Socialist Candidate’s Stunning Claim: Socialism More American Than Capitalism, Despite Historical Record of Colonial Failure

A Colorado congressional candidate just declared that socialism—not capitalism—delivers on America’s founding promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yes, you read that correctly.

Melat Kiros made this jaw-dropping assertion during a recent PBS interview, doubling down when directly challenged on whether socialism has proven superior to capitalism in delivering the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

“Yeah,” she stated without hesitation.

The Fundamental Disconnect

Kiros’s confidence in socialism reveals a stunning ignorance of both American history and basic economics. Her argument rests on crediting “social safety programs” and labor laws—not capitalism—for pulling Americans out of poverty. This conveniently ignores that the wealth required to fund those programs came directly from capitalist enterprise.

She claims capitalism means only “monopolies,” not free markets and competition. This backward thinking demonstrates either willful deception or genuine confusion about economic systems.

When Workers “Own the Means of Production”

According to Kiros, socialism centers on “delivering democracy in the workplace” and ensuring workers have say over their conditions. She paints capitalism as oppressive overlords forcing workers into unsafe conditions for poverty wages.

Reality tells a different story.

America’s Forgotten Socialist Experiment

Here’s what Kiros and her fellow travelers don’t want you to know: America already tried socialism. It nearly killed everyone involved.

The Pilgrims initially embraced a communal system upon arriving in the New World. Their merchant sponsors demanded everything produced go into a common store, with each community member receiving an equal share. All land, all houses, all production—everything belonged to the collective.

Nobody owned anything individually. They were entitled only to their “fair share.”

It was textbook socialism. And it was an unmitigated disaster.

The Historical Record Doesn’t Lie

William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony, documented the catastrophic results. That first winter devastated the population. Starvation became rampant. Death stalked the commune.

The communal system, Bradford wrote, “was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.”

Translation: Socialism killed people.

Capitalism Saved the Colony

Bradford recognized reality and took decisive action. He abandoned the communist model and gave each family a private plot of land to cultivate as they saw fit.

The results were immediate and dramatic. Production soared. The colony prospered. People stopped dying.

Private property rights and individual initiative—core capitalist principles—transformed failure into success within a single growing season.

This isn’t theory. This isn’t ideology. This is documented American history from 400 years ago.

The Modern Socialist Agenda

Today’s socialist candidates ignore these inconvenient truths while pushing radical policies that would fundamentally transform America.

Kiros advocates for a “Trans Bill of Rights” and supports allowing irreversible genital surgeries on children. She demands immediate citizenship pathways for every illegal alien in the country. She promotes abortion as essential to “economic freedom.”

This is the complete package of progressive ideology wrapped in socialist economics.

Why Socialists Keep Failing

The fundamental flaw in socialist thinking remains unchanged since Plymouth Colony: It assumes people will work just as hard when they cannot keep the fruits of their labor.

Human nature doesn’t work that way. Never has. Never will.

When the Pilgrims worked communal land, young men resented laboring for other men’s families. Wives resented cooking and cleaning for strangers. The strong had no incentive to outwork the weak when rewards were distributed equally regardless of contribution.

Bradford observed that the system made workers “Happy to be accounted an excuse” and discouraged all industriousness.

The Prosperity Question

Kiros claims capitalism hasn’t delivered prosperity compared to socialism. This requires ignoring every socialist state’s economic collapse while dismissing capitalism’s unprecedented wealth creation.

Free markets lifted billions from poverty worldwide. Private enterprise created innovations that revolutionized human existence. Property rights enabled ordinary people to build generational wealth.

Show me the socialist success story. You cannot, because none exists.

The Stakes Could Not Be Higher

When candidates claim socialism is “more American” than capitalism, they’re not just wrong on policy. They’re advocating for a system that America’s founders explicitly rejected after watching it nearly destroy their colony.

The Pilgrims learned this lesson through suffering and death. Bradford and his people discovered that collectivism breeds resentment, discourages work, and produces scarcity.

They chose capitalism because socialism failed catastrophically.

The Pattern Repeats

Today’s socialists follow a predictable pattern: Promise utopia, ignore history, dismiss criticism as mean-spirited, and claim their version will work differently.

It won’t. It never does. The economic laws that doomed the Pilgrims’ commune still operate today.

America’s True Foundation

The founding generation understood private property as fundamental to liberty. They witnessed socialism’s failure firsthand in colonial experiments. They built constitutional protections around individual rights and limited government specifically to prevent collectivist tyranny.

Claiming socialism represents American values requires erasing this history and rewriting our founding principles.

The Choice Ahead

Voters face a clear decision. Support candidates who understand that capitalism, despite imperfections, has delivered unprecedented prosperity and freedom. Or embrace politicians peddling an economic system that has failed everywhere it’s been tried—including in America’s earliest days.

The Pilgrims chose capitalism after socialism nearly killed them. Their descendants would be wise to remember that lesson before radicals like Kiros convince them to repeat it.