Socialism is evil. Beyond the fiscal and economic havoc it wreaks on a nation, it is morally bankrupt. Taking money at gunpoint to redistribute is not compassion, it is theft; charity is always better when done voluntarily. You have a right to your capital and the work of your labor. Communist and socialist regimes like the USSR, Cuba, and Venezuela have suffering people because they ignored the economic and moral failings of Marxist collectivism. Our parents and grandparents remember this, but our younger misinformed generations do not.
In sales and marketing, the key to capturing a customer’s attention (and their wallet) is to describe a pain point in their life and tell them how your product will help alleviate this problem. Our generation is saddled with student debt and we live in a time where the vast majority of young adults cannot afford to get married, buy a house and have children. With a useless degree in hand costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, young adults cannot find a proper-paying job. So, they live paycheck to paycheck. They often don’t have health insurance. Living like that is stressful. Along comes a candidate who promises to forgive the burden on your back and give you healthcare. This sounds great to a struggling young person.
Lecturing young people on how they need to stop “demanding free stuff” may be righteous, but it is currently politically moronic. People have genuine health and financial struggles in their lives. Speaking intellectually about socialism does not appeal to young voters because we didn’t live through a Cold War. What conservatives see as an aberrant evil, young people see as a solution to a real problem.
Our message should be focused on how the American people can get great healthcare without paying for everyone else’s, and formulating a plan to deal with college debt. We should publicly bash the university system for defrauding young 17-year-olds into major debt and even call on Republican employers to end hiring based on a college degree. Let’s start playing to win, rather than playing to lecture.
