Is Socialism Anti-American?

[Mr Khan]

sc94597 said:
Socialism is not foreign to America. In colonial times there were many socialist experiments. They all failed, of course. Nevertheless, socialism (at least most forms of it) is antithetical to individualism, and individualism is much more ingrained in American culture. That is why you see such opposition. For the first 300 years of American history, the political landscape was split between individual anarchists, and classical liberals. It only makes sense that the progressivism of the last 100 years has had a hard time to drastically alter such a landscape (honestly it has been more effective than what one would predict beforehand.)

Largely because such reforms were necessary. There was a lot of populist/working class rage building up under the surface from the 1890s through the 1930s before the concessions of the New Deal tamed it. Stuff like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_%281934%29 went on all the time because of exploitative owners.

Individualism falls apart as an ideology for those who are made to live their lives as little better than machinery with organs.