>>>>http://www.gallup.com/poll/147881/Americans-Divided-Taxing-Rich-Redistribute-Wealth.aspx.
>>>>
>>>>I'll admit it's not 100%, but 71% qualifies as an overwhelming majority.
>>>>
>>>>;)
>>>
>>>Since when do americans understand the word socialism? :)
>>
>>I am an American and understand socialism better than you will ever know.
>
>And far far better than anyone wants to know too... :o) I've seen many variations of socialism first-hand -- the worst was East Germany of course when I was there, but there are many countries (back in the 80s and still today) with varying degrees of socialism. There is a balance that must be achieved when you go down that route.... the mindset of the people even changes after years of it -- so many "oh no you can't do that here."
>
>There are some success stories that could be loosely defined as socialist like Sweden and Norway. The first thing I noticed when I spent time in modern socialist countries was the increase in so many "mandatory" things... it's really more (IMHO) programs that aim to provide aid and services to financially unstable citizens. The primary difference between those programs in those countries and here is that it has always failed here. I'm still for having Norway set up and run our healthcare. :o) Now that ought to start an argument :o)

There are, as you said, different shades of socialism. They may have a temporary success (even for a number of years) but in the end they all will lead to a total socialism where the government will mandate everything. Walter said (paraphrasing) that "shouldn't poor people have the same health care as rich". So they bring up Obama care. Then they will say, shouldn't poor people eat as well as rich. And they will create a "fair" :) food distribution. And shouldn't poor people live in the same nice houses as rich. And they will nationalize private property. They will not stop on healthcare.

Take Spain for example. I have been following a blog of a Spanish nurse (she is in her 40s so she has been in the system for good deal of time). She says that the healthcare system in Spain is going down the drain. And the unemployment in Spain (I believe) is over 20% and things are not getting any better. Of course the socialists on UT will say that this is all Bush's fault :).

Go Obama! Home! :)