Should Government Make All of Our Decisions?

 

The core belief of the socialist wing of the Democratic party is this: if you give them all your money and all your freedom, they can make better decisions for you than you ever could.

That is what Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) said Tuesday as he outlined the multitude of issues that unite progressives — from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to disgraced Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

"Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Mayor Mom Donnie and Mayor of New York, Mr. Graham Platner, who is running for Senate in Maine. They are socialists," Sen. Kennedy said. "They believe in a government-run economy. They believe that, my words, not theirs, you should send all your money and all of your freedom to them and they can make decisions for you. I don't believe that."

"I believe in free enterprise. I think free enterprise has done more to lift people out of poverty than all the social programs put together," he continued. "They believe in defunding the police. They will bind all of that. They believe that cops are a bigger problem than criminals. They believe in defunding ICE. They believe that, I know some of them that they think all white people are racist. I know some of them that they think Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head are all racist."

This is what makes the socialists dangerous, not just their policy prescriptions, but their underlying ideology: that they can make better decisions on your behalf than you could. Even if they dress it up in the language of empathy, arguing that by providing you with government healthcare and by taxing the rich they can fund more government programs for you, that doesn't give the individual more options. Instead, it reinforces the idea that government is there to provide for you, that it is better than you, and that it will protect you.

That ideology, in its very essence, is antithetical to the vision of the Founding Fathers, who placed their faith almost entirely in each individual to make decisions for themselves to the best of their ability. That is the exact belief that should guide conservatives today, and it lies in our commitment to free enterprise, self-government, and individual liberty.

by Dmitri Bolt at townhall.com on July 8, 2026