In many ways we already are a socialist nation. We require government assistance in too many areas to mention.

The real debate is over how much socialism we want. But there shouldn't be anything in the word to be frightened of.

Marx believed that Socialism is the natural evolution of Capitalism and I think there's some truth to that. What are socialized services? Simply private services paid for by public funds. In short, people helping others.

The great concern I hear is that someone who doesn't contribute to society through work still gets taken care of. This is no different from what we have in Social security, disability insurance, etc., and I don't hear any complaints about how we need to lower the payout for Social security benefits. In fact, wasn't it King George '00 who called for "privatizing" SS accounts in order to generate more money for those who don't work?

Indeed. Thank goodness such a course wasn't taken, or can you imagine the misfortune that would have befallen even more people during the Enron implosion?

But I digress. Suffice to say that, Americans are very much in favor of socialized goodness, and simply in want of a way to manage such with as little bureaucracy and as much transparency as possible.

Basicly, it deprives the wealthy.

So they hate it.