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Country singer and songwriter John Rich is sharing some thoughts on socialism.
“I hear many young folks are leaning socialist?” the 44-year-old Big & Rich singer tweeted on Thursday, July 19, “What if: Socialism was applied to schools? Some make A’s, some make F’s. According to Socialism, the teacher would average the grades and everybody gets a C. Sound good?”
“Might want to study up on what you’re proposing,” he ended his tweet with “NO THANKS” hashtag.
Last November, a widely cited joint report from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and YouGov shows 44 percent of U.S. millennials preferred to live in a socialist country.
Rich’s tweet echoed among a number of people. Jarred Turner—a social studies teacher in Oklahoma—applauded Rich’s tweet. Turner said he uses the exact same example to “explain socialism to my 8th grade students.”
“Many Americans are taught that happiness is a right in the USA. It’s not. The right to PURSUE happiness is guaranteed,” Rich added in a follow-up tweet, “Socialism says that all people should be ‘happy’ and in the same situation. That credo kills drive and dries up the spirit of entrepreneurism.”
Though yearning after socialism, some millennials seem unclear what it is. According to the November 2017 report, around seven in 10 millennials—69 percent—either don’t know the definition of socialism or misidentify it.
“Millennials now make up the largest generation in America, and we’re seeing some deeply worrisome trends,” Marion Smith—executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation—told Fox News.
Fortunately, history tells the truth.
David Satter, the author of “Age of Delirium: the Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union,” estimated the victims of communism—whose beginning stage is called socialism—number close to 100 million. “That makes communism the greatest catastrophe in human history,” he said in an article on the Wall Street Journal.
“We have a duty to remember the past accurately,” U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said when he addressed the House about communism on Nov. 13, 2017.
Allen Zhong is a long-time writer and reporter for The Epoch Times. He joined the Epoch Media Group in 2012. His main focus is on U.S. politics. Send him your story ideas: [email protected]
