I remain confused. Apparently our Democratic Socialists believe that the Northern Europeans are all socialists. I don't buy that one (for my thoughts expressed above). the USA, for instance, has any number of social services offered by its government but to suggest that makes us all socialists is just wrong and I don't buy it. I believe that the two are not, and need not, be exclusive to each other. Some here believe that they are and they are, obviously, wrong. I base this on my own observations.

A couple of things. I am certainly not against social services its just a case of which ones we can afford. Remember, this is the nation that has never skipped a war. I think we are spending, right now, over a billion a month just on Afghanistan. We are, basically, the undisputed military nation in the world! Anyway, good works are dandy but we gotta pay the bills! I would also point out that anytime gov has financial difficulties its ALWAYS social services that get cut. You know, little things like schools, insane asylums, police, firemen, etc. Orphanages, for instance, got done in because gov cut support and they were being run by unqualified working for minimum wage. Somehow orphanages got demonized and so, now, we have the so called fostercare which, in my mind, is a HUGE mistake and a genuine mess.

Here is a bonus. A few years ago we had a Rotary exchange student from Switzerland. I was talking to him. His parents were both doctors and Switzerland had just installed their healthcare. I no longer remember all the specifics but, if I remember correctly, they moved straight from a for profit system to healthcare for all. What they did was tricky. They told the insurance companies that, if they wanted to stay in business, they would provide basic healthcare for everybody for free (basic healthcare being defined by gov). After a couple of years their insurance companies ended up owning every hospital in Switzerland. Switzerland healthcare, incidentally, is considered one of the best in the world. Just saying, there are a number of solutions but we gotta study them all before we go off half cocked. The basic trick, to make it work, is to get rid of healthcare for profit and regulate the hell out of it.

One last. All the social stuff being offered is interesting but, I think, nobody seems to have thought it through and 'they' just want it done. Free higher education for free is one of those. This is not unusual in the world but, in every incident, one must qualify for that free part. They must also remain qualified, ie. show up for class, keep up grades, etc. This doesn't seem to be well fleshed on, hopefully I am wrong. Then there is the simple fact that Capitalism, the current whipping horse of the "Democratic Socialist". The simple fact is that Capitalism has been responsible for the raising of millions from poverty.

I will be interested when the Democratic debates start. Then we will see I think?