Should Government Make All of Our Decisions?

 

When it comes to economic policy, today's Democrat Party looks absolutely nothing like its more moderate 1990s-era forebear. 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.

What began as an incipient Barack Obama-era trend toward big government has now, during the post-Joe Biden era, emerged as a strong majority sentiment. A Gallup poll last September found that 42 percent of Democrats have a positive view of capitalism, while a whopping 66 percent hold a positive view of socialism. Leading kingmakers in today's Democratic Party are (literal) Soviet Union-honeymooning communists, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), or leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). And the singular party top dog right now is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is fond of quoting Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto," speaks of the "warmth of collectivism," and is now implementing city-owned grocery stores across the Big Apple.

Communism is the single deadliest ideology in the history of mankind — responsible, historians estimate, for nearly 100 million deaths. Hold aside, as well, that socialism and communism have resulted in horrific resource scarcity and immeasurable immiseration everywhere they have been attempted. At the most basic level, socialism is simply contrary to human nature. Men have a natural right to the fruits of their labor, provided those fruits do not undermine the common good. And it is natural, contrary to the basic tenets of socialism, to value the flourishing of one's family and tribe over that of the polity — let alone the whole world. As Dennis Prager has often noted, socialism violates two of the 10 Commandments: do not steal, and do not covet.

In an April speech in Austin, Texas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued that progressivism and American constitutionalism are fundamentally incompatible. He's right. It's also true that socialism — real, genuine socialism — is incompatible with the American way of life as it's been experienced for two and a half centuries. That's a fact — and it's a powerful argument to make in this milestone 250th American birthday year, in particular. Republicans should make that argument passionately and with alacrity.

"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 and Josh Hammer at townhall.com on July 8 and 10, 2026