Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said that democratic socialist countries enjoy “much more trust in government” than the United States, arguing that government serves as “the great equalizer of opportunity.”
Jayapal made the remarks in an interview released Thursday on the podcast It’s Open with Ilana Glazer. She also accused the “right wing” and “fascists” of deliberately undermining Americans’ trust in government to preserve power for wealthy elites.
“It is really important to the right wing, to the fascists, and all the people who want to control this country, and the billionaires, that people don’t trust government. Because, back to the idea of socialism, the idea for people who are democratic socialists, who believe in socialism, the concept is that government is the great equalizer of opportunity. That’s how I think about it. It’s the biggest entity out there that can make sure that you have basic needs provided for,” Jayapal said.
She continued, arguing that discrediting government is a deliberate strategy by those seeking concentrated control.
“And that idea is very dangerous to people who want just a few very wealthy people to control everything, right? And so, the more they can undermine our faith in government, the more they can say government is corrupt, government is this, government is that, it’s inefficient, it’s et cetera, et cetera — the more effective they can be in having people not trust government,” she said.
Jayapal then pointed to other nations as a contrast, saying that in “countries around the world and Europe and other places, people trust government.”
“That’s been eroded over time, but those are socialist countries. They are democratic socialist countries. And in many of those places, there’s so much more trust in government because government has provided a lot of the fundamentals for a long time,” she said.
She added that the erosion of that trust abroad is “in part because of the role of the United States, frankly.”
Jayapal, who represents Washington’s 7th Congressional District, is a prominent member of the House’s progressive wing often referred to as
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