“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.” attributed to Winston Churchill
By Ray DiLorenzo
I grew up during the Cold War. We were told, taught, cajoled, and force-fed that communism was evil. And it was and remains. Our politicians said so, our teachers taught us, the Church preached it, and the media warned us. History has shown it to be true. It was common knowledge.
And here we are, watching a group of ‘Democratic’ Socialists take over a major political party and we are expected to accept this as normal politics.
We saw the Soviet Union under Stalin and Khrushchev maintain their hold on power with their political repression, confiscation of property, Gulag labor camps, and starvation at a cost of about 30 million lives.
China’s Mao and his Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) produced a catastrophic famine that killed an estimated 33-43 million people. Their idea of DEI was forced equality, even to the point of everyone wearing the same ugly clothing, forced collectivization, starvation, and state-sanctioned torture.
In Eastern Europe, Romania and Albania fell under the Communist struggle for power to become isolated and coercive states. Enver Hoxha of Albania became a paranoid dictator subjecting his people to torture and murder.
Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania transformed his government into a crime syndicate while subjecting his people to violence and extreme control.
North Korea went communist between 1945 and 1948. To force a total communist state, North Korea went to war with South Korea (1950-1953), initiating a surprise attack on June 25, 1950. The United States, with the support of the United Nations, backed South Korea and Japan to ensure their protection. China entered the war to prevent a U.S.-backed government on its border. It ended with an armistice, technically making the nations still at war.
Today, North Korea is communist with a gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 of $26.6 billion. South Korea is capitalist with a GDP (2024) of $1.875 trillion.
The Korean War cost 36,914 American lives, with 103,284 wounded in action and 7,428 MIA. North Korea and China held 4,714 POWs during the conflict. About 2,700 prisoners were returned. All were subjected to torture, starvation, and political indoctrination.
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Satellite image of North and South Korea at Night North Korea (outlined) and South Korea. Japan is just below South Korea. Above North Korea is China |
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My father-in-law fought hand to hand in the Korean War, was awarded the Bronze Star, and had PTSD until the day he died. My wife remembers her father screaming in the middle of the night. The cost of communism to the Cuban people was profound economic collapse and a dictatorship that suspended civil liberties and suppressed dissent. They were transformed from one of the wealthiest nations in Latin America in the 1950s to an estimated 89% of the population living in extreme poverty. Their Soviet-style elimination of private enterprise and economic planning reduced the 2025 GDP per capita to roughly $7,500 from a 1950s equivalent of $24,000. Today, the country is experiencing hyperinflation with a rate of 70% in 2025 along with severe power shortages and crumbling infrastructure. The black market thrives to acquire basic necessities, provided they are affordable. International observers have noted that Cuban mismanagement and their refusal to employ meaningful market reforms have pushed that “imprisoned island” (JFK) to the brink of collapse. The Vietnam War resulted in approximately 2.5 million deaths. Among these casualties, 58,281 American soldiers lost their lives, while 153,372 were wounded. The war claimed the lives of 58,281 American soldiers, wounded 153,372, and left 1,582 remaining missing in action. The government asserted that the war was necessary to prevent the spread of communism. This conflict was particularly significant for me, as I witnessed the effects unfold firsthand. The shameful rejection of the soldiers who fought in the war, along with the profound impact it had on an entire generation of Americans—who were simply following their government’s directives—left lasting scars and ruined lives. The Democrat Party, in their desperation to garner votes from anywhere, has resorted to extreme measures. Their big tent now welcomes enemies of democracy, freedom, our Constitution, and way of life. We are now witnessing, in disbelief, Communists running for and winning national elections in the United States, despite existing federal laws designed to prevent such insurrection before it escalates into violence. The Democrat Party, the media, and our education system are encouraging these guttersnipes. A DSA representative said recently that he believes they are going to have to resort to violence to further their movement. To all you naive supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America, do you really believe that Americans will allow their assets, private property, and businesses confiscated, and their freedom canceled without a fight? America has sacrificed. No other country has given as much to protect Western civilization from the scourge of fascism and communism. To watch and listen to this ill-founded movement of selling socialism by individuals who know nothing of what they speak is an affront and an offense to every American, especially those that have given their last full measure in defense of our country, both past and present. Let’s not play games; millions of us are offended by these goings-on. This socialist movement will either die by its economic and social excesses or become full-on communism, killing half of our population in the process. Or, it will be nipped, maybe not quite in the bud, but before it becomes something very ugly. |