The mask slips at Socialism 2025

From college campuses to the media, socialism is increasingly getting repackaged as a solution to every problem: homelessness, housing, policing and education. For a generation grappling with high rent, student debt and political distrust, the collectivist utopia may sound like the moral, modern choice.

But it isn’t – and this year’s Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago proved just why it is doomed to failure.

The conference brought together scholars, activists and self-styled revolutionaries to sketch out what a “just” society might look like. The vision was as radical as it was impractical. Professor Lorgia García Peña offered community-building strategies rooted in the idea that “capitalism sucks,” the collective should care for everyone and we can still somehow focus on individual needs. Geo Maher, a leftist academic who resigned from Drexel University under public pressure after tweeting satirical comments about “white genocide,” called for the abolition and reconstruction of the state.

And that was just the warm-up.

Other speakers proposed eliminating police from campuses, abolishing test scores and even replacing the nuclear family with alternative community structures. The overarching belief is clear: America’s systems – capitalism, policing, meritocracy, marriage – are all inherently oppressive and must be torn down and replaced with something “equitable.”

This isn’t just intellectual playacting. These ideas are gaining traction with young voters, nonprofit organizations and activist movements. But while the packaging may be new, the content is painfully familiar.

At its core, socialism demands conformity. It doesn’t nurture freedom – it replaces it with the illusion of fairness. And in that process, it always comes for the very people it claims to protect.

Let me offer a basic example. Imagine you’re a responsible, hardworking American. You save throughout your life, build up your 401(k), and prepare for retirement. But under a socialist regime, your wealth isn’t just your own – it belongs to the collective. If there’s a growing population of sick or elderly citizens who need care, the state could decide that your retirement savings are better used elsewhere. You sacrificed. You planned. And now the reward is redistribution in the name of equity.

This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s the natural outcome of collectivist thinking. When everyone’s needs are “shared,” the idea of personal ownership becomes a privilege – one the state can revoke at will.

Now consider the push to eliminate test scores. Some on the left argue that standardized testing is racist or outdated. But in any system of learning– math, medicine, music – you need a way to assess progress. You need a standard that shows who is learning, who is struggling, and who needs help. That’s how real growth happens.

But in the socialist imagination, disparities equal injustice. If some students perform better than others, the problem isn’t addressed by tutoring or hard work. Instead, the test must go. The scoreboard is the enemy.

That’s the central flaw of socialism. When the collective is all that matters, the individual must shrink to fit the mold.

Even the family is not safe. Several speakers at Socialism 2025 questioned whether the traditional family unit still “meets the needs of the people.” One suggested that marriage could become an unfair advantage – something to be restructured or even abolished. And in a socialist system, that’s not just rhetoric. If the family is viewed as a source of inequality, the state has every incentive to discourage it – by revoking tax breaks, reducing support and prioritizing communal living instead.

To some, these ideas may sound like liberation. But dig deeper and you’ll see the truth: this is about control, not compassion.

What about capitalism? Is it perfect? Of course not. But let’s be honest – capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in human history. If you are poor and want to become middle or upper class, capitalism is your best bet. It rewards hard work, innovation and resilience. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it does offer the opportunity – and that’s more than socialism ever has.

As a black conservative, I find it laughable when critics claim capitalism is inherently racist. That’s a lazy argument that avoids real solutions. The problem isn’t the system – it’s access. Fix education. Improve hiring pipelines. Encourage entrepreneurship. But don’t burn down the house just because the plumbing needs work.

Socialism cloaks itself in virtue, but once the layers are peeled back, it’s just another excuse for elite planners to micromanage the lives of ordinary people. And it always ends the same way: with less freedom, fewer choices and a ruling class that insists they know what’s best for you.

So the next time someone offers you socialism as the answer, ask yourself: who gets to define what’s fair? Who decides what you deserve? And once you hand them that power, what makes you think they’ll ever give it back?

Because in the end, the collective doesn’t care who you are. It only cares what you owe.