It seems everywhere I turn these days, liberty minded people are perplexed to see their friends, family members and the general public supporting Presidential candidates who are socialist or socialist in everything but name. The younger generation seems especially friendly to “Feeling the Bern,” leaving small government people trying to figure out how their loved ones can possibly overlook candidates’ socialist tendencies.
I can tell you why so many of the youth love the socialist candidates. This is complicated point which will take a lot of concentration to understand and accept, so please brace yourself for the nuclear bomb of truth I’m about to drop. People are supporting socialist candidates because…they really, really like socialism.
I know this should be obvious, but I think a lot of people, especially the older generation, are in denial. Those who grew up during The Cold War era when the socialism of the U.S.S.R. was painted as the philosophical antithesis to all things American have an instinctive and vitriolic rejection of anything reminiscent of Soviet Russia, but most in the millennial generation were not even alive during The Cold War and none know much about it unless they happen to be a dedicated student of history. Most youngsters have zero problem with socialism, so no amount of, “But he’s a socialist,” style arguments will ever sway today’s budding leftists.
If you’re looking at me to convert your loved ones, you’re out of luck. You have a personal relationship while I’m just some dumb schmuck with a blog. Hopefully, the leftists you know trust and respect you which puts you in a much better position to reach them than I’ll ever possess, so let me share some strategies which should help you make your case.
Ease Off on the Nazis
Talking with a friend the other day, we discussed how our church gave us both the impression that a sinful life would immediately destroy you and make you miserable, so when my friend first smoked pot and first had premarital sex and did not immediately become a heroine addict or break out in genital warts, he felt the stated risks of sin had been nonsense. If the church had emphasized a more realistic view of sin being fun for a season but having serious long-term cost, perhaps he would have taken a different path.
Similarly, some conservatives paint an overly cataclysmic picture of socialism. Yes, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were all practitioners of different forms of socialism which lead to the deaths of at least a hundred million people, but we need to be intellectually honest. There are plenty of socialist states in Europe where people are not being rounded up and executed in death camps.
People do need to know the horror stories of National Socialism and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (by the way, you can start using these terms instead of Nazism and the U.S.S.R. to subtly emphasize the importance of socialism to these regimes), but leftists also need to know the more moderate problems inherent in all socialist nations such as the negative impact of socialized medicine, the higher taxes and the lower standard of living. However if you make it sound as if electing Bernie Sanders will lead directly to another holocaust, most leftists will understandably dismiss you.
Feelings not Facts
For generations, small government types have been making largely fact based arguments while leftists have appealed to the feelings of the American people. Which side has been winning?
Bernie Sanders hasn’t been giving specific answers to how economic systems should be structured to even the playing field or how he will fund his many new initiatives, but he has been abundantly clear in condemning the status quo as morally corrupt and stating that the rich have an unfair advantage. Many people don’t need to be convinced in their head if you can capture their hearts.
Fight fire with fire. It’s counterintuitive for many conservatives, but lead with emotions. Ask questions like, “Is it fair for people who chose not to go to college and those who sacrificed to pay their own way through college to have to pay for everyone else’s tuition?” and, “How will it make people who spent years working to earn $15 an hour feel to learn they are now working a minimum wage job with a higher cost of living?” Don’t drop the facts, but insert the feelings into the facts.
Philosophy not Politicians
We’ve all felt indignation when the media attacks a conservative politician unfairly. Perhaps we were not even that thrilled with the politician ourselves, but when we heard the opposition taking a hatchet to a guy on our side, we got defensive.
Leftists feel this way too. A lot of people love Bernie and Hillary, and if you aggressively attack them, you’ll likely end up hurting the feelings of their fans and make them less likely to listen to your arguments. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk, and I fully admit that I all too often fail in this area, but it’s important to focus criticism in a way that targets the message and not the messenger. Make sure to focus on issues rather than personal attacks or you risk ostracizing your audience.
That’s it for today, but later on in the week, I’ll release Part 2 where I’ll discuss a few more strategies.
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