In the coming election you will be told that “socialism” is some horror to be avoided, that it is an entry-drug to despotism. Please listen to this. The people who tell you that are either knaves or fools. Either they want to deceive you for their own benefit, or they just do not know what they are talking about. Socialism has nothing to do with the form of government. A socialist economy can exist in a democracy very comfortably, so let's not confuse socialism with totalitarianism. There is nothing totalitarian about Sweden or Norway or Finland or Denmark, and all these countries are to some degree socialist as are, to a lesser degree I think, England, France, and Canada. Do these countries strike anyone as totalitarian?
Don't let anyone confuse you by suggesting that a socialist economic system somehow involves tyranny. If you want to see tyranny, look around at this plutocracy we have become. Unlike a socialist economic system, a plutocracy can never be truly democratic, because in a plutocracy all wealth flows to the wealthy and gives them the power to make sure that more and more wealth will flow to them.
What a socialist system strives to create is a country where no one dies of hunger or cold, where the poorest citizens can afford decent and comfortable shelter and enough nutritious food, where no one is refused medical treatment, whether that treatment is for a current condition or to prevent a future illness. In a well-run socialist system some people will still have a lot of money and some will have not very much, but no one will be truly poor. If socialism ends up limiting how many billions of dollars a particular person has, whether that be earned by talent or acquired by mere inheritance, the socialist system will ensure, by definition, that no one is desperately poor.
Some people, both the rich and the poor, will get more than they deserve, but that is no argument against giving enough to all. America is supposed to be a country where no one is denied life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Life. With out affordable medical care, Life is a right than can vanish. Life.
In a plutocracy, and that is what our country has become, even Life is not a right guaranteed.
Don’t let anyone scare you. Don’t let anyone lie to you. Socialism is not a dirty word.