I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.”

I couldn’t agree more with everything that Mr. Kasparov said in the quote above. As someone who lived next to a Socialist country prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany, I have a very strong negative reaction to anyone who affiliates themselves with the concept.

A couple of years ago I attended a function at a local University where the Socialist Student Union was out in full force. When a young, bearded twenty-something stood up and identified himself as a “Revolutionary Communist” all I could do was roll my eyes and think “More like a dumb kid with a deep seated need to piss his mom and dad off!”. This kid wasn’t even out of diapers when the Berlin Wall fell. He had NO IDEA what the hell he was talking about. I doubt he could even (safely) identify the business end of a Kalashnikov rifle.

Where does this bromance with Socialism come from? As I believe, and Mr. Kasparov seems to agree, it comes from people who have not had to either live with, or see others live with, the crushing nature of Socialism. Few American youth have ever been to a border that is created by a stark, grey wall topped with concertina wire and guard posts manned by soldiers bearing large guns glaring at you from their guard towers. I have,and I wager that Mr. Kasparov lived behind borders much like that in the former Soviet union.

Mr. Kasparov speaks eloquently though about the issues we face in modern day America and while he agrees that things like income inequality are a huge problem, the answer is “to make the pie bigger, not dismantle the bakery”.

Though, as someone who has seen the horror of a form of government so great, people risked (and lost) their lives escaping it he also has an appreciation of our nation that is unparalleled.

“I often talk about the need to restore a vision of America as a positive force in the world, a force for liberty and peace. The essential complement to this is having big positive dreams at home as well, of restoring America’s belief in ambition and risk, of innovation and exploration, of free markets and free people. America transformed the 20th century in its image with its unparalleled success. American technology created the modern world while American culture infused it and American values inspired it.”

” This complacency was accelerated by the end of the Cold War and it has proved very difficult to overcome in the absence of an existential enemy to compete with. The booming innovation engine of job creation has fallen behind the accelerating pace of technology that replaces workers. The result has been slower growth, stagnant wages, and the steady shift of wealth from labor to capital. In such situations many people turn to the government for help and the siren song of socialism grows louder.”