Is this what Bernie Sanders and his ilk envision for America when they fervently promote pure socialism? Via Fox News: “In a new sign that Venezuela’s financial crisis is morphing dangerously into a humanitarian one, a new nationwide survey shows that in the past year nearly 75 percent of the population lost an average of 19 pounds for lack of food. The extreme poor said they dropped even more weight than that. The 2016 Living Conditions Survey (Encovi, for its name in Spanish), conducted among 6,500 families, also found that as many as 32.5 percent eat only once or twice a day — the figure was 11.3 just a year ago. In all, 82 percent of the nation’s households live in poverty, the study found.”

Way back in 1985, Sanders lectured, “Sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is because people are lining up for food. That’s a good thing.” By that logic, the millions upon millions of undernourished Venezuelans, some of whom now lie in mass graves because they can’t find enough food, can somehow be construed as “a good thing.” Sanders wrongly believes that his version of socialism would evolve differently. But the reality is that socialist “equality” for everyone means misery for all. And for those who think Sanders can somehow turn statism into a utopia, it’s worth reflecting on what Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s said last year in support of Sanders: “He is an emerging candidate with a renovating and revolutionary message.” Unlike America’s leftists, Maduro understands the end result is always the same.

Consider also this 2011 excerpt that appears on Sanders’ senate.gov website: “These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger.” That may be true. But as Venezuela demonstrates, they also share hunger equally. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that nothing can change the minds of statist supporters — even widespread malnutrition that results in 20 lbs. of weight loss. Instead, as Sanders might say, they’re more apt to perceive it as an effective dieting regime.