Comment Re:Socialism! (Score 1) 482
People paint all socialism like some kind of communist dictatorship, but in reality socialism can be very similar to capitalism,
Or to be a bit more accurate, socialism and the free market are not incompatible.
You're right that most (American) people assume socialism is communism with it's state controlled economy but the reality is almost all socialist countries live with the same kind of mostly free market as we do (China and Vietnam being the most obvious examples, the Nordic states as well although their socialism is extremer mild).
Even capitalism and socialism are not incompatible. many nations have a universal health care system that sits nicely with a capitalist insurance market.
"Capitalism", "Socialism", "Free market" and "Planned economies" are all extremist philosophies in their pure forms. When mixed they are all quite effective in their own ways. Think of it this way, Drinking 95% ethanol will likely kill you, however a nice whiskey at ~50% abv is quite enjoyable, despite the active ingredient being ethanol. Western nations owe most, if not all of their success to the fact that they're not extremist philosophies.