OPINION:
I used to believe that any U.S. citizen 18 or older who is registered to vote should be able to do so, but after New York City’s recent mayoral election, in which more than 1 million voters were duped by Zohran Mamdani’s promises of free stuff, I’ve come to a different conclusion.
We’ve seen the Times Square street interviews where people of voting age can’t name our country’s capital, the state in which New York City resides or in what country Mount Rushmore is located. You have to pass a test to drive, so why not be made to pass a competency test to vote?
Voters should know what two plus two is. They should know that Earth isn’t flat. They should know why we celebrate July Fourth and where the money our government spends comes from. Most important, they should know that socialism and communism are failed systems and that free market capitalism is the best system there is for making life affordable.
The application for naturalization asks whether applicants have “been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any Communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world,” yet none of the 100 naturalization test questions asks whether they know that socialism and communism are failed systems.
On page 38 of my 300-level macroeconomics textbook by McConnell and Brue, under “The Demise of the Command Systems,” it clearly explains why communism and socialism have failed everywhere they’ve been tried.
New York City is about to get an unforgiving lesson in economics.
BEN FURLEIGH
Port Charlotte, Florida
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