Kerby Anderson

David Limbaugh was on my radio program last week to talk about his new book, Guilty by Reason of Insanity. He devotes a significant portion of the book and a recent column to socialism. He is as concerned as I have been about the trend in young people to prefer socialism over capitalism.

A 2015 YouGov poll found that 43 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 years of age had a favorable opinion of socialism and preferred it to capitalism. A Pew poll that same year discovered that 69 percent of American youth under the age of 30 would be willing to vote for a socialist president.

Meanwhile, a declining percentage of young people appreciate the benefits of the free market. A Gallup poll revealed that only 45 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 have a positive view of capitalism compared with 51 percent that have a positive view of socialism.

Essentially these young people are reflecting what they are taught in school. Some of the textbooks in high school offer nothing but a critical view of this country and of the free market system. The professors in college teach an even more critical view. David Limbaugh reminds us that one study found that 40 percent of colleges have no professors who are registered Republican. In the remaining 60 percent, the ratio is still “absurdly skewed against Republican affiliation and in favor of Democratic affiliation.”

If the facts could be fairly presented, these percentages would likely change. Socialism is responsible for so much death and economic destruction. By contrast, the free market has been able to lift more than a billion people around the world from extreme poverty and has enhanced the lives of so many others in countries that allow economic freedom.

One of the reasons I have written books and booklets on this subject is to provide an alternative to what is taught in our classrooms and promoted in the media. We need to get accurate information to this generation.