Jim DeMint: Democrat Platform ‘Would Put Our Country in the Dark Ages’

Former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) warned that the platform of former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and his socialist influencers would “put our country in the dark ages,” during a recent appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

DeMint, author of Saving America from Socialism: How to Stop Progressive Attacks on Freedom, discussed the Democrat Party’s embrace of socialism and warned that it is not just a “threat” anymore, as the left openly embraces the ideology.

What politicians like Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) propose “would put our country in the dark ages, and somehow we have to communicate that,” DeMint said.

“That’s why I’ve come out with a book Saving America from Socialism,” he continued, adding that he seeks to “communicate a sense of urgency that people need to understand the threat that is right in front of us.”

DeMint provided a brief explainer on socialism, addressing its technical definition of the government controlling the economy, or means of production, but emphasized that it is “just part of it.”

“If we want to know what socialism looks like, we’ve had a good glimpse over the last few months as governors and mayors have felt the power that they have because of these crises of coronavirus, and that’s what socialists use to take more power,” DeMint said, detailing what politicians have imposed on Americans over the last few months.

“But in the last few months, Americans have been told whether they can go to work or not, which businesses are essential and which ones aren’t, where we can go, how many we can meet with, whether schools will be open, whether we can go to church. I mean this is a little sense of what happens when power is centralized, and power corrupts people,” he said. “And you’ve seen it in so many governors when they have this power and they don’t really have it, they’ve just taken it.”

“They want to run people’s lives. But the prelude to all of that, the statues coming down Matt, it’s part of removing our history,” he continued, explaining that “we’ve done that in our education system.”

“That’s why Americans don’t know what makes America great and why half the people in the world want to come here right now. It’s not because we’re like other countries, or certainly not socialistic,” he said.

The former senator said socialism was a “threat” when he began writing about it 10 years ago but warned, “Now it’s real.”

“Now the Democrats are running on socialist ideas and even calling themselves socialist,” he said.

Socialism is “top-down management of practically everything,” he added, explaining that it is contrary to the foundation of the nation.

“America was built “bottom-up, millions of people making their own decisions about what they want to do, and how they want to live their lives and what they believe, and socialism changes all that,” he said.

When asked by Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle what Americans can do to stop the rising tide of socialism, DeMint said individuals must be “willing to speak out and challenge people when they’re talking absurdities like we’re hearing now.”

Individuals can make a difference, he said, stressing that they do not have to look to a political party to make the change.

DeMint said it is important to make a difference at the state level, particularly by creating more educational choice via “education savings” accounts so we can “begin to educate a generation of Americans who understand what can make their life better.”

We need people at the state level to make that happen, DeMint told Breitbart News Saturday.

The former lawmaker added that the United States is not a “national government” but a republic, citing the vision of the Founding Fathers, who “wanted states to have the most of the power and the people.”

Using New York as an example, DeMint said some states will operate “very badly” but added that those states will face comparisons to others like Florida and Texas, which are “doing things differently and having more success.” When that happens, there will be pressure on “bad” states to “do the right thing,” he said.

Decentralized power, DeMint added, is key. He also said that Americans need to walk with a spirit of gratefulness — not as victims  — and encouraged Americans to “have the courage to stand up and speak out against these crazy lunatics.”