Rebekah Koffler: Socialism in America a warning to my adopted homeland about the evils of this system – Fox News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

As Afghanistan is burning withAmerican citizens left behind theenemy lines by Joe Biden, at the mercy of themurderous Taliban Washingtons socialists dont sleep.

Having sunk $2.2trillion of yourmoney into yet another failed nation-building project, the leftists,headed up by Confiscator in Chief Bernie Sanders, are conjuringupadditional schemes of how to leech another $3.5 trillion fromhard-workingAmericans. Sanders is dead set on delivering on hisgoal stated in August 2020,"We must first elect Biden, then keeppushing country further left."As an immigrant to America froma socialist country, I am distressedabout the monumental shift of my adoptedhomeland toward socialism. Iam compelled to warn my fellow Americans whatsocialism is reallyabout.

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL: AMERICAN WORKERS VS. SOCIALIST STATE HOW LONG CAN WE EXPECT THEM TO CARRY THE LOAD?

Let me put in context what the promises of freestuff andequality for all, by elitists like Sanders, really mean.Socialism is an evil system, incompatiblewith freedom anddemocracy. It doesnt work because it is based on unrealistictheoriesthat ignore human nature. It has failed everywhere. And it could alsodestroy America.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

Socialism idealisticallylooks for government to create completeequality in society and to endsufferinga noble-sounding idea. Toachieve this goal, the government promisesto give everyone lifesnecessities, regardless of peoples merit for pay ordesire to work.However, it must find the money for all these necessities.Historically, socialist governments have confiscated wealth andincome to payfor them. Ultimately, the government runs everything.

Lessons I learned as a childare worth repeating to youngerAmericans today. The first problem withsocialism is not only thatsocialists eventually run out of other peoplesmoney, as MargaretThatcher once famously said, it is also that socialistsocieties stopproducing wealth altogether. If individuals cannot keep thewealththey create, they stop creating it. Most people make the rationaldecision: do mediocre work, because the same amount is paidregardless how hardthey work.

Once the state kills entrepreneurship,the society will stopinnovating. Do you know why Americans have a potatopeeler,garlic crusher and apple cutter in their kitchens, for example, whileRussians use a knife for everything? Because there was no financialincentivefor Soviet citizens to create them. The same logic,tragically, applies tocreating blood pressure medicine and cures forcancer.The second problem withsocialism is that, as scarcity of goodsgrows, those in charge of wealthredistribution start taking care oftheir needs first, rationing goods andservices for everyone exceptthemselves. There comes a point when the societysimply doesntproduce enough necessities, forcing ordinary people not part ofthestate apparatus to cheat and steal to survive. Two distinct classes ofpeople form: those who are part of the system (the privileged) andeveryoneelse (the oppressed).

In the Soviet Union, theCommunist Party elites (we called themapparatchiki,because they werepart of the stateapparatus) had everything, and everyone else struggled. Welacked such basics as toothpaste, pantyhose, toilet paper andsanitaryproducts. Party members, who were less than 10% of the Soviet adultpopulation, shopped at differentgrocery stores, were treated at differentmedical facilities, andhad other privileges. Everyone, for example, had "free"medical care, but you only saw a doctor if there was anemergency.Socialism is inhumane, forcingpeople to do unethical things out ofdesperation. My mother was stealing meatfrom the food factorywhere she worked to feed our family. Our family was notparticularly poor by Soviet standards, but there was nothing to buy.There weresimply not enough goods and services for everyone,although they were alltechnically "free."

During the past few years, Ihave increasingly felt like socialism isresurfacing in America.

A third problem withsocialism is the states complete control overindividuals. In fact, beingcalled an "individualist" has a derogatoryconnotation in Russian. Undersocialism, since the state "takes care"of its people by providing everything"for free," it plays thedominant role in all spheres of life. It tells youwhat to do, where tolive, what to wear, what to say and what to think. Itcensorseverything.

There are laws and rules for everything. There is no freepress, literature or cinematography. No religion. No presumption ofinnocence.No rights. No property. Suppression of dissent is routineand brutal.Eventually, people start to self-censor to avoidpersecution. You speak andappear to think "correctly."

Socialism creates a societyof "one-percenters" and "ninety-nine-percenters," except the one-percenters arethe ones who redistributewealth, not the ones who create it. Having lived in acountry whereeverything was "free" but nothing was available, I am terrifiedwhenI hear proposals for a single-payer medical system, "Medicare-for-all," or"free college for all."

During the past few years, Ihave increasingly felt like socialism isresurfacing in America. The rise ofpervasive political correctness,growing intolerance toward religious people,and alienation of andeven attacks on people whose views dont conform to themainstream orthodoxy remind me of my youth in the USSR. I findmyself repeatingthe same admonitions to my children that mymother frequently gave my sisterand me: "Dont believe everythingyou hear on TV, think for yourself, and keepyour and your familysviews private.

Ironically, just like myparents tried to shield me from untruths andbrainwashing by Soviet schools byexplaining at our dinner table thetruth behind Soviet indoctrination, Ivefound myself pulling mychildren from public schools and placing them intoreligious schoolsin order to avoid heavy and biased government-sponsoredindoctrination.

It was painful for me to watch my little ones cominghome andspouting how oppressive America is when I knowfirsthand what oppression reallymeans. I also could not bearwatching my kids coming home sad and confusedbecause they weresimply not old enough to be bombarded with all thesex-relatedgarbage that the school pushed on them under the rubric of "familyeducation." Family education, in my view, truly belongs within thefamily.

Big Tech and the mainstreammedias taking on the roles of thegovernments mouthpieces and agents ofinfluence is frightening.Silencing those who express "incorrect" opinions byde-platformingthem on social media, banning their books, and blacklisting themtoensure they cannot make a livingsimply because they have strayedfrom the"party line"is the method of totalitarian states to suppressdissent andensure total control.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

I sincerely hope more andmore of our citizens wake up andrecognize these markers of a Sovietization ofAmerica so that we canregain the freedom of the America that my mother sent meto at ayoung age. I hope Americans keep the right to express unpopularviewswithout fear of being ostracized by fellow citizens or losingtheir jobs,continue to enjoy presumption of innocence and dueprocess, and be free fromunlawful government surveillance forhaving "incorrect" politics.Socialism inevitably resultsin stagnation and tyranny. If we dontwant our nation to join the ranks offailed and oppressive socialistcountries, we must fight socialism in America withall weve got.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM REBEKAH KOFFLER

See original here:
Rebekah Koffler: Socialism in America a warning to my adopted homeland about the evils of this system - Fox News

Related Posts

Comments are closed.