My friends, a new CBS News/YouGov poll came out this week, and the numbers ought to stop every one of us in our tracks — not just conservatives. Surveyed August 12 through 14, Democrats told pollsters they view socialism more favorably than capitalism, 58% to 32%. Only 18% of Democrats had a negative view of socialism. Half had a negative view of capitalism. Let that marinate for a moment.

Not every Democrat who viewed “socialism” positively in that survey wants what Cuba or Venezuela has. A lot of them mean something closer to “more fairness, more public services” — that's literally how Democrats in the poll defined the word when asked.

And it's worth noting that Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, called these numbers “lunacy” and said he's “a proud free market capitalist.” This isn't a case where everyone on the other side agrees with the trend — plenty of them are worried too.

But here's what I keep coming back to, and it's the same thing I've said on this program for years: liberty, not democracy, was the whole point of the American founding. Every government before ours told the people what they could do. Our Founders flipped the script. Our government answers to the people, not the other way around, because our rights come from God, not the state.

But over half of all Democrats apparently don’t believe in that any longer. That’s the problem is that when socialism is on the ballot — and make no mistake it is in 2026. And when it is on the ballot, we’re voting to decide if we will embrace or abandon the very foundations established by our Founders.

And choosing socialism puts us on the wrong path — a very dangerous one.

There's an old illustration from the economist Walter Williams that's stuck with me for years. If I walk down the street and put my hand in your pocket and take your wallet, that's theft — plain and simple, and the law treats it that way.

But if enough people vote for candidates who collectively put their hands in your pocket and take your wallet, some people suddenly call that legitimate. It isn't. A group voting to take what belongs to you doesn't turn theft into justice — it just means theft has the approval of the majority.

Socialism is on the ballot in 2026.

And for the sake of this country, I hope it loses — bigly.

Conservative, not bitter.
Todd

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Here's something I don't think most Americans know, my friends.

Our country has deviated so far from the way it was founded that a lot of us can't even picture the original anymore. And a big chunk of that deviation happened in one year.

1913.

Go back to the founding. The federal government could not reach into your paycheck. That is not how this was set up.

Washington ran on tariffs — duties collected at the ports on goods coming into the country — and on excise taxes. Whiskey, that sort of thing.

There was no April. There were no forms. You never told the government what you earned, because what you earned was none of the government's business.

And when it came to taxing people directly, the Constitution made it hard on purpose. A direct tax had to be spread across the states by population. You couldn't aim it at one group of Americans and pull the trigger.

That's the design our Founders left us. Now look at what we did with it.

Then came the 16th Amendment, ratified in February of 1913. Now Congress could tax your income directly, with no state standing in between. Withholding — money coming out of your check before you ever lay eyes on it — didn't show up until World War II.

Our Founders would have been mortified. Not just by the rate. By the idea that a federal agency gets to ask you what you made and expects an answer every April.

We act like that's normal. It isn't normal. It's just familiar.

Two months later came the 17th Amendment, April of 1913. Senators would now be elected by popular vote instead of chosen by their state legislatures.

Now, that one sounds like more democracy, doesn't it? More voting has to be better. That's the instinct.

But look at what we gave up. The Senate was there to represent the states — to give them a real check on federal power, because the legislatures that sent those senators could pull them right back home. Take that away and both chambers answer to the same crowd. There is nobody left in Washington whose actual job is defending the states from Washington.

Put those two together and you have the system we're living in right now. Washington takes your money directly, then offers a slice of it back to your state as a grant — if your state does what Washington wants. Comply, and you get some of your own money back. Don't, and you don't.

That is upside down from the way this was built, my friends. We were a union of independent states. We're a lot closer now to fifty branch offices waiting on Washington’s approval.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you the 17th Amendment is getting repealed any time soon. In fact, that’s likely never going to change.

But you can't fix what you don't understand. And most Americans have never been told this trade was ever made — let alone that they're still paying for it.

We post several clips from today's show on Facebook — this is just one of them. I'd love it if you would follow us there and comment or share our content so it reaches someone else who needs to hear it, too. After all, that's the whole mission around here!

Fair warning: the comments can get wild. But sometimes that's half the fun!

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