[Allan]

he then muddles his point by saying
that it is not inconsistent with his notion of conservatism
for the government to force me, through progressive taxation,
to pay for someone else's drug prescription --
a notion that would have been considered Marxist
in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

It still is Marxist in the early 21st Century
as is progressive taxation, itself,
an idea, which, I believe Marx himself
considered an essential prelude to the establishment of a Communist state.

[kesg]

It still is Marxist in the early 21st Century as is progressive taxation, itself, an idea, which, I believe Marx himself considered an essential prelude to the establishment of a Communist state.

I fully agree. The welfare state, financed by progressive taxation, is merely the practical form and implementation of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need."