Senator Rand Paul
@SenRandPaul
Socialism Failed in Venezuela, Keep it out of America
Few Venezuelans, or Americans for that matter, will or should mourn the removal of Nicholas Maduro from power. For socialism to achieve its goals, ultimately and always, requires state sponsored violence. Despite what American Democrat Socialists say, there really is no kinder, gentler form of government-run socialism.
This is not the first brush with death for Maduro. Nearly a decade ago, drones nearly killed Maduro. The violence of socialism, it seems, creates many enemies. It happened during one of those staged military parades that seem to be a signature performance of authoritarian regimes — goose-stepping soldiers and long-winded speeches.
Two DJI M600 drones sped toward Maduro as he prepared to speak. Each drone carried 2.2 pounds of plastic explosives. Their goal was assassination. Several soldiers died but the drones missed their mark.
In The Case Against Socialism, I ask: “Who would have wanted to kill Maduro, the leader of the socialist paradise that Hollywood star Sean Penn once claimed had alleviated 80% of the poverty in Venezuela?
Perhaps it was the sixteen year old girl who leads a gang that fights rivals for control of an operation that sifts through garbage for edible food. Or perhaps it is one of the young men from Chacao who hunt dogs and cats in the street and pigeons in the plaza to eat.”
While the story today is of the demise of the Maduro regime, the more important story is will America defeat socialists abroad and vote in socialists at home? The voters in New York City likely just want free food and haven’t concerned themselves with the consequences of who will make that food.
Thanks, or no thanks, to our public school system young people seem to have absorbed the paradise version of socialism but not the horror or carnage that has inevitably come with socialism. Instead of Mao’s famines, they vaguely argue for “socialist” Sweden or Denmark whose leaders keep trying to explain to Americans that they are in no way socialist.
A Gallup poll shows that 51 percent of young American adults (age 18-29) have a positive view of socialism. Though the famines and killing fields of socialism are well documented, American youth blithely accept the utopian promises of “fairness for all.” Or as Mamdani puts it “the warm embrace of collectivism.”
Ultimately, any government that wishes to “own the means of production,” must first take them from who currently owns them, which inevitably requires state violence.
As the Maduro regime ends, Americans and Venezuelans, should heed the words of Professor Lahoud of the Universidad Central de Venezuela: “I have known the reality of the failure of socialism in my own flesh. And as I live in Venezuela, I want to show that this is an absolute failure always and everywhere. Socialism, whatever form it may take, only brings economic destruction and worsening of the conditions of life.” Socialism under Maduro created an economy where 87% of Venezuelans descended into poverty and the average person lost 30 pounds (unintentionally).
It is, and always will be, more difficult to sell an abstraction such as freedom. It is always easier for the demagogue to peddle something for nothing —free cars, free food, free medicine. If no one cares to examine what incentives must exist to create cars, food, and medicine the allure of socialism will persist and may ultimately defeat the will of the people to sustain liberty.
The evil story of Maduro in Venezuela is a sad one, it is the story of socialism in all its drab and dreary machine-like-destruction of individual thought, creativity, and ambition. It is the story of socialism in all its violence, bloodshed, and tyranny. It is a cautionary tale of how America has so far eluded the siren call of something for nothing, an equality determined and enforced by the government — but also a warning to those in NYC who seem enchanted by Mamdani’s socialist cant.
As the euphoria over Maduro’s fall fades, let’s hope that Venezuela will choose a different path, realizing that it was not just Maduro who pitched socialism but a cast of socialist leaders tracing back to the 1970’s. While celebrating the demise of Maduro, the fact that his toppling came by executive order and not by Congressional declaration is not an insignificant point. In this case, a leader who monopolized central power is removed in an action that monopolizes central power. Defenders of limitless Presidential powers call this “the Unitary President.”
Easy enough to argue such policy when the action is short, swift and effective but glaringly less so when that unitary power drains of us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, such as occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam.
Time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost. Best though, not to forget, that our founders limited the executive's power to go to war without Congressional authorization for a reason—to limit the horror of war and limit war to acts of defense. Let’s hope those precepts of peace are not forgotten in our justified relief that Maduro is gone and the Venezuelan people will have a second chance.
12:25 PM · Jan 3, 2026
He managed to spin this away from his usual isolationism and "no regime changes" to instead attack "socialism" (as a purported warning to the Mandamis and Sanders of the U.S.).
= new reply since forum marked as read
