Jgw has a good point. My parents did associate socialism with Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party or the shorter version National Socialist Party, NAZI. It’s was all in a name. Much like my generation equated Socialism with the old USSR, United Soviet Socialist Republic or communism. I haven’t the faintest idea how the younger one’s associate socialism with.
It does seem like every individual has his own definition of socialism. Usually something like government control of everyone and everything with the government deciding what to give and how much to the people while the government ownd everything. With the ruling elite, government workers living high off the hog while everyone else lives in poverty. Others view socialism as cradle to grave government care with no regard to personal responsibility, merit and ethics, hard work etc. Again, government deciding what everyone gets or doesn’t get. Along with government folks living high off the hog.
I never gave much thought to socialism or capitalism for that matter. Greger does seem right in that socialism is about as offensive to many if not most Americans as the N word. Probably because they equate socialism with the bad guys of the world. Total government control over a person’s life. To me socialism is just another form of political philosophy, like conservativism, liberalism, progressivism, libertarianism and just about every other ism one can think of. I’m probably totally wrong, but unlike many Americans, I don’t get upset about socialism in just about any form. I figure the people will decide how much of socialism and or capitalism or both or a hybrid type of both they want.
