Veterans of World War II , the Korean War, and the Vietnam War said America's young people need to wake up if they think socialism is a good idea.
The veterans delivered that message on Tuesday as they gathered at the World War II Memorial to celebrate the Honor Flight Network's milestone of bringing 250,000 veterans to Washington, D.C.
"It doesn't work," a Marine Corps veteran who fought against communism in the Korean War said. "It's smoke and mirror crap. People much smarter than me had quotations that expressed it far better than I do."
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"Winston Churchill said being a socialist is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up," he said.
Another veteran who served during World War II and the Korean War said Americans supporting socialism and communism need to realize the two are failed ideologies.
"There's no place in the world that it works," the Army Air Corps veteran said. "So, why would we want it? Even some of your idiot dictators around the world are smart enough to know that they got to keep a certain amount of capitalism. ... There's no economy if they don't."
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Young people need education, discipline, and morals if they want to serve their country, the veterans said.
"There's too much hoopla stuff out there between Hollywood, and other people are not giving these young people the right message in life," the Marine veteran said.
The retired airman said that today's young generation needs to ask themselves if they truly are Americans.
"If they would just ask themselves, 'Am I a patriot of my country?' and do everything they can to make this country great — like it should be — like it is ... I think that'd be a step in the right direction."