Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is warning that democratic socialism, embraced by fellow presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), can lead to a government that will “exterminate” people who step out of line.
“I’ve been trying to point out — I’m on a lot of college campuses, we have a big following on college campuses — there’s nothing sexy and there’s nothing cool about socialism,” Paul said in response to a question about Sanders, whose rise in the Democratic presidential contest has been fueled in part by support from college campuses.
{mosads}“What there is, is the implied force that goes with taking away your choice,” Paul (R-Ky.) said on TheBlaze radio network’s The Glenn Beck Program.
“Only the state tells you what you can do, it’s the most anti-choice economic system,” Paul said. “If you don’t listen, they fine you. If you don’t pay the fine, they imprison you. If you will not listen, ultimately, what has happened in history, people get mad when I say this, but they exterminate you. That’s what happened under Stalin.”
Historians estimate that tens of millions of deaths can be attributed to Stalin’s harsh rule of communist Soviet Union.
Paul pushed back against those who argue that democratic socialism is different.
“People say, ‘Oh, no, no, he wants democratic socialism.’ The problem is, a majority can be just as bad as one single authoritarian and that’s why we shouldn’t allow any of our rights to be subject to a majority.”
Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been open about his identification as a democratic socialist.
“We are going to win because we are going to explain what democratic socialism is,” he said during this month’s first Democratic debate. “What democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong to say that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.”
Hillary Clinton, Sanders’s main rival for the Democratic nomination, immediately shot back, arguing that while America must reign in inequality, “we would be making a grave mistake to turn on what made the middle class great.”