Young voters are financially drowning — and the life raft the Democratic Socialists of America is throwing them is an anchor in disguise.
asserted
Socialists → drown → disguise
If Americans don’t see past this facade, they’ll be sinking even faster.
asserted
they → see → facade
Rent eats a third of his paycheck, while nearly one-fifth of it goes to commuting costs.
asserted
fifth → eat → costs
He’s paying down tens (if not hundreds) of thousands in student loans.
asserted
He → pay → loans
Little wonder that only 9% of voters under 30 have a “very positive” view of capitalism, or that nearly 60% of voters aged 18 to 24 want a Democratic Socialist to win the White House in 2028, according to a recent Heartland/Rasmussen poll.
uncertain
Socialist → have → poll
Young voters are right that the system is failing them.
asserted
system → fail → them
They’re wrong, though, about which system it is.
asserted
it → ’re → ?
What they’ve experienced isn’t free-market capitalism at all — it’s a quasi-socialist economy that’s let government displace the market in precisely the spending categories that have become least affordable.
asserted
that → experience → categories
Turning further toward socialism means embracing the anchor that’s already weighing them down.
asserted
that → turn → them
Just look at where their pain is already concentrated: education, housing and health care.
asserted
pain → look → ?
These are among the most regulated, subsidized and government-directed sectors of the American economy, and therefore the least like capitalism.
asserted
These → direct → capitalism
It’s no coincidence they’re also the least affordable.
asserted
they → ’ → ?
Meanwhile consumer items like televisions, cellphones and software — all sold in comparatively competitive markets — keep getting cheaper and better.
asserted
all → sell → markets
Start with college, where Washington is the dominant student lender.
asserted
Washington → start → college
The federal government hands out money with little regard for a student’s major, cost of attendance or odds of repayment.
asserted
government → hand → repayment
When government floods a market with subsidized loans, sellers inevitably raise prices.
asserted
sellers → flood → prices
So tuition soared, administrative bloat followed — and 22-year-olds are graduating with the equivalent of a mortgage but no home to show for it.
asserted
olds → soar → it
Housing is the same: Federal, state and local restrictions like zoning, minimum lot sizes, parking mandates and years-long permitting requirements make it illegal or prohibitively expensive to build where people want to live.
asserted
people → make → zoning
Simultaneously, federally backed mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pump up demand.
asserted
mortgages → back → demand
When government throttles supply and amplifies demand, prices skyrocket.
asserted
prices → throttle → demand
Health care may be the least market-driven sector of all: Government pays for roughly half the nation’s health spending.
Certificate-of-need laws in many states force providers to get permission, often over their own competitors’ objections, before opening a new facility or buying equipment.
Tax policy ties insurance to employers, so patients rarely see prices or shop around; without price transparency, cost-controlling competition never kicks in.
uncertain
competition → drive → transparency
Then there’s regulatory capture, where the industries that government is supposed to police end up writing the rules meant to constrain them — as when pharmaceutical lobbyists shape the FDA approval pipeline, or behemoth financial firms use compliance burdens to keep out new competitors.
asserted
firms → ’ → competitors
That’s cronyism, not capitalism.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
And the inflation that’s devoured young Americans’ paychecks in recent few years was driven by trillions of dollars in deficit spending by Congress, which the Federal Reserve accommodated by creating money ex nihilo.
asserted
Reserve → devour → money
The DSA’s platform invites voters to imagine a future where “food, education, energy, medicine and transportation aren’t for-profit businesses.”
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food → invite → profit
But the sectors that most resemble that vision are the basket cases young Americans already accuse of failing them.
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Americans → resemble → them
Handing government more control means adding fuel to the fire.
asserted
Handing → hand → fire
Worse, socialism destroys the engine that makes life more affordable and better over time.
asserted
life → destroy → time
When you confiscate wealth, you destroy the incentive to create it — and lose all the benefits of wealth creation.
asserted
you → confiscate → creation
In free markets, entrepreneurs profit only when creating value for others; if government takes the reward for their risk, expect less of both.
asserted
government → profit → both
Translation: fewer modern conveniences and medical breakthroughs as invention and innovation grind to a halt.
asserted
invention → grind → halt
Still, “Say no to socialism” isn’t much of a platform — and lecturing young voters about frugal living and pulling themselves up by their bootstraps is off-putting, to say the least.
asserted
lecturing → say → least
Socialists make empty promises, but the capitalist counteroffer must be concrete.
asserted
counteroffer → make → promises
So we should push costs down by getting Washington out of student lending — and home lending, too.
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we → push → lending
Repeal costly regulations that prevent builders from constructing new homes.
asserted
that → repeal → homes
Expose who’s really writing the regulations that industry insiders claim to hate.
uncertain
insiders → expose → that
Young voters aren’t naïve for wanting the fair shot their parents had.
asserted
parents → want → shot
They’re right to be frustrated.
asserted
They → ’re → ?
But the answer is to give free markets a chance to actually work — not to pile on more of the government meddling that created the mess.
asserted
that → give → mess
The Aporia
