If not "socialism", what should we call "spending tax dollars on things that help everyone"

[Girard442]

58. Here's a good link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_economy

Unfortuately, it's a long, rambling article without a crisp definition, but I think that reflects the underlying reality. In any country you go to that isn't actually in a state of collapse, some of the goods and services you consume will be provided by private enterprise and some of them you will get from government and it's likely that there's no bright and shining line between those that should be supplied by government and those that should be supplied by private entities (think about the overlap between the U.S. Postal Service and UPS and Fedex). Also, the next country you go to will probably have a different mix -- not necessarily better or worse, just different.

The dictionary definitions are an attempt to capture a complicated, fluid concept in a few words. Whatever else is true about them, they're not handed down by God.