(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking at the Young America’s Foundation Conference on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence said that CNN’s Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night wasn’t between moderates and liberals as the mainstream media has said, “it was between liberals and socialists, and that’s the Democratic Party today.”



“As we saw in last night’s debate before the first hour was over, leading Democrats advocated a government takeover of health care, open borders, free health care to illegal immigrants, and raising taxes on the middle class to pay for it,” the vice president said.





“And before the night was over, all the leading Democrats argued for decriminalizing illegal immigration, the Green New Deal, gun control and abortion, but today, headlines across the country say that the story last night was that moderates in the Democratic Party were pushing back in the debate,” he said.



“You know it’s pretty amazing what the media calls moderates these days. Last night’s Democratic debate wasn’t between moderates and liberals. It was between liberals and socialists, and that’s the Democratic Party today,” Pence said.



“It really is remarkable to see leading Democrats openly advocating an economic system that has impoverished millions around the world and robbed the liberties of generations. That system is socialism, but it was freedom not socialism that gave us the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world,” he said.



Pence said that freedom not socialism “ended slavery, won two world wars and stands today as a beacon of hope for all the world.”



“It was freedom, not socialism that’s moving us beyond the prejudices of the past to create a more perfect union and extend the blessings of liberty to every American regardless of race or creed or color,” he said.



“I want to say to this rising generation, the moment America becomes a socialist country is the moment America ceases to be America, so we must say in this movement with one voice as President Trump said in his State of the Union address: America will never be a socialist country,” the vice president said.



“Margaret Thatcher probably said it best. She said, ‘the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people’s money.’ The truth is what we all know is Medicare for all means quality health care for none, and the only thing green about the Green New Deal is how much green it’s going to cost all of us if they ever pass it into law,” Pence said.



The vice president warned of the dangers of socialism as evidenced by what it did to Venezuela and North Korea.



“Socialism has been tried in dozens of countries all over the world - from Venezuela to North Korea - and socialism has never worked before. It doesn’t work now, and the American people should reject socialism and embrace freedom with renewed energy and vigor, and I know we will,” he said.