Capitalism or Socialism?

Did you hear about the latest Rasmussen Poll? In their recent telephone survey they asked American adults “Which is a better system – Capitalism, Socialism or Not Sure”? Barely half (53%) said Capitalism was better while 20% said Socialism and 27% wasn’t sure. Wow.

Digging into the demographics is even more revealing. So who favors Socialism? Mainly the young. Only 13% of people over 40 picked Socialism over Capitalism while that doubles to 26% of the thirty something crowd and jumps to one-third (33%) of the youngest adults picking Socialism as the better system. Wow again. It is one thing to be idealistic when you are young but this is carrying it too far.

Except the Rasmussen report that accompanied this finding poses the hypothesis that perhaps the young aren't as much socialistic as they are dumb. OK so they didn’t quite put it that way but that was the general gist of it. You see their survey never defined either Capitalism or Socialism, it simply asked which system was better. So maybe the 20 year olds just didn’t understand the meaning of those words so that they couldn’t make an informed decision. Hmmm. Sounds like what we saw during the Presidential election, doesn’t it?

This ignorance was supported by earlier surveys which showed that 70% of Americans supported a “free-market economy” while only 15% prefer a “government-managed economy” and another survey showed that just 14% believe the government would do a better job of running the auto companies. Granted, these surveys polled different people but if 70% want a free-market economy and yet only 53% want Capitalism then what else can you infer other than many people are poorly educated and not too bright.

Think I am being too hash? That maybe the older generation has always denigrated the younger generations? Think again. In the history of this country, never before have one-third of the younger generation turned their backs on what makes America great – the rights of the individual and instead are embracing a political system that promotes the government over the individual. And if they truly aren’t Socialists and basically didn’t understand the terminology then they are uneducated fools. So take your pick – in thirty years America will be run by either Socialists or ignorant twits. Feel better now?