If my past descriptions of “democratic socialism” offended delicate sensibilities, then buckle up, this column may require a stronger constitution. The late economist Walter Williams, whose 2019 warning about millennials voting for socialism has only grown more relevant with time, called socialism a “tragic vision,” a belief system rooted in good intentions, enforced by centralized power, and always ending in misery.

Six years later, the data confirms he was right.

Williams relied on polling from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation showing roughly 70 percent of millennials open to voting socialist and about one third holding favorable views of communism. Updated surveys paint a similar picture. Multiple national polls conducted in 2024 and 2025 show roughly six in ten Americans under 30 viewing socialism positively, while favorable views of capitalism among that same age group hover closer to 45 percent. A generation raised after the Cold War has been taught to confuse socialism with Scandinavian social safety nets, often labeled “democratic socialism.” This ignores the fact that Norway, Sweden, and Denmark rank among the most market-oriented economies in the developed world, with strong property rights, flexible labor markets, and private enterprise generating the wealth that funds their welfare systems.

Williams insisted on moving beyond vibes and into facts, and that is where socialism collapses. The Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index remains the gold standard for comparing outcomes across nations. In the 2025 edition, countries in the top quartile of economic freedom posted average per-capita incomes exceeding $65,000. Nations in the bottom quartile struggled to reach $11,000. Life expectancy in the most free economies averaged nearly 79 years, while the least free barely cleared 62. Extreme poverty was negligible in the top quartile and widespread in the bottom.

The rankings tell the same story year after year. Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand, and other market-driven economies remain at the top. The United States, despite regulatory expansion and federal overreach, still ranks among the most economically free nations on earth. At the bottom sit Venezuela, Argentina, Russia, and China, countries defined by state control and managed markets. Freedom works. Central planning fails every time.

Walter Williams valued real-world examples because socialism always looks good on paper yet collapses in practice. Venezuela was once the wealthiest nation in South America, powered by oil reserves that should have guaranteed prosperity for generations. After decades of nationalization and price controls under so-called “21st-century socialism,” Venezuela’s economy shrank by roughly 80 percent from its 2013 peak. Millions fled the country. Inflation reached levels measured in the millions of percent.

Argentina followed a similar path. Once among the richest countries on earth, it spent most of the last century trapped in cycles of Peronist intervention and government dominance. Only recently has Argentina begun reversing course through deregulation, spending cuts, and market reforms. Early indicators suggest renewed investment not because socialism was improved, but because it was finally rejected by the people.

Then there’s the history socialists desperately want young people to forget. Williams was blunt about the body count, and he was right. According to extensive academic research, including the work of political scientist R.J. Rummel, communist regimes were responsible for well over 100 million deaths in the twentieth century. These were not accidents. They were the predictable result of concentrating power in the hands of the state and silencing dissent in the name of equality.

Yet misguided American intellectuals repeatedly excused these crimes. Journalists praised Stalin. Academics defended Mao. Writers romanticized revolutions they never had to live under, while popular culture turned figures like Che Guevara into icons for children who were never taught the history behind the image. That moral blindness continues today, repackaged as “social justice,” “equity,” and “our common purpose,” now commonly enforced through DEI mandates. Centralized authority is still sold as compassion, and freedom and the free-market is still blamed for failures caused by government interference.

Why does this failed ideology keep selling itself to young Americans? Because too many institutions profit from ignorance. NEA-driven education bureaucracies, nonprofit advocacy groups, and federally funded civic programs increasingly push ideology instead of history, civics, and economics. In Alaska, we see the results in bloated agencies and NGOs, unsustainable pension promises, and school districts that resist competition while supporting failing student outcomes. Empowering individuals and families through school choice and fiscal discipline threatens the very structures that benefit from dependency. This is the bedrock of socialism.

Walter Williams warned that authoritarian systems never arrive wearing jackboots. They arrive wrapped in the heartstrings of compassion and urgency. Nazism, Stalinism, and Maoism did not begin as mass-murder campaigns. They began as promises to fix inequality, manage markets, and reshape society for the common good, today often rebranded through DEI mandates and so-called “good governance.” The polling among young voters and the steady decline in global economic freedom should concern every American who values liberty.

The answer is not complicated. Free people, free markets, and a constitutional republic founded on Christian principles have lifted more people out of poverty than any system in human history. The United States Constitution was designed to restrain power because the founders understood human nature. When government grows, freedom shrinks. When individuals are trusted, societies thrive.

We don’t need a new vision. We need to recover the old one! Trust people, protect property rights, limit government, and let opportunity work. That is how we honor Walter Williams’ legacy, and that is how we preserve the republic.

As always, these thoughts are my own, and not those of anyone else, including the State of Alaska Legislature.

Originally published on Substack: https://kevinjmccabe.substack.com/p/the-tragic-vision