I think my message, repeated on so many threads on this board, is that France is not particularly socialist as compared to the United States.
The systems are really quite parallel, in terms of social protection. France's coverage is more comprehensive, of more bands of people, than is America's, but this is not socialism. Socialism is the ownership by the state of the means of production. France is a capitalist nation. Almost all industry is in private hands or in the process of being privatized.
What Americans are calling "socialism" is really just "regulation", and America has great mounds of regulations as well. There are many areas of life in which American government is altogether more intrusive and regulatory.
The legal system in America is just unbelieveable.
Also, the tax system. Most French taxes are collected in the form of social security tax on pay and Value Added Tax on goods - a sales tax. The income tax is rather small compared to the US, and it is not so filled with loopholes. Also, in France there is a proscription period after which the authorities may not prosecute a person for tax issues. In America, murder and tax evasion are two crimes that have no statute of limitations.
Which means that American politicians desiring to crush political opponents use the American Tax authorities to investigate their rivals and destroy them using the legal system for faults committed long ago.
There are aspects of American law that are really quite shocking to French people.