Analysis

America ‘Won’ The Cold War … Right?

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Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Former President Ronald Reagan demanded in 1989.

While the Cold War officially ended in 1991 and freed millions from the communist regime of the Soviet Union, 30 years later is appeared soviet thought has seeped into the U.S.

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was founded in 1919 and claims to have “championed the struggles for democracy, labor rights, women’s equality, racial justice and peace for 100 years.”

Still, CPUSA makes clear that socialism is the way to communism, according to a statement posted on their website.

“For democracy. For equality. For socialism,” the group says.

And they’re onto something; while the U.S. hasn’t seen a wave of a communist takeover, there is overwhelming support among young voters for socialism, which CPUSA says is a stepping stone to communism.

While socialism and communism are very similar in that they give the government a massive amount of power, one main difference is the complete abolishment of private property under communism. Under socialism, individuals can have ownership of private property but the means of generating wealth are owned and controlled by the government. While socialism is achieved through more democratic processes, communism advocates for the complete overthrow of the government which can be violent. (RELATED: Here’s How Wealthy Some Of America’s Most Prominent Socialists Are)

Support for socialism dominates the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and academia. A group of more than 120 retired military flag officers criticized the Biden Administration for their alleged turn toward socialism through critical race theory (CRT), a radical concept that was born in critical legal studies.

Critical race theory holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

“Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government,” the letter read.

“Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776,” the group wrote. “The conflict between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.”

The group pointed to “excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression.”

A Virginia mom recently took social media by storm after sharing her story of how she fled communist China and is fearful the U.S. would go down the same path as schools across the country push CRT.

“I’ve been very alarmed at what’s going on in our schools,” Xi Van Fleet said at a Loudoun County School Board meeting in June. “You are now teaching, training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history. Growing up in Mao’s China, all this seems very familiar.”

“They are [a] Communist regime [that uses] the same critical theory to divide people. The only difference is they use class instead of race.”

But colleges are also seeing communist ideology infiltrating campuses. Approximately 500 K-12 schools and 65 colleges in the U.S. have partnered with the U.S.-based Confucius Institute whose headquarters are based in Beijing, China.

The Trump administration sought to force schools to disclose their partnerships with the Confucius Institute, with some U.S. officials alleging it was an advocacy group for Chinese Community Party propaganda. The Biden administration later withdrew the rule.

Despite the horror stories of communism, the push for socialism and eventual communism softens the blow for many young voters.

Meanwhile, Antifa brands itself as the party of anti-fascists but has spent months wreaking havoc on communities.

The left-wing group uses violence and intimidation to silence and beat reporters in the name of anti-fascism. A poll from March found 71% of Americans believe Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization.

The Berlin Wall was successfully brought down because of an overwhelming desire among roughly 300 million people worldwide to be free from the grips of communism. And while communist influence declined three decades ago, its grip seems to be rising again.

The Communist regime in Cuba is propping up Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and supporting the socialist dictatorship in Nicaragua, according to USA Today. Communist Cuba offers training and support to Venezuela and Nicaragua on how to crackdown on protests and repress protesters to cripple their movement for freedom.

Amy Phan West escaped Vietnam’s communist dictatorship by hiding in the bottom of a fishing vessel headed out to sea in 1984. She told Young Americans Against Socialism (YAAS) her parents said they had to flee “because we will die in the hands of the communists.”

“Once the communists took over, everything that [my parents] fished they had to give to the communists, the government,” Phan said. “And if they don’t do it, they make an example of them. Bury them alive.”