OPINION:
There is no denying it. Millennials love Bernie Sanders. It is chilling to consider the next generation’s fascination with socialism. The implications if his campaign for equality, if not stomped down, are terrible.
Mr. Sanders is a self-described socialist. He was a financial train wreck for most of his life: not able to hold a steady paycheck until his forties.
We don’t see board members of public companies shopping at the unemployment line for their next CEO. So why should we go there for our next president to lead America’s economy? He was always broke. He lived for years in his parent’s basement and many times on the unemployment list. Sanders resents individual success because he was terrible at it.
He’s a 21st century vampire. He wants to suck the last pint of those who earn. America is a country founded on risk-taking entrepreneurs who commit. History shows us that socialism kills the entrepreneurial spirit everywhere it goes. It decimates it.
Mr. Sanders wants to hunt down the American entrepreneur.
Mr. Sanders’ agenda suggests a plan that may start out resembling a Nordic system, but could lead to tax business owners close to the insane levels tried in France. France promptly experienced a mass exodus of entrepreneurs as they socialized healthcare, and created “equality”. It fails.
Government forced equality demoralizes those who want to build businesses. It creates low-quality. Firms that provide jobs are the backbone of America’s strength and authority. Do we want our top entrepreneurs, our top companies to leave the U.S.?
Imagine the implication for our America’s economy, to jobs, to our GDP and to our country’s ability to pay its bills and defend itself, if the best and brilliant flee our borders. The successful won’t sit and let it happen. They didn’t achieve success by being stupid or passive. Sadly, many entrepreneurs will bolt America before it’s too late.
Exit polls from various states show voters younger than 30 breaking in many cases for Mr. Sanders over Clinton 7 to 1. Millennial followers of Mr. Sanders are getting sold a bogus ticket. They don’t see it. Most don’t understand socialism and how it crushes growth with its limits.
The data show millennials don’t want government running businesses. They don’t want their Uber 30 minutes late, Snapchat broke for a week, or Instagram turned into the experience they get from the Department of Motor Vehicles. When they begin to connect the dots to the implications of socialism, a subject that is covered poorly in schools, Mr. Sanders will start to lose the millennial vote.
They will quickly become cynical with socialism. But where they turn remains to be seen.
Our freedom is under brutal assault. Donald Trump rails against the loss of U.S. jobs to countries like China and Mexico. But imagine what would happen if Mr. Sanders leads our agenda. We’d lose jobs and entrepreneurs at an aggressive pace. America would need Mr. Trump’s wall to keep entrepreneurs in!
We must stop Mr. Sanders at all cost — and protect the remaining power and strength of a free, entrepreneurial America.
Eric Schiffer, is Chairman and CEO of Patriarch Equity, and ReputationManagementConsultants.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.