At a Sunday street festival in a famously progressive Maryland community just beyond Washington, D.C., several attendees told Fox News Digital they could accept the government taking private property—including their homes—in certain circumstances.
“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 a rainy Sunday at the Takoma Park Street Festival to gauge how much government authority they would accept as socialism gains traction, particularly among younger Americans.
Takoma Park, a liberal stronghold just outside the nation’s capital, is known for homes and businesses displaying LGBTQ pride symbols and messages supporting progressive causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement.
One festivalgoer, Karen Irwin, wore a shirt reading “Auntifa: Making White men uncomfortable since 1975.” She echoed Volk’s position on government control of private property.
“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.”
Irwin also questioned how ownership rights should be judged over time. “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?” she 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 viewed shifting away from capitalism and toward socialism as a good idea.
Very liberal voters, at 66%, and Democrats younger than 45, also at 66%, were the groups most likely to support a move toward socialism. More than half of Democrats, Black voters and people under 30—55%, 55% and 53%, respectively—also favored moving away from capitalism.
Although most Americans, particularly Republicans and conservatives, continue to oppose socialism, the survey found that only 51% believe capitalism is working well. The remaining 49% said it is not.
Another attendee at Sunday’s Takoma Park street festival said he could envision circumstances in which the government might take 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,” said Maryland resident Jaw Blake.
“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.”
Still, not everyone interviewed by Fox News Digital embraced the idea of government confiscation and redistribution of private property.
Jenny Sniderman said she would not want to surrender her property to the government, though compensation could change her mind.
“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 likewise opposed the government taking his home, but he supported another policy associated with socialism—rent stabilization, which was recently implemented 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.”