At a Sunday street festival in Takoma Park, Maryland, a famously liberal community just across the Washington, D.C., border, several attendees told Fox News Digital they might accept the government taking privately owned property, including their homes.
“Yeah, I mean broadly,” Maryland resident Matt Volk said when asked whether he would support the government taking his home. “It’s highly situational, but I definitely think that there’s a lot of privately owned land and property that would be better put to use for public use, for resources and housing and things like that for people who are in need of things like that.”
Fox News Digital spoke with residents during the rainy Takoma Park Street Festival about how much authority they would be willing to give the government as socialism gains popularity, particularly among younger Americans.
Takoma Park is a liberal stronghold outside the nation’s capital. Many homes and businesses display LGBT pride symbols, as well as signs of support for left-wing causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement.
One festival attendee, Karen Irwin, wore a T-shirt reading, “Auntifa: Making White men uncomfortable since 1975.” She said she shared Volk’s view.
“I mean, if we were all doing it, I’d be so game,” she said.
“Do you know what I mean? And who’s coming to me? Is this a decision I’m making through democratic means? Then yes, yes, I would be so game. If I voted for it, sure.”
“You want to be able to keep your property. From what time are we talking? From what in the history of this country? Is it just right now, from right now moving forward, whatever it is you have?” Irwin asked.
“Or, you know, 100 years ago, when someone else had it. But the government might have taken it away for whatever reason.”
A Fox News poll conducted in March found that 38% of respondents considered it a good idea to move away from capitalism and toward socialism.
Very liberal voters and Democrats under age 45 were the most likely groups to support such a shift, with 66% in each category saying it would be beneficial. More than half of all Democrats, Black voters and people under age 30 also favored moving away from capitalism, at 55%, 55% and 53%, respectively.
Although most Americans, particularly Republicans and conservatives, continue to reject socialism, only 51% said capitalism is working well. The remaining 49% said it is not.
A third attendee at Sunday’s Takoma Park street festival also said he could imagine the government taking his home.
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“I don’t know that I would necessarily love it, but I mean, if it was something that was beneficial I’d at least consider it,” Maryland resident Jaw Blake said.
“Nobody wants what they have to be taken away from them, but there is something we said about like you can set up things so that they’re available for everybody.”
However, not everyone Fox News Digital interviewed was persuaded by the idea of government seizure and redistribution of private property.
Jenny Sniderman said she did not want to surrender her property to the government, though she might consider it if she received compensation.
“Of course I don’t want to give up my private property,” she said. “Are they going to reimburse me fairly? That would be helpful in making my choice.”
Steve Ney also opposed the government taking his home, but he supported another policy associated with socialism that was recently introduced in New York City by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“I think the idea of rent stabilization, for example, is an excellent idea where you limit the rate of increase in rent in order to help people stay in their homes,” he said.
New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 in July to halt increases in rent for one and two year leases on rent-stabilized apartments, enacting a core promise from socialist Mamdani’s agenda. The policy has faced legal challenges and backlash from property owners in the Big Apple.
Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) President James Whelan blasted Mamdani’s effort.
“The mayor’s report focuses on symptoms, not causes,” he told Fox News Digital in August. “New Yorkers are paying record-high rents because there is not enough housing, and many of the reported conditions are concentrated in heavily rent-stabilized buildings that are facing significant operational and financial challenges.”
One Takoma Park Street Festival attendee, Nina Gilden Seavy, a self-identified historian, outrightly rejected the idea that the government should be involved of distributing resources.
“I think that’s a ridiculous idea. I mean, that’s, it’s a fool’s errand,” she said.
“The idea that somehow we’re gonna be better off if the government is in charge of allocating all resources that sounds not in any way desirable.”
