Bernie Sanders and the Second Great Depression

March 02, 2020

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During the 1930s, the Great Depression made many Americans, especially among the elite class, question the merits of capitalism. Progressives of that era thought the Soviet system might provide some answers. Membership in the American Communist Party grew almost tenfold during the Great Depression (from 6,933 members in 1929 to 66,000 in 1939). While America stopped short of handing the Executive keys to an outright communist, it did elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, the most blatantly socialist president in U.S. history so far.

The rise of the cult of Bernie Sanders indicates something similar is going on today as happened during the Depression of the 1930s. Democratic Socialists of America membership grew almost tenfold over the past decade, with around 5,500 members in 2009 to over 55,000 now. A recent Economist/YouGov poll finds 60% of Democrats under 30 support either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

Why the socialist surge? One factor is the absolutely dismal U.S. history and civics education throughout our nation. That's not to say the classes or teachers themselves are dismal – there are still many non-Marxist history teachers in public and private education across the U.S. But the cumulative time spent on U.S. history/civics in school is woefully inadequate to create a thriving electorate. Typically, before a student graduates from high school, they may have a couple years of U.S. history – one in middle school, one in high school – and maybe one year of government/civics. Remarkably, 82% of U.S. colleges don't require a single course in U.S. history or government to earn a degree. And then, even when it is taught, especially in college, it's frequently not the truth: like teaching that the U.S. committed acts in Vietnam almost as bad as things Hitler did (Bernie Sanders actually said this once to a group of ninth graders).

In his farewell address in 1989, President Reagan said: "An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?... We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection… If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit."

The embrace of socialism by the Democratic Party is evidence that this "eradication of the American memory" that Reagan talked about has already happened.

The embrace of socialism by the Democratic Party is evidence that this "eradication of the American memory" that Reagan talked about has already happened. If we're not taught to appreciate the genius of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, it is so much easier to drift toward, and fall for, socialism.

Another factor explaining the modern socialist surge is the American university system. We take America's young people, largely starved of any real foundation in our constitution and history, and send them to college, ripe for reprogramming. For decades, our universities have been the training ground for the perpetuation of Marxism and zealous anti-American philosophy. Every day, millions of young, impressionable adults march into the lion's den like the pale prisoners of Ridley Scott's famous 1984 Macintosh ad, to receive their dose of Marxist indoctrination. America already has thousands of re-education camps – we call them colleges. And the twisted brilliance of this system is that we actually pay the Marxists to re-educate us.

Stark reminders of the effects of this indoctrination can be seen in a series of recently released videos of Bernie Sanders campaign field organizers. In these videos, several young, self-described Marxists discuss their dreams of communist revolution in the U.S. In one rant, a South Carolina field organizer talks reverently about how he learned the "truth" about the Soviet system from one of his college professors. The young man speaks glowingly about the former Soviet Union, as if it was some kind of golden era for humanity and something to aspire to now. America's impressionable students are similarly lied to every day about their nation by very convincing professors (coincidentally, many resemble Bernie Sanders).

So, our U.S. history and civics education is woefully inadequate and too-often tainted by the America-is-evil influence of Howard Zinn's absurd propaganda. And our universities are stocked with Zinn-like priests of the progressive-communist religion, daily molding disciples from the malleable minds of their captive audience. These are certainly serious factors helping create the revolutionary fantasies of Bernie's core supporters. But there is an even more dominant factor causing young adults to put their faith in socialism: the Second Great Depression.

The Second Great Depression is not economic. It is a spiritual depression resulting from erosion of the traditional family, lack of purpose, isolation, and the diminishing influence of religion. And the depression is exacerbated by the effects of technology and social media. The easy drug of tech/entertainment can temporarily numb the depression by distraction. Every time one's mind might veer into thinking about existence, the meaning of life, the state of one's own soul, just reach for that smartphone and scroll those pesky thoughts aside. But this distraction drug is a dark placebo, leaving people feeling even emptier. Our culture is surely the most vapidly distracted culture in world history. And it is also surely one of the most depressed.

Something must fill the spiritual void and, historically, socialism often rushes in.

Something must fill the spiritual void and, historically, socialism often rushes in. We saw it happen around the world, throughout the 20th century. A charismatic "prophet" of socialism comes along when people are hurting, touting the solutions to what people think are the biggest threats, and in short order tyranny makes itself at home.

Traditionally, the spiritual anchor for broad swaths of America has been religion. God provided meaning, identity, morality, and hope amidst uncertainty. Now our culture says you can't be sure of any of those things. It says we can't even know if those things exist (much less God). It says you must find your own truth, find your own meaning. Don't follow God – follow your heart. This is now one of the most common missives our culture aims at its youth. Follow your heart is one of the most dangerous lies our culture preaches. The Old Testament book of Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9).

The follow your heart culture yields to feelings above all else. And no political philosophy caters to feelings more than socialism, especially the feeling of feeling sorry for yourself. Socialism provides the glass-half-empty view of America. It delineates clear villains – the rich and corporations! And it promises instant solutions. It will knock those villains down to size by seizing the means of production and the power of taxation. Forget praying to God for anything, just pull the lever for your local socialist in the voting booth and you'll get instant answers to your greatest needs. Got student debt from your years at re-education camp? Poof! Wiped away. Can't make ends meet with that minimum wage job? Poof! Here's double the money. Having apocalyptic nightmares about climate change? Poof! Green New Deal to the rescue. For young, depressed, spiritually famished socialists, Bernie is a Moses-figure, descending the mountain with his concise list of oppressions and solutions, ready to lead them to the Promised Land. They call it "revolution."

Ever wonder why Democratic Socialists, Bernie supporters, and affiliated groups like Antifa are so enraged? In the absence of God, pressure is put on his replacement to bring fulfillment. Socialism, and ushering in a Green New Deal, and achieving their vision of real justice, simply must work or else. Because there is no alternative for them. These young American socialists regularly frame the importance of these things in existential terms. They've put all their faith in the socialist religion and if they can't force it on everyone – to the streets!

The desperation young Americans feel today is real, but it's very different from the desperation felt by Americans their age during the first Great Depression. The current desperation is borne of affluence – gaining the whole world but losing your soul. It's like a version of survivor's guilt. Having your physical needs met in such abundance, that you become restless and miserable without a spiritual compass to steer you into serving humanity. It's truly mind-boggling that so many young Americans could be raised with a roof over their head, clothes on their back, never missing a meal, and a college education to boot, yet develop contempt for the nation that built such an environment for them. "Bernie Bros" doesn't quite capture the reality of this skewed, self-indulgent Democratic Socialist perspective – it's more like Bernie Brats.

Socialism has always thrived in this gap of hopelessness and despair, because it is people looking to government as God.

Socialism has always thrived in this gap of hopelessness and despair, because it is people looking to government as God. Yet, perhaps the easiest trend to spot in world history is that government makes a terrible, disastrous, and often blood-soaked substitute for God.

We are in the Second Great Depression, but it's not physical starvation this time – it's spiritual starvation. And that makes this Depression even more dangerous to America. A young generation of Americans may have to learn the hard way that socialism will never satisfy their hunger, it will only make it worse.

Be sure to watch the latest Glenn TV Special – Bernie's Radicals: The Fires of Revolution – available now on demand, exclusively at BlazeTV.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

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Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

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Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: AI-written country song tops charts, sparks soul debate

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A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

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The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

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A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

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The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

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Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

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This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.