George Santayana’s well-worn dictum that “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it” seems more urgent today than ever. That is because the clear historic evidence of socialism's terrible cost seems to elude a growing number of Americans.

More than four in ten Americans now view socialism favorably, according to recent survey results from Gallup. “While 51% of U.S. adults say socialism would be a bad thing for the country, 43% believe it would be a good thing. Those results contrast with a 1942 Roper/Fortune survey that found 40% describing socialism as a bad thing, 25% a good thing and 34% not having an opinion,” the venerable pollster reported.

The vogue for socialism appears to be largely driven by young Americans. A 2017 survey from Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation found that 44% of millennials (those born, roughly, between 1981 and 1996) would prefer to live in a socialist country, while only 42% would favor a capitalist country. A full 7% said that they wanted to live in a communist country!

Some of this may be a matter of definitions. It is possible that young people view such countries as those in Scandinavia, for example, as socialist because they support robust social services. In truth, they are far more freedom-loving than socialist. Sweden embraces complete school choice, for example, and none of the Nordic countries has a minimum wage, Forbes magazine notes. Indeed, those countries rate high on the conservative Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.

Young people may not be familiar with communism, by contrast, and the killing, misery and terror it unleashed upon countless Russians, Eastern Europeans and Central Asians. In China alone, the communist dictator Mao Zedong presided over the death of tens of millions of people. The horrors of Cuba and North Korea are often glossed over, and the sad destruction of Venezuela, once South America's richest country, through its socialist and authoritarian politics gets less attention than it should.

The creativity and potential for riches possible through freedom and free markets, by contrast, have dramatically expanded wealth and improved life.

Alexander G. Markovsky, a think tank scholar who was reared in the Soviet Union, points out that in 1900 in America, “the average life expectancy for men was 47 years, only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub, a three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost 11 dollars, while the average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour, and the two leading causes of death were tuberculosis and diarrhea.” Think of how far we have come.

To be sure, capitalism is imperfect, like every human endeavor. Fortunately, Americans strive to help those left behind, using the immense wealth created through capitalism to fund compassionate social services, protect the environment and help spur opportunity. But it is worth remembering that poverty exists under every system. Only capitalism seems to promote freedom and grow wealth.

The lifeblood of the American experiment is individualism; the idea that you own your conscience, your vote and your labor. Socialism’s creed is the collective; the idea that the state matters more than the individual. By any practical measure — quality of life, freedom, health, and human rights — capitalism has won in a rout. Decades ago, Americans widely understood this. Those who educate the young today seem to be failing them badly on this score.