A Christian columnist says the fact that life in America's poor communities is already in the grip of socialism ought to be example enough to dissuade voters from allowing it to spread further.

Many of the Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2020 are openly pushing policies rooted in the principles of socialism. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is advocating free college tuition. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Maine is promising universal child care. California's Senator Kamala Harris and New Jersey's Senator Cory Booker both are calling for a guaranteed basic income. And all of them want single-payer healthcare.

Undoubtedly, many voters are wondering how all the "free" stuff would be paid for – but they likely also are curious how well the government would be at delivering those services. Columnist and activist Star Parker says look no further than America's inner cities: they're already socialist, she argues.

"The government controls all healthcare already in our urban core; the government controls all daycare in our urban core; it controls all housing in our urban core; it controls all education in our urban core – and what we see is distress," she shares. (Read her recent column: "Socialism has already hurt America.")

No, she says, it's not working out too well for urban America. "Government is controlling absolutely everything in our most distressed zip codes and it's impacting the people," she tells OneNewsNow. "... We're seeing the same results that we see when we have socialism and/or government control in other countries."

In her column, she describes Venezuela as the "poster child" for what happens when a nation's economic machinery falls under political control.

"Anytime you want to expand government into things the private sector should be doing, that's socialism," she adds. "[It tells people] what you must do, what you must pay your people, what you must do in terms of fixing your structure."

And once it gets a foothold? "When you leave government control or socialism unchecked, it spreads," says Parker.

A downhill tumble lurks

The rise of socialism in America has a network of pastors very concerned for the future.

Dr. Gary Dull is a board member of the American Pastors Network and executive director of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network. He says according to the U.S. Constitution, America was designed to be a capitalist nation – and yet there are those in the younger generation, he notes, who are fighting against that.

Dull

"If we become a socialist country, it's going to take our nation downhill quicker than anyone can imagine," says Dull.

Dull shares that he was very pleased that President Donald Trump spoke clearly and forcefully against socialism in his State of the Union address last month. But he remains discouraged that many young Americans lack understanding when it comes to socialism.

"Many of these people who want the United States of America to become a socialist country have never lived in a socialist country [where they would] see how you lose your freedoms, you lose your rights," he says. "And if they would go and live in one of those countries for a year, I think they would change their minds."

He also acknowledges it's not just young people who are misinformed. He points out that 77-year-old Bernie Sanders, a self-described "democratic socialist," announced this week he's running for president once again – much to the delight of many young voters.