Communism – Family Council

Inoculating Your Children from Socialism: Guest Column

Sep 2, 2026John StonestreetCurrent EventsCommunism, Socialism

According to a 2025 survey, 62% of Americans under 40 have a positive view of socialism or communism. Where did this come from, and what should be done? That’s the question we asked Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation,

We have a problem with both “practical socialism” and “ideological socialism.” We’ve raised a generation of “practical socialists,” meaning that their every need and desire has been provided for by an external authority with apparently no personal cost. Why shouldn’t this support extend into adulthood?

On the ideological side, many of us weren’t paying attention when the media and public education radically changed the narrative taught in our schools. No more the hard-fought American Dream. Instead, they were taught that our history is one of oppressors (usually white and Christian or Jewish) grinding the oppressed. Thus, we need a radical restructuring of American institutions.

Ideas have consequences. Good ideas have good consequences, so re-centering on gratitude, work and value creation, rightful patriotism, and other key themes can help.

The first step is to cultivate gratitude rather than entitlement in the next generation. This begins in the home with how we teach our children to say thank you, show respect to teachers and elders, and recognize the blessings of daily life in America—food on the table, safety, freedom to fully practice our faith, and opportunity for advancement. These are privileges that millions around the world are denied. We should not take them for granted.

Tied to this, is a generation that deeply distrusts authority. Some of this is the result of failures by older generations—broken homes, public scandals, and a culture that too often mocks or dismisses the role of public officials, police, and even parents. Think, how many times have our kids heard, “all politicians are corrupt” or the police mocked as “po-po” or donut-lovers?

When legitimate authority and public service is undermined at home and in the public square, it leaves a vacuum that radical ideologies are eager to fill. By the time kids arrive in college, they’re primed to see America’s story not as one of opportunity and progress but as a litany of oppression and injustice. How we model gratitude and respect for authority—both in word and deed—matters more than ever.

We must also be mindful of what our young people consume—in books and the boundless online content. “Content” spans everything from more ideological school textbooks and Wikipedia articles to viral TikTok videos and Instagram feeds. Much of this material shapes their worldview more powerfully than any classroom lesson.

Limiting exposure to harmful or hedonistic material is only part of the equation; we must also provide access to uplifting stories and ideas that reinforce the values we hope to see flourish. Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet and Carina Felina are children’s books that are analogies of the communism that has decimated her native Cuba.

At the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, we’ve curated an Amazon page of appropriate materials for different age groups and curricula for elementary and middle school families and schools that tells stories of courage, honesty, and sacrifice in contrast with the evils of communism.

Another vital element is the cultivation of rightful patriotism, which C.S. Lewis says stems from an appropriate love of home. Patriotism doesn’t mean ignoring our nation’s shortcomings. Rather, it means an honest pride in the American story—a story that, while imperfect, is remarkable for its steady march toward greater freedom and equality.

One of the best ways to cultivate a love of America is by speaking with recent immigrants. My family has heard me quiz taxi drivers: Afghans, Ethiopians, Ukrainians, Pakistanis, Somalis, and others who fled the devastation of their homelands and who deeply appreciate the freedoms and opportunities the U.S. offers.

A fourth element that deserves attention is the value of work. For too many young people, the experience of holding a job, earning a paycheck, and learning to manage money is delayed or missing entirely. Just a few years ago, it was common for teenagers to take on summer jobs, mow lawns, babysit, or work in local stores. Their work created value, and they were compensated for that value. Learning the value of a dollar, saving up for something special, and making decisions about spending and giving are all part of growing into a responsible citizen.

Finally, we must not neglect the role of religious faith in the shaping of character. Martin Luther King, Jr. rightly observed that communism is incompatible with Christianity because it is “secular, atheistic, and materialistic.” Our Judeo-Christian heritage teaches the opposite. It instills a sense of human worth, dignity, and responsibility for family and neighbors. It teaches that every person is created in the image of God, deserving of respect and compassion.

By teaching children about faith, gratitude, rightful patriotism, and the value of work, we instill in them a sense of purpose and reality that can withstand the destructive ideologies of this civilizational moment.

That was Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation, Learn more about their work at vocmuseum.org.

Socialism: Same Old Pitch, New Packaging

Aug 31, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsCommunism, Socialism

The Cato Institute recently published a column explaining the flaws with socialists’ soundbites and political positions.

Rasmussen reports that support for capitalism has declined since 2023, and a growing share of likely voters now say socialism is better. Last November, Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election. Mamdani, 34, belongs to the socialist Working Families Party. In his victory speech, Mamdani promised New Yorkers a “new age,” saying, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”

But this modern socialism is really just a repackaging of the same arguments and soundbites that communism used in the last century.

Earlier this month, the Cato Institute published a column titled “Ten Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Arguments for Socialism and Why They’re Wrong.”

The column points out well-documented problems with socialism — like rationing in the Soviet Union and collectivized agriculture in Communist China, which oppressed millions of people and kept them in abject poverty.

The Cato Institute argues that government intervention in housing and real estate tends to actually raise housing prices instead of making homes more affordable.

The article also notes that socialism is inherently totalitarian, writing, “Socialism, as law professor Ilya Somin observes of its century-long record, has always required coercion to make people surrender their property to the state.”

Socialism and communism have a well-known track record of tyranny.

As Ben Shapiro put it a few years ago, “Socialism is bad, because socialism is tyranny. Not it’s an aspect of tyranny. Socialism itself is tyranny. … The notion of socialism is that you don’t own your own freedom.”

Or as the Colson Center’s John Stonestreet said last year, “The reason oppression results every time socialism is tried is because it’s built into the system. Oppression is not a bug of socialism. It’s a feature.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1953, “Communism is irreconcilable with Christianity,” because it is atheistic and materialistic and because “the methods of communism are diametrically opposed to Christianity.”

Socialism and communism have simply never worked. Capitalist systems have flaws and weaknesses, but they have still managed to produce good results. Socialism has not.

Maybe that’s why the Democratic Socialists of America has an online store powered by Shopify that accepts all major credit cards and sells DSA merchandise like $30 T-shirts and $45 hoodies.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Speaker Johnson Warns About the Threat Socialism and Communism Pose to Americans

Aug 20, 2026Jerry CoxCultureCommunism, Socialism

Recently, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins sat down with House Speaker Mike Johnson to discuss some of the issues facing our nation. Among them was the rise of socialism and socialist candidates as well as the threat that socialist ideology poses to everyday Americans.

Earlier this year Rasmussen reported that support for capitalism has declined since 2023, and a growing share of likely voters now say socialism is better. On the whole, most Americans still support free markets — but that support has dwindled.

During their conversation, Speaker Johnson discussed socialism’s appeal among younger Americans, saying,

You have a lot of young people who are swayed with this idea that they’ll get free stuff, you know, and no one seems to want to finish and explain to them, you might get a few free things for a short while, but you’re going to give up your freedom and ultimately you might have to give up your life. That’s what’s happened in history.

Last November, Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election. Mamdani, 34, belongs to the socialist Working Families Party. In his victory speech, Mamdani promised New Yorkers a “new age,” saying, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”

Unfortunately, there is nothing “new” about what Mamdani is saying. During the last century, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and others made similar promises to their citizens, and they all met with the same results. Many young people have been taught that socialism and communism failed in the past because they weren’t properly implemented, but that’s not the case. Socialism and communism failed every time they were implemented, because they are fatally flawed.

After the election, our friend Joseph Backholm published a list of some of socialism’s and communism’s basic flaws:

1. Socialism misunderstands human nature and implies that people will be virtuous as long as they have enough money. Then, ironically, it assumes everyone with money is sinister.

2. Socialism takes from the capable and gives to the less capable, ensuring that resources won’t ever be used productively.

3. Socialism destroys competition and consequently destroys innovation.

4. Socialism destroys people’s incentive to be productive by denying them the benefit of their labor. It always produces fewer, lower-quality products.

5. Socialism assumes I have the right to other people’s property just because they have more than I do. It depends upon and incentivizes greed.

6. Socialism denies people the dignity of having what they earn and earning what they have.

7. Socialism assumes people engaged in commerce always operate with corrupt motives, but people in government never do.

8. While claiming to decentralize power, it always centralizes power with a handful of bureaucrats.

9. Socialism assumes it’s always unjust for one person to have more than another, when real justice means the dishonest and unskilled shouldn’t have as much as the honest and skilled.

10. Socialism assumes humanity’s natural state is prosperity and rages over the fact that we aren’t all rich, when in reality the natural state is poverty, and capitalism is the only reason we aren’t all poor.

Joseph concluded by rightly pointing out, “Of course, none of this means a capitalist system doesn’t have weaknesses, but it can produce good outcomes and has. Communism never has because it assumes a world that does not exist and never will.”

Over the decades, other pundits have pointed out that socialism and communism are oppressive because they cannot work without using force against everyday citizens.

Americans — and especially Christians — need to understand socialism’s basic problems and its track record. This is a fatally flawed belief system that has produced disastrous results every time.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.