"America Will Never Be A Socialist Country." How Often Has Your Head Exploded Over This Trope?
You've heard everyone use it, from the Orange Turd himself, to Abigail Spanberger (D-Va). The word 'socialism' has been used to bludgeon progressive politicians for nearly a century now, and I'm getting sick of it. If I love Bernie Sanders for anything, it was his refusal to RUN AWAY from the word. Something which takes half the power out of using it as a weapon.
But even this isn't the truth. The truth is that BOTH Sweden and the United States are MIXED ECONOMIES. A mixture of free market (not capitalism, which is different)...a mixture of free market venture, AND PUBLIC ventures. The only difference between the two is deciding where the line should be drawn between private and public ventures.
In Sweden they draw the line for things that should be public around healthcare, universities, and daycare. In the United States, the line for things that should be public INCLUDES universities, but NOT healthcare (more or less), and daycare. But the United States still includes plenty of PUBLIC programs, or we wouldn't have a two trillion dollar a year budget.
The idea that the earth will crack open, all hell will break loose, and we'll all start reciting from Mao's little red book if we suddenly decide that healthcare and daycare should be included in the PUBLIC column, instead of the private column is bullshit, and needs to be called out as such.
They tried to tell us that's what would happen if the United States ever adopted MEDICARE. REAGAN was famous for sending around that stupid PROPAGANDA record in the early 60s, claiming that 'our children would wake up in a communist country' if the United States adopted MEDICARE. That was a standard Republican SCARE tactic. Once it actually happened, everyone found out it wasn't really that bad. In fact, most people LOVE their Medicare.
My advice to Democrats would be to stop playing into the 'socialism' language of these fearmongers, and start talking about MIXED FREE MARKET ECONOMIES instead. That's what the United States is, as well as every other developed country.
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They are only mad about it because of what they hear on Fox and AM radio. That's it. 
Americans benefit, hugely....
