Charlie Kirk Explains Why Socialism Is Tempting But Fails and What Makes America Different

[00:00] Why do you believe a lot of people are

[00:01] beginning to side with the philosophy of

[00:03] socialism and where do you see America

[00:05] going if that continues?

[00:07] >> Very good question. Thank you. So, why

[00:09] is socialism growing in this country?

[00:10] Um, it's it's very it's very tempting to

[00:13] be a socialist. It's very tempting to

[00:15] want someone else to pay for something

[00:16] that you might want. Uh, free sounds

[00:18] good until you have to pay for it. If

[00:20] you think it's expensive now, just wait

[00:22] until it's free. Um, you know, it's

[00:25] there is a reason

[00:28] that it's a very tempting ideology. It

[00:30] sounds very good in practice. We've seen

[00:32] time and time again uh leaders try to

[00:35] paint society as utopias that that man

[00:39] can be perfected that well I think

[00:42] capitalism work just fine. Thank you. Um

[00:44] that man can be perfected and that

[00:46] government as a center bo as a central

[00:49] body can then fix the ails of society. I

[00:51] understand it and I sympathize with it.

[00:53] What would happen if America continues

[00:55] to go down this dangerous ideology?

[00:58] Look, we're going to have a country

[00:59] completely unrecognizable and we must

[01:00] fight it at every single turn. And this

[01:02] is where we come in as freedom fighters

[01:04] where where we are not we are not going

[01:07] to allow this country to go the ways of

[01:09] Cuba, of Venezuela, of France, of Spain,

[01:12] and Portugal, of Greece. that we are a

[01:14] country that still despite our downfalls

[01:17] and despite how you know we do have too

[01:20] much government here and there we still

[01:21] believe in the spirit of the individual

[01:23] we still respect respect free enterprise

[01:25] respect private property rights and we

[01:27] have to we have to continue to fight for

[01:29] that and so to answer your question a

[01:31] very dangerous direction if we go that

[01:32] way

[01:33] >> you said socialism is non-American so

[01:35] what do you think is pro-American

[01:37] >> well let's define what socialism is

[01:39] right socialism is the government

[01:41] confiscation of private property Um it

[01:44] tends to be the rule of the few, not the

[01:46] many, even though they profess to see to

[01:48] say it's the rule of the many. Um but

[01:50] America, the American, let's just say

[01:53] economic tradition is private property

[01:55] rights, markets with proper restraint,

[01:58] entrepreneurship, the ability to

[02:00] flourish, trade, um create new products.

[02:03] Um socialism disincentivizes almost all

[02:05] those things. Socialism is built largely

[02:07] on envy and greed. And hilariously the

[02:09] people that push for socialism the rank

[02:11] and file they don't realize that

[02:13] socialism actually just creates an

[02:14] oligarchy. It doesn't actually create a

[02:16] strong middle class what they alleged

[02:18] you know to want.

[02:19] >> So do you believe in taxes?

[02:20] >> Uh a certain actually ideally 10% across

[02:23] the board. Yeah.

[02:23] >> Okay. So you believe in the confiscation

[02:25] of people's private property?

[02:26] >> Not I mean at some point it depends on

[02:28] if it's private property income or if

[02:30] it's necessary to fund government

[02:32] services.

[02:32] >> That's still a confiscation with a gun

[02:34] through police. If you don't,

[02:35] >> I fully acknowledge a moderate form of

[02:37] something I hate in order to fund a

[02:39] government, police, firefighters, EMT is

[02:41] necessary,

[02:41] >> but that's still a government

[02:42] confiscated property that you said was

[02:43] social.

[02:44] >> Yes. But have you ever called the cops?

[02:45] >> Uh, no. I don't believe I don't I don't

[02:47] like me.

[02:48] >> Okay. You ever gone to hospital?

[02:49] >> No.

[02:50] >> Okay. Well, one day when you go to a

[02:51] hospital or you, you know, use the

[02:53] social services.

[02:53] >> But I say you define socialism as a

[02:55] confiscation of private property and

[02:56] you're saying that you taxes, which is a

[02:58] confiscation.

[02:59] >> Okay. Let me go further. Let me go for

[03:00] the unreasonable confiscation of private

[03:02] property. the elimination of private

[03:04] property altogether. You see, this is

[03:05] very sloppy intellectual thinking that

[03:07] just because we want a police force, a

[03:09] border patrol, and we want clean

[03:10] streets, all of a sudden we become a

[03:11] socialist.

[03:12] >> But those are still socialism.

[03:13] >> Not every form of government is

[03:14] socialism. Would you acknowledge that?

[03:16] >> No, I don't.

[03:17] >> Okay. That then

[03:18] >> when does socialism begin and when does

[03:19] it end? And I'm saying you're saying

[03:20] you're saying some level like an

[03:22] entrance into

[03:25] anti-American. I'm saying socialism is a

[03:27] part of America.

[03:28] >> You want to know when socialism begins

[03:30] and when it ends. When when you leave

[03:32] the free state of Florida and you enter

[03:34] the unfree state of New York,

[03:36] >> the tax rate in Florida then

[03:37] >> zero.

[03:38] >> No.

[03:38] >> The income tax in Florida is zero.

[03:41] >> But you still have to pay federal taxes.

[03:42] So if you have to pay taxes at all, it

[03:43] sounds like Florida's a socialist state.

[03:45] >> But yeah, but so are you trying to say

[03:46] America's currently socialist? Yes.

[03:48] >> Okay. I would agree. We're going more in

[03:50] that direction. So

[03:51] >> but then but you just said that America

[03:52] is socialist, but you said Florida's not

[03:54] socialist. So for part of America, that

[03:55] doesn't make sense.

[03:56] >> Oh, but the federal project right now is

[03:58] more socialist than it is free market.

[04:00] So to make even more clear, the closer

[04:02] you get towards the government owning a

[04:04] majority of your labor and your goods,

[04:05] the further and further closer you get

[04:06] to socialism. California is that now I

[04:09] would love for the federal government to

[04:10] get rid of FICA tax, to get rid of, you

[04:12] know, the excess income tax. I've been

[04:14] clear. I think 10% across the board,

[04:16] fine. We need a military. You might not

[04:17] agree. We need a police force. We need a

[04:19] border patrol. We need basic social

[04:21] services that are a safety net, not a

[04:22] hammock. But I do not believe in this

[04:25] over-the-top type taxation. If you want

[04:27] to talk about other types of taxation

[04:28] that everyone here is paying, it's

[04:30] inflation.

[04:30] >> How are you?

[04:31] >> Hello.

[04:32] >> Nice to see you. What's your name?

[04:33] >> I'm DaVon. I frequent the table a lot.

[04:35] >> Oh, cool. Good.

[04:36] >> So, I was in history class and I learned

[04:39] about the whole socialist thing and I

[04:40] saw the figures and the numbers of

[04:42] people dying when you know Stalin was up

[04:45] everything and I I heard some things and

[04:47] I made the point I decided to come over

[04:49] and ask. Um, sure. So, one of my big

[04:52] questions is if someone who wasn't

[04:54] crazy, because we know Stalin was crazy,

[04:56] Lenn was crazy, everybody else is crazy.

[04:59] >> If someone who wasn't crazy did

[05:00] socialism, would it still end up bad?

[05:05] >> Yes.

[05:06] >> Yes.

[05:06] >> Yes.

[05:10] >> Every time it's been tried, it has

[05:11] failed. And it depends what you mean by

[05:13] crazy, but even in the most innocent

[05:16] implementations of socialism with quote

[05:18] unquote benevolent leaders, it falls

[05:21] apart. Um,

[05:25] >> I mean, I would I would also make the

[05:27] argument first that socialism

[05:30] lends itself to people that want to

[05:32] assume power really quickly, right? So

[05:34] like Hugo Chavez, Nicholas Maduro,

[05:37] Venezuela, you know, Fidel Castro in

[05:40] Cuba, uh Robert Mugab in Zimbabwe. These

[05:43] are like really bad people, right? So

[05:45] socialism creates the power framework

[05:48] for really bad people to do really bad

[05:50] things really quickly.

[05:52] So because since government controls so

[05:55] much, all it takes is for one person to

[05:58] control the government, therefore one

[05:59] person controls everything. You know

[06:01] what I'm saying? So what our argument is

[06:05] is how do we prevent that sort of

[06:07] tyranny from happening while also having

[06:09] a functioning civil society, right?

[06:10] Because we don't want anarchy. That's

[06:12] not what I'm saying. Um like I was just

[06:14] saying, I do believe in some form of

[06:16] taxes. I'm not saying get rid of all

[06:17] taxes, but we're way past, I think, the

[06:20] point of reasonable, you know,

[06:22] government, you know, interference. But

[06:24] there have been examples where socialism

[06:26] was tried with people that had the best

[06:29] intentions and it's it's fallen apart.

[06:32] So, I mean, you even look today in

[06:34] Spain,

[06:35] >> they've implemented a lot of socialist

[06:36] [music] policy. Spain is a mess.

[06:38] Portugal is a mess. Greece is a mess.

[06:40] France is a mess, for example. France is

[06:42] a quasi socialist country, right? I

[06:44] wouldn't say Emanuel Macccron is a

[06:46] dictator.

[06:47] >> Yeah.

[06:47] >> You see what I'm saying? Because what

[06:48] here's the problem with socialism is

[06:50] that the incentives of a socialist

[06:53] country is to take as much as you can

[06:56] from the people to try to provide

[06:58] services. Well, eventually wealth has to

[07:00] be created somewhere.

[07:03] Eventually you have to extract wealth or

[07:04] else it runs out. But it's a very

[07:06] thoughtful question.

[07:07] >> It's a very thoughtful question.

[07:08] >> Yeah. And to add on to that, another

[07:10] thing I learned in that class like

[07:12] directly after hearing that Normally,

[07:14] right after socialism and communism

[07:16] comes fascism directly after.

[07:18] >> Isn't that funny how that works, right?

[07:20] >> Yeah, it's it's Thank you for the

[07:22] answer.

[07:22] >> Thank you, Davon. Right.

[07:23] >> Yep. Appreciate it.