Why Democratic Socialism can't work

“Democratic Socialism,” preached by Sen. Bernie Sanders and others, seems like a pretty good dream. The problem is, it is just that — a dream.

Imagine a nation where higher education is free for everyone and nobody pays a dime for superior health care. Of course, the money has to come from somewhere, so you also have to imagine having blinding high income taxes and even a confiscatory wealth tax on people that own nice things — or at least things that are nicer than what others have.

Before looking at the financial details (something most supporters are loathe to do), let’s have a peek at the hypocrisy behind the plan. Who really wants free college and free health care? Obviously, if they were truly free we’d all want them, but, we know they aren’t free and somebody has to pay the bill. But, nobody likes paying bills, so who really wants this free largess?

When it comes to free higher education the answer is pretty easy even if you don’t have a college degree. A recent Bankrate poll found free higher education was supported by 77 percent of people under the age of 30. No big surprise there — college students want free college. But what about free universal health care? In this case I’d expect support from the opposite age demographic, but it turns out again that it’s the young and healthy that also want free health care. An Associated Press survey found over two-thirds of those younger than 34 support free universal health care.

So what do millennials and government-funded higher education and health care all have in common? Well, for the young the dream really is no dream at all. In fact, a study by the non-partisan Tax Institute found that only 11 percent of all tax revenue is paid by people under the age of 35. All the good stuff really is free to supporters of Democratic Socialism because they don’t “pay their fair share” (their phrase, not mine).