As socialist candidates gain traction across the nation, three expats who fled countries under similar policies caution against what happens when socialism goes wrong — warning these governments can seek to "control people" and "scare them."
Emmanuel Rincón, a Venezuelan expat who escaped his country in 2017, urged vigilance against democratic socialism in America.
"They like to call [it] democratic socialism, [but] there is no democratic socialism, because the main incentive of socialism is to take the money and take what the people have legitimately earned and give it to some people that have never worked," Rincón told Fox News Digital. "That is not democratic in [any] way."
Democratic socialism is defined by the Democratic Socialists of America as "a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society." But those who’ve actually lived under socialist policies warn the promise of a "real voice" is fictional.
According to Rincón, who lived his entire life under socialism in Venezuela until 2017, he’d have to wait 18 to 20 hours in line just to put gas in his car, which was heavily regulated.
"We could go to the grocer[y store] to buy meat and eggs or milk or whatever… but we wouldn't be able to find meat or milk, or bread… and you have to make lines for 6, 12 hours only to try to buy something... It's really that bad. It was only because of the mismanagement of the socialist administration," he continued.
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Rincón also touched on criminal activities that locals defer to as a means of survival to obtain food, given that wages aren’t enough to buy basic needs.
Eliécer Ávila, a Cuban expat who was forced to flee the island in 2017 after speaking out against the negative impact of communist policies on its people, commented that immigrants who escape dictatorships often appreciate the United States more than the Americans born in the country.
"Cubans, Venezuelans, Latinos, who lived in dictatorships and who managed to live in democracy, have to appreciate it a lot… Every time I talk to the Americans themselves, I think that I love the United States more than those who were born here, because they have no point of comparison," he said.
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When asked what he would say to a room full of far-left Democrats or socialists in America, Ávila offered a comparative metaphor to Donald Trump banning democracy and being president for 67 years to attempt to bridge perspectives with those who advocate for socialism.
"Imagine [he banned] the Democratic Party on the first day and all the others. That he closed all leftist media outlets… everything. That nobody could criticize Trump because they’d get 30 years in prison, be shot or exiled. Imagine you could only have a car, phone or passport if you’re a Trump supporter," he asked. "Would you agree with that, Democrat?"
"I'm sure that 100% of you would say, ‘[I'd] take up arms against him.’ So, [maybe] now you can understand me," Ávila quipped.
"There is a gap that's being exploited… because there's a lot of evil forces in the world that do not want America to succeed. And they've realized very early on actually, that America cannot be defeated from the outside — it's too strong — but it can be defeated from the inside," Gene Maine, who escaped the Soviet Union in 1981, said.
"Through generations of things like demoralizing the population, removing trust in the institutions, like elections, like courts, you [sow] doubt in the heads of the people that what you have right now is probably the best that's ever been," he stated.
"There is no such thing as free lunch. [People are] starting to understand [that] when [the] government that offers you everything can also take everything away," Maine added.