Originally Posted by rickair7777

Not exactly the same the same but close enough that most Americans want nothing to do with it. That's why one party works so hard to suppress it's own socialist wing, while extremists in the base love it, it will lose most national elections.

Varies by degree, and mechanism of establishment.

Communism requires violent revolution, so you typically need a lot of the population to be severely oppressed so they have nothing to lose.

But socialism ultimately requires the government to take from some and give to others. Net effect is to dampen enthusiasm for work and innovation. Nobody falls through the cracks, and almost nobody really thrives either.

Side effect is of course when a government gets more power, it's a slippery slope. The UK government is currently arresting people for saying things on SM that go against official government position. They don't have a 1st amnd., but they did have similar traditions for a long time. Fun while it lasted I suppose.

Maybe worth noting the euro brand of socialism does still allow the *very* old aristocratic dynasties to thrive as they always have... the effect of all the government regulations is to set high barriers of entry to random people who want to create and grow businesses.