Eric Patterson, writing for Fox News Opinion, contends that a breakdown in content and perspective prevents average Americans from engaging meaningfully with self-styled communists and socialists. The column details a recent encounter at a farmers market where a young woman displayed Soviet-style symbols while advocating for communism in the United States. When confronted with historical evidence of totalitarian violence, including the Gulag and the Tiananmen Square massacre, the woman stated she was unsure what the accuser was talking about.
Patterson notes that the young woman could not name specific crimes of capitalism but argued that America should atone for them. She expressed a belief that communism would deliver a high standard of living through wealth redistribution. The author describes the conversation as absurd, highlighting the disconnect between the peaceful setting of the farmers market and the call for the overthrow of the existing system.
The article attributes this ideological gap to a simplistic neo-Marxist educational lens. Patterson cites data indicating that 62% of young Americans aged 18 to 29 view socialism or communism favorably. He links this sentiment to curricula that frame U.S. history as a narrative of oppressor versus oppressed, referencing "The 1619 Project" and the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America. According to Patterson, these critical theories attack traditional views of the American Dream and U.S. exceptionalism.
The author argues that the primary obstacle to dialogue is a lack of factual knowledge regarding the historical record of communism. He states that 100 million men, women, and children were murdered under communist regimes. Patterson lists survivor testimony, government records, and photographic evidence of concentration camps in the Soviet Union and China, as well as torture, deportations, and forced starvation. He asserts that violence continues in current regimes such as Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, and North Korea.
Patterson suggests that many young people dismiss these atrocities as exaggerated or justified defensive measures against capitalist imperialism. He argues that without a sense that evidence demands a verdict on these crimes, individuals exist in a different reality than most Americans born in the twentieth century.
To address this, Patterson proposes returning civic institutions, including media, schools, houses of worship, and families, to basic principles. He advocates for educating the rising generation on the Declaration of Independence, representative government, and free-market economics. The column calls for transmitting historical narratives of communist crimes and U.S. efforts at self-defense, such as the Berlin Airlift, the creation of NATO and the United Nations, and Cold War victory.
Patterson concludes that communism is a political fantasy rooted in envy and brutality. He states that the best hope for stopping socialism lies in inoculating young people against it at the earliest age through accurate content and proper perspective.