For some, 2020 will be known as the year of COVID-19, murder hornets, riots, and mail-in ballots. For Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., though, this was “the year socialism went mainstream.”
Haley cited the rise of high-profile and popular socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a sign that socialism is gaining ground in America. Haley is calling for Americans to push back against this dangerous ideology. Fighting alongside Haley is the newly formed Freedom Force, a group of U.S. representatives and senators who oppose socialism.
On the website for Haley’s advocacy group Stand for America, Haley posted an article entitled: “2020 In Review: Socialism Rising.”
In it, she stated,
“This was the year socialism went mainstream. The dangerous ideology, which has failed everywhere it has been tried and ruined countless lives, is on its way to becoming the default economic policy of the Democratic Party. This terrifying trend threatens the future of every American.”
Haley continued:
“The rise of socialism has been a long time coming. Four years ago, the Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) nearly became the left’s presidential candidate. Fast forward to 2020 and he almost did it again, while socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are exerting tremendous pressure on leftist language and policy. In states like New York and in Congress, the ranks of far-left legislators are growing. The socialist left is more powerful than at any point in recent memory.”
Haley cited Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks that a Democrat victory in Georgia would allow them to pass a $15 minimum wage and expanded healthcare.
“The effects can be seen at every level of liberal politics. The Democrat Party now demands a government health plan that would destroy private health care, an energy plan like the ‘Green New Deal’ that would use the power of government to remake virtually the entire economy, greater government power over job creators and workers through heavy-handed mandates, and massive tax hikes that would bring the economy to a crawl. Add to that doubling down on debt-fueled spending by calling to ‘cancel’ student debt, rent, and mortgage payments — the list goes on.”
Haley pointed out the damage done to the economy by COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates, noting that government intrusion on the economy is harmful. She also called out conservatives and business leaders who support “watered-down capitalism.” She called on citizens to fight to protect capitalism.
One group of newly elected congressmen and congresswomen are doing just that. Haley has been supportive of the group called the “Freedom Force.”
The Freedom Force is made up of men, women, minorities, and even naturalized citizens. Members include U.S. Reps.-elect Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., Michelle Steel, R-Calif., Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Burgess Owens, R-Utah.
Some of the lawmakers have personal or secondhand experience with the dangers of socialism, including Spartz, who grew up in Soviet-controlled Ukraine, and Gimenez, who was born in communist Cuba.
Malliotakis said, “For me, socialism is personal. We’re going to fight back vehemently when we see policies being proposed that will fundamentally change our nation.”
Salazar told NBC News, “I want to create a force within my freshman class that will have to be reckoned with. A force of reason, a force for freedom, a force for democracy.” She also sent out a tweet inviting others to join the Freedom Force and fight back against socialism.
The American left and right are drifting farther apart in their view of government and economic policy as socialists like Ocasio-Cortez gain fame on the left and conservatives like Haley draw attention on the right. In the past, liberals and conservatives held different ideas but were still open to debate and working to persuade the other side across what was a relatively moderate center ground. That is no longer the case. “Democratic socialists” are not simply advocating for a somewhat further left ideology, they are advocating for an entirely different system from that of the American founding.
Haley is correct: Socialism has gone mainstream in America. Her recent statement on this issue was focused on the economic implications of socialism, so we won’t go into the even more alarming cultural and civil liberty costs that socialist ideologies are rapidly bringing to America.
Even if we just consider it economically, though, socialism has failed repeatedly, and government-controlled economic systems have brought about nearly immeasurable horrors. One need only look to the once-prosperous Venezuela — where socialism has resulted in more than 90 percent of residents living below the poverty line and so hungry that they have resorted to digging through trash and eating pets and zoo animals to survive — to realize what can and does happen when power-hungry and corrupt government officials think they know best how to run complex economic and financial systems.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, America got only a small taste of what increasingly unchecked state power looks like. No amount of government benefits or stimulus checks can create prosperity, only more hardship. The only way to achieve economic prosperity is through economic freedom.
Check out this episode of the Falkirk Center podcast with Phill Kline on giving up liberty for safety:
