The Word "Socialism" Is Toxic in This Country

[TomSlick]

27. Depends on how you define the term "Democratic Socialist" but the Nordic model seems successful.

I define the term "Socialist" as I was taught in PoliSci classes decades ago - public ownership of the means of production. I am aware of no democratic countries that are truly socialist under that definition. The only countries that I can think of that are close to strictly socialist - again under the definition I was taught - are a very few Communist countries. (Communism is a governmental system with a socialist economy and a one-party, totalitarian political system.) Socialism is an effective bogey-man in this country because too many conflate the terms socialist and communist. The two terms are not synonymous. All communists are socialists but not all socialists are communists.

Socialism and Capitalism are largely irrelevant terms because economic systems are very rarely one or the other but are a mix of the two. The question is where on the spectrum between the two extremes any given economic system falls. The US has not been anything near a strictly capitalist country since the New Deal.

I am skeptical that any of the Democratic office holders who call themselves Democratic Socialists are really socialists. I have not heard of any calls to nationalize industries. It's just the labels that are problematic.