IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 253 

Recognizing that it is the sense of the United States House of Representatives 

that Socialism poses a significant threat to the freedom, liberty, and 

economic prosperity. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2019 

Mr. BROOKS of Alabama (for himself, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. GREEN of Tennessee, 

Mr. GOSAR, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. PERRY, Mr. CALVERT, 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Mr. KING of Iowa) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 

addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing that it is the sense of the United States House 

of Representatives that Socialism poses a significant 

threat to the freedom, liberty, and economic prosperity. 

Whereas, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Socialism as 

‘‘any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of 

goods’’; 

Whereas, Merriam-Webster Dictionary also defines Socialism 

as ‘‘a system of society of group living in which there is 

no private property’’; 


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•HRES 253 IH 

Whereas, Merriam-Webster Dictionary also defines Socialism 

as ‘‘a system or condition of society in which the means 

or production are owned and controlled by the state’’; 

Whereas, Socialism and the policies advocated for by self-described ‘‘democratic socialists’’ have an underlying historical connection to the Marxist theory, also known as 

Marxism; 

Whereas, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels originally established Marxist theory when they published The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital; 

Whereas, the theory developed by these books and that of 

Marxism are a direct attack against the capitalist model 

of economic production and opposed the notion of secured 

private property rights; 

Whereas, Karl Marx wrote in The Communist Manifesto that 

‘‘[w]hen in the course of development, class distinctions 

have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole 

nation, the public power will lode its political character. 

Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another’’; 

Whereas, history has witnessed countless failed Marxist inspired regimes. Time and time again, without fail, Marxist and Socialists inspired governments fail. Socialism is 

guaranteed to fail, no matter whether it takes the form 

of democratic Socialism, central planning socialism, or 

authoritarian Socialism, Socialist policies and programs 

do not work; 

Whereas, history has witnessed the rise and fall of enough 

Marxist inspired socialist regimes to recognize that Marxism and Socialism are failed ideologies; 


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•HRES 253 IH 

Whereas, in the 20th century the ideologies of Marxism and 

Socialism spread throughout the world; 

Whereas, throughout the reign of the former Soviet Union, 

socialist policies and programs were responsible for the 

death of millions of his own citizens based on the devastation caused by the implementation of socialist policies 

and programs, resulting in famine, death, and destruction; 

Whereas, socialist policies and programs failed in the Soviet 

Union, leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and complete 

collapse of the Soviet Union. On December 25, 1991, the 

Soviet hammer and sickle flag lowered for the last time 

over the Kremlin, thereafter replaced by the Russian tricolor in the early 1990s; 

Whereas, Mao Zedong was the principal Chinese Marxist 

theorist, and the leader of the revolution that created the 

Chinese Communist Party. Mao Zedong served as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party 1943 through 

1976; 

Whereas, socialist policies and programs continue to destroy 

countries in the 21st century; 

Whereas, today, in 2019, the country of Venezuela is in massive turmoil, with riots in the streets, massive protests, 

disputed elections, and challenges to establish a working 

government that is supported by its citizens; 

Whereas, Venezuela is run by two rival political organizations, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Popular Will, a progressive social-democratic party; 

Whereas, due to the perverse incentives and inherent flaws of 

Marxist theory, Socialism inevitably leads to societal rot, 

resulting in devastation and destruction; 


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Whereas, existing socialist policies are destabilizing Venezuela’s economy and national stability; 

Whereas, Venezuela is rich in natural resources. Venezuela 

has the largest proven barrels of oil reserves in the entire 

world, reported to be 300 million barrels, by World Atlas 

in January of 2019; 

Whereas, because of the socialist policies and leaders in Venezuela, their inflation rate had soared to 80,000 percent 

by the end of 2018, with nearly 90 percent of the citizens 

of Venezuela living below the poverty line; 

Whereas, because of the socialist policies and leaders in Venezuela, the average Venezuelan has lost 24 pounds in the 

last year due to malnutrition and lack of access to food, 

water, and other basic nutrients; 

Whereas, there is an alarming amount of support for socialism and democratic socialism spreading across the United 

States of America; 

Whereas, a 2018 Gallup Poll showed 57 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of socialism, while only 47 

percent of Democrats polled have a positive view of capitalism; 

Whereas, an increasing number of Democrat politicians have 

labeled themselves as ‘‘democratic socialists’’ over recent 

years. The line between democrat and socialist has been 

increasingly blurred.; 

Whereas, Senator Bernie Sanders, a top 2016 Democrat 

presidential candidate, has declared, ‘‘I am a democratic 

Socialist’’ and went on to advocate that ‘‘it’s time we had 

Democratic Socialism for working families’’; 

Whereas, freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 

and Rashida Tlaib are registered members of the DemoVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:20 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR253.IH HR253

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•HRES 253 IH 

cratic Socialists of America and are self-described socialists; 

Whereas, in October of 2018 The White House’s Council of 

Economic Advisers published a report entitled The Opportunity Costs of Socialism; 

Whereas, this report highlighted the inherent failure of socialism. The report stated that ‘‘[i]n assessing the effects of 

socialist policies, it is important to recognize that they 

provide little material incentive for production and innovation and, by distributing goods and services for ‘free’, 

prevent prices from revealing economically important information about costs and consumer needs and wants’’; 

Whereas, this report from the Council of Economic Advisers 

is quoted as ‘‘[w]e find that historical proponents of socialist policies and those in the contemporary United 

States share some of their visions and intents. They both 

characterize the distribution of income in market economies as the unjust result of ‘exploitation’, which should 

be rectified by extensive state control’’; 

Whereas, the report by the Council of Economic Advisers also 

found that there is ‘‘a strong association between greater 

economic freedom and better economic performance’’; 

Whereas, Margaret Thatcher (1976), once argued, ‘‘Socialist 

governments . . . always run out of other people’s 

money’’, and thus the way to prosperity is for the state 

to give ‘‘the people more choice to spend their own money 

in their own way.’’; 

Whereas, free-market capitalism is the greatest engine for 

human advancement in the history of the world, bringing 

more people out of poverty and into prosperity than any 

economic model in the history of mankind; 


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•HRES 253 IH 

Whereas, the United States of America is the single greatest 

Nation in the history of the world, due in large part because of its system of government that secures private 

property rights of all citizens through the genius of The 

United States Constitution; and 

Whereas, on February 5, 2019, in the State of the Union address, President Donald J. Trump declared that ‘‘we are 

alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country’’ 

and that ‘‘America will never be a socialist country’’: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) acknowledges that Marxism and Socialism 

3 are failed ideologies; 

4 (2) Socialism poses a significant threat to the 

5 freedom, liberty, and economic prosperity to all 

6 countries and citizens around the world; 

7 (3) Socialism is a failed experiment of govern8 ance that inevitably ends in misery and suffering; 

9 (4) throughout the history, tradition, and na10 tional civic spirit of the United States of America, 

11 our country has been a beacon of light shining like 

12 a lighthouse to the rest of the world demonstrating 

13 that freedom and liberty are the surest forms of gov14 ernment; and 

15 (5) stand with President Trump and affirm 

16 that America will never be a socialist nation. 

Æ 


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