Columnist Ken Buck writes, "America has a socialism problem -- or a socialism perception problem. A great swath of our country has bought into the lie that socialism can somehow provide a better quality of life."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "This year, the federal debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time ever, doubling in size in less than a decade. Like an individual with significantly overdrawn credit card, our country's massive debt load is snowballing."

"It's really a call to action," Ken Buck said. "If we don't get our act together on this issue, we're going to be facing a national debt that is not just scary, as it is now over $40 trillion, but is going to really cripple our country and our economy."

Former Rep. Ken Buck told Newsmax on Tuesday that socialist candidates are making inroads in Democratic politics, particularly among younger voters, as Americans struggle with high living costs and concerns about the country's future.

Accusing President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers of subverting democracy has become the crux of Democrats' messaging. Never mind that most of the administration's actions over the past two years have been to undo Biden's overreach.

Despite a lot of talk about fiscal responsibility, lawmakers in Washington are continuing to run up the tab on America's already maxed-out credit card.

The U.S. national debt crossed another grim milestone this month, surpassing $40 trillion for the first time ever. That's more than double the amount owed in 2017 and is expected grow to $64 trillion within the next decade.

Even if one were to accept the law's estimated $250 billion of deficit reductions — a number largely reliant on deferred spending cuts and aspirational forecasts, like the faux Medicare savings — the savings were offset, many times over, by Democrats' uncontrollable penchant to spend taxpayers' money.

The actions send a clear message: States that refuse to get serious about fraud and abuse will quickly see the spigot of federal funding shut off. It's about time. The Government Accountability Office estimates that taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion to fraud every year. The federal government made at least $186 billion of improper payments last year, over half of which occurred in health care programs.

While concerns about AI automation have dominated headlines and sucked the oxygen out of the room, a bigger, more immediate threat to Americans' job prospects and wages continues to go virtually ignored: That is the crowding-out effect of the rising federal debt on private investment.

Our policy of economic entanglement has enriched Beijing while leaving American families, American farmers and American food security exposed to a communist regime that plays by no rules but its own. This arrangement has avoided open conflict, but it has enabled the weaponization of the very supply chains we depend on to feed our nation.

New York City has put out a welcome mat for illegal immigrants, practically inviting them to join in Mayor Zohran Mamdani's "collective warmth" of socialism. There's just one problem: The city needs your tax dollars to pay for it.

Lawmakers in Washington are back to their old tricks to quietly foist more deficit spending on Americans, and it's more irresponsible than ever.

Free-market competition is, and always has been, the great driver of optimal outcomes for consumers. Judge Robert Bork argued for a consumer welfare standard to examine business behavior in his book "The Antitrust Paradox." Bork argues that antitrust regulators should focus on the impact that corporate behavior is having on consumers rather than protecting obsolete business models.

This spring the White House launched the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, the largest-ever governmentwide effort to root out fraud, waste and abuse from federal programs. Led by Vice President JD Vance, the working group set out with an admirable, and long overdue, mission — to close loopholes exploited by fraudsters, enforce eligibility rules, and protect taxpayers and beneficiaries.

With the midterm elections just around the corner, candidates on both sides of the political aisle are hitting the campaign trail in earnest. As voters consider their options, there's one question they should demand a simple, honest answer to: How much does our national debt increase the cost of everything we buy?

Why should hardworking families, many of whom cannot afford to attend these uber expensive institutions, be on the hook for funding their liberal ideology? It seems obvious to me that these wealthy schools should contribute to our country's economy, not the other way around.

A company's top priority should be to maximize shareholders' returns, not to push kumbaya policies that come at the expense of hardworking families. Unlike corporations, which have a fiduciary obligation to investors, the proxy adviser cartel operates in a regulatory Wild West.

Last month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani filmed a video flouting a newly proposed "pied-a-terre" tax — a fancy name for even more property taxes, this time on the city's high-end homes. In the video, the mayor specifically calls out "this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million."

Republican voters in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District recently decided one of the country's most closely watched primary races: incumbent Congressman Thomas Massie against Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein.

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "The question isn't whether California will learn from its mistakes and correct course. The question is whether voters will wake up and realize this socialist tax-and-spend agenda is knocking on our door -- and whether we will fight to stop it."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "That money shapes politics is a truth as old as the republic. What's new is the scale of it. A small class of ultrawealthy leftist donors now flood Washington with cash, routed through shell companies and opaque nonprofits engineered to obscure its source."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "DOGE sparked a movement. It invigorated projects that have uncovered flagrant government waste -- from Minnesota's $9 billion of handouts to Somali swindlers, to California fraud that could cost residents $425 billion."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "For generations, Americans have dutifully paid into Social Security with the fair expectation the money they pay now will be there for them when they reach retirement. There's just one problem: The program is going broke."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "Americans will collectively spend almost 12 billion hours of uncompensated time preparing their income tax returns this year, on top of the $2.66 trillion they will fork over to the federal government."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "The ultra-wealthy -- names like George Soros and John Arnold -- have long pumped money into Washington to advance the left's agenda. But these latest efforts take dark money to a new level, and, worse, they do so by cheating the tax system."

When companies seek to tip the scales and put their bottom lines ahead of customers by monopolizing the market, consumers pay the price.

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "Americans are experiencing the ugly reality of big government, often without even realizing it. Every day, taxpayers lose billions of dollars to fraud."

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "Americans should be wary of Washington's munificence, not pleading for it. The well-spun gimmick that big government ought to be the purveyor of Americans' every want and need has pushed our country down a gradual, slippery slope toward socialism. It's bankrupting our coffers, impeding small businesses, and exacerbating the national affordability crisis."

States like California, New York and Washington have been drinking the Kool-Aid, but their steady march toward the brave new world of socialism has proven too much for rational minds. Individuals and businesses are racing for saner pastures — taking jobs and investment with them.

Recently, an independent budget watchdog group issued a sobering wakeup call: The U.S. national debt is on track to exceed $56 trillion within the next decade. That is a crippling debt load.

A recent survey found that nearly three-quarters of voters believe that criminal illegal immigrants should be deported, and more than two-thirds want state and local officials to cooperate with federal authorities to get the job done.

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "Every U.S. resident is $115,000 in debt, and that number is rapidly climbing. The national debt is growing by $70,000 per second. Interest costs, which exceed national defense spending, are now the fastest-growing piece of the U.S. budget."

Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. suggests Big Media is seeking to replicate the Big Tech playbook and may be on the cusp of gaining an anticompetitive advantage that will be equally difficult to undo , and potentially with even greater consequences.

Columnist Ken Buck writes, "California already has the highest and most progressive tax rate in the country. What does it have to show for it? The state's own analysis forecasts an $18 billion budget deficit this year, which is estimated to grow to as much as $35 billion annually."

Trump's actions to reassert the United States' military interests and isolate our enemies is exactly the kind of preemptive policy our country, and the world, needs.