Old-school socialism is really right down at the roots of American history, at least for New England: concepts of communal property (or at least a strong sense of common property, while still keeping a fair deal of private holdings) and mutual support amongst the religious communities of the early northeast. People supported each other so that they could live as they chose to live (as a group). So the idea of communes and, in the modern incarnation, co-ops and credit unions and such, these things which were the precursors in Europe to political socialism have their place deep down in American history too. We can't have the freedom to do what we wish without also being able to support each other.
The key is that in America there's a stronger sense that "the government" is distinct from "the people." We view the government almost in a way similar to the peoples of kleptocracies like Russia or Ukraine, when we should have the notion that *we* are the government should be better-entrenched in America than in other countries. This leads to the false idea that socialism involves the government taking stuff, when really it's horizontal redistribution, from those who have prospered to those who have not.
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
