"Maybe I shouldn't have called Democrats Socialists, because that gives Socialism a bad name. :-?"
The Democrats in the US are a particularly hypocritical and nasty variant at this point. I think it possible, and maybe even plausible that less noxious variants of Socialism exist in some countries. Norwegians, for example, seem to be less virulent (less hypocritical) in their practice of high taxes for all and spread the wealth. I think socialism is actually decent policy when it is practiced honestly and in smaller groups.
(It also needs opt-out. Much of the world allows their citizens to opt out of contribution by opting out of all benefits. I believe, the UK allows its citizens to opt out of tax filing and paying, by relocating, and staying, out of the country. The US does not allow this. If you don't want to live under communal rules, you don't have to – just don't come back later, opportunistically, with your hand out.
Socialism, worked - and works - in many tribes (human and animal) for tens of thousands of years, if not longer. That is herd behavior. It HAS been pretty successfully practiced in some church groups, nunneries, fraternal organizations, and Jewish communes. It is the elite hypocrisy, and size, which seems to pervert it into something really twisted, like you saw in USSR, China, and Venezuela.
If Soros, Zuckerberg, Peolosi, Sanders, et al, were compelled to give up nearly EVERYTHING, in order ot "equalize" themselves with the average of $40K disposable income per year in the US, it would be a sign of a more tribal socialism.
I expect Cactus Flower goes out of his way to DONATE virtually every penny he owns or makes to his collective. If he doesn't have much money, I expect he hosts homeless in his house and probably works twenty hours a week, gratis, in a soup kitchen or something. By thus LOWERING his standard of living, joyfully, way below whatever he earns or inherits or gets in pension, he demonstrates the better side of socialism and decency. That is honest socialism...and it doesn't necessarily have to be pathological; it can be quite inspiring and good to belong to. It is the hypocrites and the over-large size which guarantees its perversion into something like the "Democrats".
I get the feeling that Cactus Flower may be more like Mother Theresa.
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