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Watched the program, and found it interesting. However I don't get Josh's premise. He acts as if socialism is dead and gone and now on to the next thing.

Seems to me that the major functions of our current government, redistribution of wealth, is nothing but a blatant progression towards socialism.

Am I missing something?

Seems to me that the major functions of our current government, redistribution of wealth, is nothing but a blatant progression towards socialism...I think there were several in the audience who would agree with you, including the man who said he came to Washington to save the country from socialism but found it was too late...I'd guess what Muravchik would claim is that we don't live under an integrated socialistic system, but that we have "symptoms" (my word) of socialism; he mentioned social security specifically at one point. Kristol cracked that FDIC couldn't be socialistic because he liked having his bank deposits insured by the government, which illustrates how seductive these programs can be even to those who profess opposition to the philosophical concept of socialism. The panel also seemed to make the distinction for awhile of the US as being a "social democracy" where the economy is "regulated" vs. socialism where the economy is "controlled", but as you point out, for the government blatantly to undertake to redistribute the country's wealth is a mighty bit step along the road from "regulation" to "control".........