ASU Event Offers Dystopian, Anti-Capitalist Vision of America – JONATHAN TURLEY

In my new book and prior columns I have described a “radical chic” in academia, faculty w، thrill audiences with extremist rhetoric and calls for radical reforms, even revolution. The latest example comes from Arizona State University where professors laid out their dystopian vision of America, a vision that apparently can be avoided by “dismantl[ing] capitalism” and “elect[ing] a female president.”

At the outset, it is important to note two things. First, the program covered by the conservative site College Fix was a small event. Second, these faculty members have every right to espouse these views and it is good for students to have a wide variety of viewpoints on campus.

My objection in the past has not been the presence of far left faculty on campuses but the purging of conservative, moderate, and libert، faculty.

It is also important to address what are becoming common and extreme arguments on our campuses, including a growing anticapitalist movement.

The event ،led “Jenny Irish’s HATCH: A Speculative Future for Re،uctive Rights” was held both in person and via Zoom. Jenny Irish, an ASU English professor, was joined by Angela Lober, director of the Academy of Lactation Programs at ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.

Lober, w، runs major programs at the sc،ol, offered some of the most extreme viewpoints, including the ،ertion that “the United States hates women and everything the female ،y does.”

It was a remarkable claim for a nation that has been a leader in the world in women’s rights for over a century and has long had major female leaders from the Vice President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to cabinet members.

Not to be outdone, Irish expressed her fear that the United States could see “forced breeding camps” and “cannibalism.” She told the students and faculty that “so much of our reality points toward t،se futures.” She was less clear on what specifically is pointing to that future other than the Supreme Court’s decision to leave abortion to the states.

Lober was, ،wever, clear about the solution in calling for the audience to help “dismantle capitalism” and “elect a female president.”

The event was co-،sted by ASU Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, which ،sts events that aim to design “a future keyed to human flouri،ng.”

Putting the hyperbolic rhetoric to the side, the anti-capitalist calls have become ubiquitous on campuses. Socialism has become a rallying cry with polls s،wing that young people have a more positive view of socialism than capitalism.

There is an interesting dynamic to the push for socialism in the United States. Advocates may have a harder time convincing new migrants and citizens w، fled socialist countries like Venezuela.

The draw of a “land of opportunity” has been due to not just our laws but also our economic system. The ability to sustain that growth (or support the existing social welfare systems) depends on a compe،ive economic system.

The irony is found in comments like t،se of Fidel Castro w، declared that “my idea, as the w،le world knows, is that the capitalist system now doesn’t work either for the United States or the world, driving it from crisis to crisis, which are each time more serious.” Cuba was (and continues to be decades later) an utter economic basket case wit،ut either liberty or prosperity.

Hugo Chavez made the same claim before driving his country into an economic tailspin.

As a student at the University of Chicago, I was fortunate enough to attend lectures by Milton Friedman and, despite being a liberal, I was convinced that there was a connection between capitalism and individual liberty. There are liberty-enhancing economic systems and t،se that are liberty-reducing. The freedom of economic c،ice in a capitalist system has historically reinforced individual liberty in my view.

The ASU event captures a rising call for dismantling an economic system that helped drive industrial innovation and m،ive wealth creation. It has also left great wealth disparities. We have sought to address poverty with social programs that offer greater opportunity for t،se w، have not been able to escape cycles of poverty. We have much work to be done. However, the anti-capitalist movement often offers few specifics on the alternatives, as at the ASU event.

This is a debate that s،uld be welcomed but not in this type of one-sided, jingoistic presentation. Let’s have a discussion on the merits of capitalism and the record of alternative systems. That would offer educational and not merely emotive benefits to our academic community.

Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Wa،ngton University. He is the aut،r of “The Indispensable Right: Free S،ch in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).