Attention Socialists/”Democratic Socialists” and Communists,

I am sorry, but you are all wrong.

Now, I know that you all mean well.You want equality of outcome and to make sure that everyone has a shot at the American Dream, but while your noble intentions do their best to conceal the ugly truth of reality, you will eventually yield the terrible secret of your ideologies: authoritarian regimes that will inevitably rob the people of their inalienable rights endowed to them by their “Creator”. So, let us explore these ideologies, shall we?

First, the key distinction between socialism and communism (also known as Marxism) is that socialism is an economic system whereas communism is an economic and political doctrine that was the end goal for Karl Marx. Essentially, socialism is the economic wing of communism. Also, while I am aware that neither ideology has dictators by definition, it is important to realize that it produces them when put into practice.

According to Democratic Socialists of America, they believe that “…both the economy and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few.” To me, that sounds dangerously close to Marxism.

Do not let this definition fool you. While this does sound nice on the surface, it is a strategic sleight of hand because they, whoever coined the term, make it seem as if adding the word “democratic” in front of socialism will drastically alter what socialism inherently is. It does not. PragerU has an informative video on the fundamental problem with socialism .

For example, before the military seized power from him, the corrupt president Robert Mugabe , whose aim was to create a one-party socialist state, was democratically elected by a majority in Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2017. The result of the socialist’s 30-year rule? Unemployment soared, public services collapsed, support grew for gangs that seized white-owned farms, food shortages increased, the murder of the opposition became normalized, and the economy shrank by 18 percent in 2008, which caused Zimbabwe to abandon its currency the following year.

If that’s not enough, another example would be Hugo Chavez. This leader of the United Socialist Party was also democratically elected by most Venezuelans. The result of his and his successor Nicolas Maduro’s rule? Utter chaos. Hugo Chavez took control of the oil industry, which previously caused the country’s prosperity, and fired the executives.

Also, while poverty was halved under Chavez, it was only able to happen because of the state seizing total control of the private industry. In Venezuela today, many people are starving to death, dying because of the lack of medicine or medical treatment, political prisoners are tortured, there is no freedom of speech and inflation is so bad that it has broken the stock market .

Now, let’s talk about communism.

According to Communist Party USA, they “stand for the interests of the American working class and the American people.”

In his work Das Kapital, Karl Marx, the father of the communist ideology, presents the idea that workers are exploited under a capitalist system. While I do think that Marx was trying to make it so that everyone is treated fairly and to ensure that people are not taking advantage of other people, he is misguided. Firstly, Marx predicted that there would be a large-scale revolution that would be between the working class and the owning class.

That revolution never happened. Secondly, his argument about worker alienation is unrealistic. I think that he focuses completely on the labor worker and, while that is noble, the labor worker cannot practically be a synonym for humanity as a whole because humanity needs efficiency, progress and innovation. These needs would be very difficult to meet if the labor workers’ importance is placed above all else.

Also, the reason workers are paid less and the reason for these voluntary transactions is because unlike the business owner, who is the innovator in this case, you decided to make a deal where you will receive financial security. Adam Smith famously said, “He who does not work, does not eat,” which is basically the argument for capitalism. When communism has been tried in history, the world received the brutality and selfishness of Mao Tse-tung , Vladimir Lenin , and Nicolae Ceausescu .

Finally, what you all must realize is that the United States became and is still a global superpower because we are not like any other country in history. Instead of succumbing to the vices that have stripped people of rights and claimed so many lives, we stayed true to the ideas within the Declaration of Independence and ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke.

Understand this, and we will keep America great.