capitalists like Margaret Thatcher; they admire communists like Che Guevara. Bernie knows this. He capitalizes on this. Free healthcare for all! Legal weed for all! Free college for all! Cancel student debt for all! Free childcare for all! And so on. Young voters did not grow up understanding the consequences of what Bernie proposes or what Che did to his people. They don’t ask questions about what happens when the working class isn’t motivated to keep working and just shrugs. Millennials don’t understand that socialism is a division of wealth, while capitalism is a multiplication. Their inability to compute or to question, something these youths have been conditioned to ignore, has led to the inevitable empty-minded predisposition to craving socialism. Bernie has simply taken advantage of what public education has served him on a silver platter: Marxist youths.
Duping young adults lacking historical perspective is all too easy with unattainable promises.
That is how socialism has risen from the dead.
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AAN Staff
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