State Rep. Greg Alexander, of Carsonville, on Wednesday voted for a House resolution condemning socialism and reaffirming the state’s commitment to a democratic republic.

Alexander said positions that have been conveyed by socialist organizations throughout the country go vehemently against core principles of both Michigan and the United States.

“Unfortunately, in the year we celebrated America’s 250^th birthday, we have seen a dramatic rise in policy ideas that go directly against common sense, individual freedoms and constitutional government,” Alexander said. “These are pillars on which our great nation was constructed. We must be clear where we stand and reject the implementation of radical, socialist agendas.”

House Resolution 373 notes failed socialist experiments around the world that have resulted in tragedy, famine and death since 1900. Tens of millions of people died in the Bolshevik Revolution, and at least 10 million people were sent to gulags in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Between 15 and 55 million people starved to death in the wake of famine and devastation caused by the Great Leap Forward in China, and socialist quagmires in Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela produced mass executions, prison camps, land seizure and redistribution, stifled speech, secret police, hyperinflation, and crippling geopolitical isolation.

“The United States and Michigan were founded on the principle that the power of government is derived from the people, not collectivism and the idea that a large, centralized government makes unilateral decisions at the expense of the people,” Alexander said.

Copies of the approved resolution will be transmitted to the President, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and the Governor of Michigan.