On September 7th, 2022, award-winning Wall Street Journal columnist and author, Kimberley Strassel addressed an audience of over 200 Xavier students, faculty, staff, and supporters on the “Resurgence of Socialism.”  

Ms. Strassel grew up in Buxton, Oregon. After graduating from Princeton University in 1994, she started her career in journalism as a news assistant and a staff writer covering technology for The Wall Street Journal Europe in London. In 2005, she became a senior editorial page writer and member of the editorial board of the Journal. In 2007, she began writing the "Potomac Watch" column for The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Strassel is the author of three New York Times bestsellers. In 2005, she co-authored Leaving Women Behind: Modern Families, Outdated Laws, which focuses on how government regulations interfere with marketplace initiatives to provide women with economic opportunities. In 2016, she published her second book, The Intimidation Game, which explores how campaign finance laws are used as weapons against free speech and free association.  In her latest book (2019), Resistance (At All Costs), she argues how the FBI's unprecedented counterintelligence investigation, bureaucratic sabotage, media partisanship, and character assassinations infringe on the nation’s norms and the rule of law, posing long-term damage to America. In 2014, Ms. Strassel was awarded the prestigious ‘Bradley Prize’ by The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation for her contribution to journalism and political literature. She is a regular contributor to Fox News Sunday and appears frequently on CBS’s Face the Nation and NBC’s Meet the Press.

Strassel addressing the Smith Scholars

In her Smith Center address, Strassel laid out her thoughts on how and why socialism is a popular movement today and why she believes that it should not be the future of America. She began by defining the U.S. as a constitutional republic and, as such, argued that it can never be socialist at its core. “As a limited government, developed and built around capitalism, countless laws and documents would need major amendments for anything that resembles socialism to take hold.” Strassel emphasized that the U.S.’s economic growth is based on its market and capitalist system, maximizing the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

With that in mind, she explained that there are still many people who are seeking government reform and a transition to a more socialist economy. This socialist push, she noted, comes from a number of demographic groups, including young adults. According to Strassel, Socialism, at its core, feeds off peoples’ emotions and the principle of “fairness.” Strassel admitted that she has an aversion to the word “fairness.” “It is a word that my kids are not allowed to use.” She argued that socialism feeds off people’s emotions.

Strassel went on to explain that with a little digging it is easy to show the failures of socialism, with the most recent examples being Sweden and Venezuela. In the case of Sweden, she contrasted the country’s socialist economy from 1970-90, where many of its major corporations, including IKEA, left, incomes taxes were high, and industries were highly regulated, to the economic growth the country is now experiencing under a capitalistic, limited-government, market economy. Strassel noted that one could argue that today Sweden is more capitalistic than the U.S.

Strassel went on to quote James Madison: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Referring to her belief that no power grabber will ever tell you they plan to take away your freedoms, she claimed that socialist leaders in the U.S are not telling the full story of socialism. She argued that the implementation of socialist policies would end up limiting the liberties and freedoms of all Americans, regardless of socioeconomic status.

Strassel also conceded that capitalism is not perfect either. However, given the two options, she maintained that capitalism is the lesser of two evils. And given its proven success, it is the much more consistent and reliable option for economic growth to be achieved.

Prior to her address, Ms. Strassel met with the Smith Scholars. In a question-and-answer session, she shared some of her thoughts on capitalism and her career as a whole. She referred to her career as a “craft” or a skill.  She also stressed the importance of reading. As part of her job, and just for fun, she reads two to three books per week.