Is it time for Wisconsin to teach students about the dangers of communism?
In August’s primary, Wisconsin voters flirted with nominating an advocate of socialism as the Democratic Party’s candidate for governor. Elsewhere in the region, national elected officials openly embrace socialist ideals, while the U.S. senator-elect in neighboring Michigan has drawn significant attention for his radical views.
Whatever one’s political affiliation, these developments raise an important question: Is it time for Wisconsin to adopt statewide education standards that ensure students understand the history of communism and the dangers it has posed to freedom, democracy, and human dignity?
There are two distinct variants of socialism, and candidates have not always been clear about which kind they favor. Some favor Sweden as their model, failing to recognize that Sweden today is not socialist — but, rather, a strong market economy with an extensive social safety net. Others do not favor a market economy at all and insist that the government must own the means of production. They are reluctant to name an example nation, however, because the examples have been obvious failures, such as Cuba and North Korea, or growth stories that only happened when the state retreated from central planning, such as China and Vietnam.
According to an old saying, you can vote your way into socialism but you have to shoot your way out — but that is not quite right. Swedes voted for an extensive welfare state but then pulled back democratically, especially during a 1990s fiscal crisis. Today Swedes enjoy such policies as school vouchers and a larger private role in health care. But when Venezuelans empowered Hugo Chavez to centralize control, they found the system he started could not be voted out. When they tried in 2024, the regime declared itself the winner anyway.
