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Socialism, a socio-economic system of centralized planning, which has been long rejected in our land of liberty, is now tempting many Americans. It is on the lips of pundits and politicians; wealthy and poor; young and old; blacks, whites, and Latinos; people of faith and of no faith all searching for answers at a time of unprecedented division and uncertainty. Many Americans, especially millennials, blamed the Great Recession of 2008 on the vagaries of free enterprise notwithstanding that government intervention in housing and finance contributed significantly to the crisis.
Is a specter of socialism haunting America, especially among our millennials? There is disquieting evidence of many young Americans’ sympathy for socialism. Exhibit A: 2.052 million people under the age of 30 voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries and caucuses. Exhibit B: Polls find that, not only do a large majority of millennials have a favorable opinion of socialism, a near majority would prefer to live under socialism rather than capitalism.