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More Americans Favoring Socialism But Is Big Government Ever Successful?

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Just this week results of a new poll show that more and more Democrats favor the idea of socialism over capitalism. Gallup reports their latest poll found 57 percent of Democrats view socialism positively.

"The major change among Democrats has been a less upbeat attitude toward capitalism, dropping to 47 percent positive this year – lower than in any of the three previous measures," the Gallup report stated.

"Republicans remain much more positive about capitalism than about socialism, with little sustained change in their views of either since 2010," the report also said.

"Views of socialism among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are particularly important in the current political environment because many observers have claimed the Democratic Party is turning in more of a socialist direction," Gallup's Frank Newport wrote.

The report said that Gallup didn't define socialism and capitalism but only asked respondents their opinion of both as being "positive or negative."

Steve Curtis with Mic.com writes, "Big government never works." In an article on the website he says you only have to take a tour of history to find out why.

Meanwhile, Ed Rogers wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece, "It is stunning to realize how in today's Democratic Party, being a capitalist is something one must either apologize for or at least give qualified acceptance. Talk about nostalgia for the 1950s. It seems that socialism is making a comeback."

"Democrats want to talk about Republicans living in the past, but the new progressives, as they like to call themselves, are in fact a lot like the old socialists. They want free college, free cash, free health care, new mandates for this and that, and so on," Rogers elaborated.

"Rather than there be a wholesale capitulation to the shallow-minded embrace of socialism, I hope at least a few Democrats will have the courage to teach Millennials and others the history of socialism's debilitating, murderous past and the historic human advancement that has been produced by a free market. Remember, socialism is just a kinder, gentler version of communism. Democrats should think twice before they abandon capitalism," Rogers concluded.

Michael Tanner writes in National Review that those favoring socialism have a naive faith in big government. He argues there are many examples of government incompetancy.

"Last week, the New York Times reported that Puerto Rican authorities had discovered at least 10 trailers full of food, medicine and baby supplies that were left to rot as a result of government ineptitute in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria," Tanner wrote.

He argues it's hard to find examples of successful socialism anywhere in the world.

"Venezuela is busy starving its children, while the Danish prime minister is scolding American liberals that 'Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy,'" he noted as examples of his point.

He said the growing favor of socialism and big government in America doesn't have any good examples either. He says when government fails in America, many politicians and their constituents call for more government.

"Has Obamacare driven up the cost of health care while driving down the quality of care? Is Medicare tens of trillions in debt? Has the VA delivered substandard care to American veterans? Well, then, the answer must be to put the government in charge of the entire US health care system," he explained and went on to give many more examples.

Tanner says it's a trend with Republicans as well as Democrats, "Conservatives who long decried government as unable to manage a two-car funeral suddenly argue that it should determine everything from whom we trade with to what parental-leave policies our employers institute. And when it comes to businesses hiring the best foreign talent, Trump-era conservatives increasingly embrace quotas and restrictions more akin to Soviet-style central planning than to the free-market economics that made this country prosperous."

He concluded that the facts of big government failure and the continued desire for it is "the triumph of hope over common sense."

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Donna
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