The United States has a high level of positive attitudes towards socialism, communism, and the like. Cultural Marxism, as well as ideologies derived therefrom, such is the case with cultural Marxism, and critical race theory are also on the rise.Edwin J. Feulner is the chairman of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He was also the founder and former president of The Heritage Foundation and Amb. Andrew Bremberg is the president and CEO of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He joined The Bill Walton Show in order to discuss this worrying trend.Below is a lightly edited transcript. You can also watch the entire episode by clicking the link above.Bill Walton: The Bill Walton Show is a conversation with leaders, entrepreneurs and thinkers. It offers fresh perspectives on money and culture as well as politics and human flourishing. Interesting people, interesting stuff.America has a problem. The United States has a problem with positive attitudes towards socialism and communism. Nearly half of American children in their 20s support socialism. This is an increase from 40% last year.This is a shocking lack of knowledge about the history, realities, and evils communism. Over 100 million people were killed by communism in the 20th century. This was followed up with billions of people being forced into Marxist tyranny.Two highly skilled leaders and experts will be joining me in discussing these threats and how to deal with them. Dr. Edwin J. Feulner is the chairman of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.Amb Andrew Bremberg (president and CEO of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation) is also with me. He previously represented the United States at the United Nations office and other international organisations in Geneva. Before joining the U.N., his previous duties included being an assistant to President Donald Trump and director of the domestic policies council for the executive.Ed, let's start with you. This issue: How did we get to this point?Ed Feulner says: Bill, I'm sorry. I have a bit more gray hair than you. I guess that I was more interested in it than you. This was a brief summary of my 20th birthday and my first trip to Europe. I was accompanied by a group of college friends and the priest who was our chaperone. We were in Munich on August 12, 1961. We were to travel on the Autobahn from Berlin to pass through Eastern Germany. This was very common back then. That night, however, something happened.We could not go to Berlin. The communists were doing some thing. They wanted to prevent people from transiting, to stop people going to the east, to the communist side and into West Berlin. That was the night that the Berlin Wall began.I was there, and communism was very real to me. In the years that followed, I was involved in research at the Center for Strategic International Studies. There, I researched questions such as trading with communists and what they were doing during the Vietnam War.It was then that I got to know it better and saw it in person. It was very humbling because of the stark differences between their system and mine.Yes, there are different political parties and emphasises, but the fundamental principle is that each individual can be whatever he or she wants to be and continue on. These opportunities are not available. That's what really got me awakened to what was happening in China later.Walton: Andrew and I worked together during the Trump transition. Ed, we all were in this together, a group of brothers. Your domestic policy was important. You were a master of every rig on the planet, which was quite impressive. You resurfaced four years later as someone who is passionate about China, and the global threat of communism. What happened?Adam Bremberg, Thanks Bill. Eds has a shorter story. Growing up, I was surrounded by the pillar figures and experiences of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul IIheroic leadership testimony about communism.As a child, I can still remember the moment when the wall fell. You were there when it was built. I can remember as a child the fall of the wall and the fall the Soviet Union. Like many Americans, I was exposed to the horrors and evils of communism as a child.That was far away, and it was gone in the past. To the extent that communism was still a threat to the world today it was these dictator countries that weren't communists. These dictators were places no free people would choose to live.China is another example. But don't worry about China. They will become more market-oriented and Westernized. They won't be communist. It's okay. That is the world in which I grew up and came to be an adult.When I started my career in public policy, I was primarily interested in domestic issues. I believed that economic liberty and freedom at home were the most important thing I needed to focus on. That's why I was determined to ensure that individuals have the freedom to exercise their religious freedom, economic freedom, and work in that space.Like many Americans, my eyes opened only after the past few years. I learned a lot from the experience and was extremely honored to be the U.S. ambassador at the U.N. in Geneva. That experience, which I'm sure we can all talk about, helped me to understand the true nature of the threat communism poses to our current way of living.The actions of the Chinese communist Party are evident from what we see worldwide. This is what motivated me to leave government and join the Victims of Communism Foundation.Walton: We all need to be accountable for this. I was on Wall Street, and we were pouring money into China. Everybody was trying to get their businesses there and set up factories there. The idea was that we would bring China into the global economy, World Trade Organization, etc. They will be rich. They'll be liberal and democratic. They will all be part this happy rural community. This didn't happen.Feulner: Bill, you are correct. I can recall gathering together the presidents from the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institution as well as Heritage. All of us sat down together and agreed on one thing. China should be a member in good standing of the international trade organization. China should also have the most preferred nation status. This will allow the market system to work well and China will look more like us.That hasn't been the case. That was a bipartisan view at the time. It was a mixture of wishful thinking and was at the end the Soviet Union. A Harvard professor wrote a book called The End of History. But it wasn't the end of history. It's worse than ever, as we now know from Victims of Communism Foundation.The Daily Signal offers a wide range of perspectives. This article is not meant to represent the views of The Heritage Foundation.Do you have a comment about this article? Send us an email at [email protected] with your comments. We may publish them in our We Hear You section. Include the URL of the article or the headline, along with your name and the town/state.
