[DallasJ7]

I'm surprised by all the yes responses. Of course we're not socialist. Obviously we're not an outright socialist country; even the most leftist of the European countries aren't outright socialist, although some make it fairly close. So we have to judge it on a scale. But even on that scale, we are far more capitalist than socialist. Our entire economy runs on a capitalist system. We may be more socialist than we were 100 years ago, but we still have a long way to go before we become more socialist than capitalist. Sorry, but Social Security does not make us a socialist nation.

[gjenkins]

I pay 50% in taxes. The largest thing I own (home and land) is mine as long as I continue to pay a lease (property tax). If I stop, I loose it. In fact, any thing that retains value over time is mine only on lease.

[Carry_Okie]

Social Security does not make us a socialist nation.

The land grabs in the West, the collapse of public schools, the encroachment of international law, and with it, the destructive tyranny of the environmentalists, do.

[John SBM]

I think you may have overlooked the underlying pint here. We are not yet a totaly socialist country - I agree. But the ideas that are guiding most of our political debates currently are rooted in socialistic principles, not the principle of individual rights. We have accepted the socialist principles as somehow superior to the principles of individual rights. It's not a matter of degree, but of direction and the underlying premises we all accept.