“But if your carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/ You ain’t going to make it with me anyhow. – John Lennon
Socialism is trending.
People (especially the younger generation) are justifiably angry.
Young Americans are priced out of the housing market. Colleges are gouging students on tuition with no accountability for future employment. Millennials pay into entitlement programs to support current beneficiaries while less benefits may be available to them in the future.
Government is owned by wealthy lobbyists generating legislation that ignores average Americans yet benefits wealthy shareholders.
Insider trading by politicians has reached maximum capacity while bills designed to stem the corruption are held up by politicians from both parties.
The political system morphed into a duopoly with the two parties working overtime to squash any threat of a third party reform movement.
An example of the political stasis is 92 year old Republican Senator Chuck Grassley recently filed candidacy paperwork for the 2028 election. The Democrats have their own living artifacts in 87 year old Maxine Waters and 85 year old Steny Hoyer.
Finally, Crony capitalism threatens the free market with government chosen companies given an unfair advantage over startups.
Despite all of the above, Democracy combined with regulated capitalism are the only game in town. This combo has raised more people out of poverty than any other ideologies in history.
Listen to Winston Churchill:
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time.
For those standing in line to get their customized Che Guevara tattoo, a history lesson is appropriate.
The two leading proponents of mass collectivization, Mao and Stalin were responsible for between 45 and 95+ million deaths when implementing their economic systems. 
Unfortunately in many universities, the true evils of collectivization are brushed aside. Mao is sometimes given celebrity status while Castro’s Cuba is portrayed as some sort of worker’s paradise. Only the insane would ponder going to Miami beach, jumping into shark infested waters and swimming to Havana in the quest for more freedom.
We need to rethink the current romance with classless societies.
Case in point.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge rule over the Killing Fields of Cambodia should be the poster child of how this tale ALWAYS ends.
The Khmer Rouge decided to turn Cambodia into an agrarian communist utopia. They reset society on their terms to Year Zero.
They rejected modernity, cities, money religion. western influence and especially private property. The idea was to build a society free of class distinctions. Beginning by evacuating the cities and commanding a forced march of 2 million people into the countryside, including hospital patients, the sick and the elderly.
What could possibly go wrong here? Everything!
The nightmare had only just begun. The population was organized into agriculture collectives working 12-15 hours a day with scant food or medical care. Children were separated from their parents, family structures dismantled while money and markets were abolished.
The regime purged Cambodia of anyone considered a threat to equality. Former government officials. minorities, military personnel, teachers, doctors and monks were exiled to places like the notorious S-21 prison were they were interrogated, tortured and executed. Individuals who wore glasses were included in this group because they were considered intellectuals.
During this reign of terror (1975-1979) 2 million people died out of a population of 8 million, roughly one quarter of Cambodia’s citizens. The nightmare concluded when Communist neighbor Vietnam invaded in 1979 and toppled the regime. The effects of this horror linger today.
Our current Democracy and Capitalist is system is far from perfect. There are massive inequalities and other issues that needed to be addressed yesterday. The problems are complex and deep but one thing is certain. The answer isn’t located in a classless society where property rights, money, and free markets are abolished.
There are 100 million reasons why this is true.
