A Warning to Americans from a Brazilian Who Witnessed the Left’s Destruction of His Country
In 2007, I was the victim of an armed robbery. Two men confronted me, pointed guns at my stomach, and took my wallet and car.
That was the moment I decided I could no longer live in Brazil. Nearly all my family and friends have faced similar incidents, some with far worse outcomes—injuries or even loss of life.
Brazil's endemic violence is a direct consequence of policies that weaken laws and portray criminals as "victims of society." The left argues that poverty is the root cause of violence, but if that were true, why was there less violence decades ago when Brazil was even poorer?
But it wasn’t just public safety that suffered. The Brazilian economy was strangled by relentless taxes and suffocating regulations designed to support a bloated, corrupt government.
Worse still, in recent years Brazil has seen the erosion of political freedoms. I became a target of censorship and persecution simply for expressing my opinions, even from afar. Freedom of speech no longer exists, and voicing conservative ideas can even lead to imprisonment.
In 2014, I moved to the United States to open a branch of my investment company. Politically, it felt like stepping back in time by two decades.
The American left, embodied by the Democratic Party, started promoting the same policies that devastated Brazil: a big, overregulating, welfare-driven state. Socially, they fueled division, exploiting resentment based on wealth, gender, race, or sexual orientation.
There is a persistent denial of personal responsibility. If someone faces difficulties, it is only attributed to social injustice. Conversely, success is often painted as the result of exploitation or privilege. It doesn’t take much insight to see the consequences of such a mindset.
These are not the values that made the United States the most just and prosperous nation in history. Problems exist, of course, but comparing a real society to an idealized one—as the left tends to do—is deceptive.
To illustrate America's uniqueness: the poverty line in the U.S. is set at an income of $15,000 per year. In Brazil, 95% of families live on less than that. Even after considering the lower cost of living in Brazil, the disparity is enormous.
American prosperity is rooted in its political structure, anchored by a Constitution that limits and decentralizes government power, upholds the rule of law, and prioritizes individual rights, fostering a thriving free market.
Sadly, I see the Democratic Party drifting further from these foundational American values, pursuing hegemonic power by exploiting division and resentment while promoting an overbearing state as a panacea for all issues. In short, the Democratic Party is increasingly mirroring the Latin American left, including its appetite for political persecution.
In this election, only one candidate embodies traditional American values: Donald Trump. Kamala Harris, on the other hand, would represent yet another step toward transforming the U.S. into another Brazil.
Make your choice wisely.
Source: x.com/leandroruschel/status/1853477036964159707