Former world chess champion and Soviet dissident Garry Kasparov absolutely unloaded on socialist Bernie Sanders and his supporters. Kasparov penned a column in the Daily Beast in which he tells Sanders, “Don’t lecture me about socialism, I lived through it.”
Last week, Kasparov posted a message on Facebook that went viral, blasting the ideology behind Sanders’ popularity and those who wish to see him implement socialism as President.
“I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means,” he wrote.
“Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty.”
In today’s column, the chess champ reminds Americans that the very discussion of socialism and it’s merits in the 21st century is only possible because of “the successes of capitalism in the 20th” century.
He reminds people that ‘taxing the rich’ and destroying the income of the wealthy would be catastrophic.
“The best way to increase everyone’s share of pie is to make the pie bigger,” Kasparov writes. “Not to dismantle the bakery.”
Via the Daily Beast (Garry Kasparov):
My conclusion that “the idea that the solution [to inequality] is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd” apparently had great resonance, and I think I know why. There is a growing consensus that America has deep troubles, and no one can agree on solutions. Everyone agrees that Washington should change, and some want the government to do much more while others want it to do much less. Many of the traditional economic numbers say that America is doing fine, and yet polls say that Americans—especially Sanders supporters—are angry about the present and fearful about the future.
I often talk about the need to restore a vision of America as a positive force in the world, a force for liberty and peace. The essential complement to this is having big positive dreams at home as well, of restoring America’s belief in ambition and risk, of innovation and exploration, of free markets and free people. America transformed the 20th century in its image with its unparalleled success. American technology created the modern world while American culture infused it and American values inspired it.
Kasparov’s genius shows in his words, but as a man who escaped the hardships of the Soviet Union, it’s striking to see he has more American values than Bernie Sanders or any of his supporters.
Check out this clip of Kasparov leveling Russian President Vladimir Putin and his stranglehold over Russia:
Comment: Do you think Bernie Sanders and his supporters are blind to the dangers of socialism? Can you explain to them why capitalism is the economic platform on which America is built? Tell them your thoughts below.
