In his recent State of the Union address, President Trump triumphantly declared that America will never be a socialist country.  As much as I hate to break it to him and those who hopefully cheer that sentiment, it’s just not true.  We all know it’s not true.  And we all know why.

If I can just be blunt, it’s a little tiresome to see so many adult Americans express shock over how popular the aged Bernie Sanders and his youthful iteration, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are amongst young people, including the millennial generation. 

During the 2016 presidential primary I read so many conservative and Republican writers and thinkers who were simply dumbfounded how a pie-in-the-sky socialist with, let’s be honest, nutty ideas and an even nuttier method of presenting them, could be some sort of icon to college kids.  This wasn’t just crazy-uncle kind of infatuation that is really more mockery masked as endearment.  They legitimately thought he made good points, had strong ideas, and was uncovering some sort of economic panacea that a cabal of rich industrialists had kept hidden from us common folk. 

Fast-forward to 2018 and there are many of the same people who sit in indignant outrage that so many college aged kids are gravitating towards the remarkably bizarre and thoroughly untenable policy proposals of Ms. Cortez.  As they laugh at the utter fantasy of her “green new deal,” and stand with gaping jaws at some of the objectively ignorant answers she has to even the most basic questions about government and policy, she garners thousands of retweets from a crowd of would-be world changers with shouts of “slay queen,” and “yessss gurl.”

“But Venezuela!” these voices of sanity shout.  And their shouts echo meaninglessly into the ether.

I get the frustration, but I don’t get the shock.  In fact, the shock annoys me because you can’t expect our younger generations to embrace something that they have been taught by the people they have been intrinsically conditioned to trust – their teachers and professors – is evil.  For too long conservatives, traditionalists, Christians, and all those who appreciated the greatness of Western Civilization merely lamented the state of academia while doing nothing about it.  And when I say “for too long,” I don’t mean that as a clichéd call-to-arms.  I mean it’s too late.  The goose is cooked.  While cheering Reagan’s warning that “freedom is only one generation away from extinction,” they failed the test.

Oh, they complained about all the ex-hippies who had gone from protesting the man to becoming the man.  They objected to all the Marxists and democratic socialists who were entrenched behind the ivory tower as tenured professors.  They did all that while continuing to send their children to them for indoctrination.

Precisely what did they think was going to happen?

As but one anecdotal example, consider what was recently revealed on Twitter about the course offerings of Stanford University.  Look at this “distinguished” university’s course catalog and realize that not one class offered at the school explores or teaches the Austrian School of economics – that is free markets.  Not one.

Meanwhile, there are 91 courses offered at Stanford that explore and teach the philosophies of Karl Marx.  Check out the catalog and see for yourself, and then try to pretend that you don’t know why millennials are gravitating towards Marxism and away from the classic liberalism of Western Civilization. 

The story is well-worn by now:

(1) Parents raise kids, telling them about the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, the great achievements of Americans, and the blessing of opportunity afforded by Western Civilization.

(2) Kids go off to college where they are taught by professors who hate America and Western Civilization how the Pilgrims were colonizing rapists, the Founding Fathers were self-interested slaveowners, the achievements of Americans were accomplished only through the exploitation of the poor, and opportunity only exists for the privileged in a society so steeped in inequality and racism.

(3) Kids desperate for individuality break free from their upbringing, regarding mom and dad as well-intentioned but unenlightened “products of their time.” 

(4) Parents object to what is happening to their child’s mind, but are utterly useless in attempting to undo the indoctrination of the professor, or as he is described: “literally the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life, Mom.  You should read his book.”

(5) Parents eventually either agree to disagree and walk on eggshells against their newly “independent” child (who, in actuality, has ironically become a massive conformist to their campus culture) or in increasing cases, they become indoctrinated themselves by their child’s passion.

This is the current cultural trajectory that barring some sort of unforeseen crisis or event, will walk us through this unfolding, slow-motion, socialist revolution.  So please, lament at will over the impending collapse of Western Civilization.  But stop pretending that you don’t know why it has happened.