[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.

[DallasJ7]

Agreed. We are trending socialist, and the political debate generally favors the more socialist alternative. But still, when you look at the way our economy works, overall we are more capitalist than socialist. Profits gained by corporations, accumulated and reinvested, are still what drive our country.