Former Rep. Allen West issued a rallying call Tuesday to conservative millennials amid socialism’s rise in popularity in the United States.
“I know that this generation is going to step up. Why? Because every generation in the United States of America has stepped up and met the challenge of their time, and the challenge of our time is to make sure that this constitutional republic is maintained, sustained and preserves for future generations” the former Florida congressman said while addressing the 40th National Conservative Student Conference in Washington, D.C., put on each year by Young America’s Foundation.
West said conservative students need to be on the offensive, arguing a defensive stance is no way to win an argument.
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“Most people today don’t really know what they believe in,” West said. “And it’s so important you stand with that courage to be able to educate them. Don’t fall back because when they call you names. That’s what they want; they want you to back away,” West said.
During his talk, West emphasized the importance of having a clear understanding of the concept of liberty in the Western tradition, saying the Left has tactically redefined these words in order to further their political agenda.
“I’m not like antifa … these guys are really confused, they say that they are anti-fascism, but yet if I try to go to a college campus, they try to shut me down from speaking there,” West said.
Bringing up the appeal of socialism to millennials, West referenced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently beat out incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley in a New York primary.
“When you think about someone who’s got a degree in economics is out here telling people they’re gonna give them all this free stuff, now maybe she was studying Keynesian economic theory — yeah that’s what I’m saying it don’t work,” he said. “But when it comes to a philosophy of government Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has it completely wrong. She does not believe in equality of opportunity; what she believes in equality of outcomes,” he continued.
While Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have made their ideas more palatable to the American electorate under the phrase “democratic socialism,” West insisted that it’s really a misnomer. “You can call it democratic socialism, progressive socialism, Marxist socialism whatever you want, always remember that Vladimir Lenin said that the objective of socialism is communism,” he said.
“Socialism is an economic model that leads to a societal change,” he added.
“How odd is it that you have people saying that we’re gonna hand out free money, a Universal Basic Income when the United States of America right now is pretty much at full employment,” West said. “We have more job openings that we have people to fill it.”
West said he has hope for the rest of their generation saying: “Eventually, the folks you’re talking to will come to see the light. You know when they’ll come to see the light? When they get out and start working and all of a sudden they’re introduced to Mr. FICA.”
