That's because we were brainwashed in the 50's and 60's to equate socialism with Communism (large "C"), which was obviously evil. (It's not the same thing.) On the other hand, we were brainwashed to equate laise fair capitalism with "freedom". (That also is not the same thing.)

If instead we were taught socialism was "shared social responsibility" and laise fair capitalism was "greed", we would have a different outlook.

(Bracing for the blast: Note that I said "laise fair capitalism", not simply "capitalism".)

...Jim

>
>The real issue here is cultural. National health care smacks of socialism and that's a bad word to many Americans. In addition, we have this whole culture of "pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps" that makes a lot of people think that government involvement in daily living is wrong.
>
>Tamar