So, it turns out that after 8 years of conservative critics of Barack Obama throwing the epithet “socialist” carelessly around, they have taken all the sting out of the word! Congratulations Bernie Sanders! Game-changer, folks! Republicans (and you too, Mrs. Clinton) had better figure out quick that whenever they use the word as a shorthand insult they are labelling themselves as burned-out, used-up cold warriors with nothing interesting to say about, let alone prescribe for, the problems of 2016. What is a nation-state for anyway, if not to tackle large problems with collective action anyway? Riddle me that.
The one bright spot around the hideous Republican embrace of Trump is that it shows that ideological silos are crumbling-Trump (awful as he is) is more liberal than many sitting democratic members of congress.
I agree that "socialist" is overused. Most mainstream Democrats favor crony capitalism rather than socialism, as do most mainstream Republicans. The only difference is who they pick to benefit from the cronyism.
Only the ideological right of the Republican party and libertarians support genuine free markets (in practice vs. rhetoric and lip service), while only the far Left flank of the Democrats are actual socialists in the sense of wanting to nationalize industries or banks.