Glenn Grothman: “It is unfortunate that this week things have--the quality of intellectual thought in this country has declined to the…”

“It is unfortunate that this week things have--the quality of intellectual thought in this country has declined to the degree that we have to bring a resolution to the floor condemning socialism, but that is the way it is. Recently, polls have shown among young people, about half have a positive view of socialism. Now, of course these are young people whose opinions are largely gathered not by personal experience but by what their schoolteachers tell them or what they see on television, so that may be part of the problem, and hopefully, they will grow their way out of it. Nevertheless, I do feel it necessary to make some statements as to why socialism is an inferior way to govern and is completely incompatible with people who want to live in a free society. The first thing you need to know about socialism, of course, it leads to material goods which are not as good as those under a free market system. A lot of that means because the government controls everything, you don't have an opportunity to have competition. The poor restaurant, the poor manufacturer is never forced out of business, never forced to improve, and as a result it means a poorer society. A lot of times the material goods by themselves is one of the reasons throughout history you see people leave the Marxist, socialist sort of society and flee towards the free market system. Cubans leaving to come to the United States.…”