Why do so many Americans hate socialist policies so much?

Question

Why is it that in many parts of America if someone supports things such as universal health care, government sponsered universities, gun control, safe abortions, same sex marriage etc etc they are known as a "whining liberal" when in nearly every other Western country the citizens not only support, but EXPECT these things from the government?

It is a fact that Western nations with many socialist policies (ie. Scandinavia, British Commonwealth countries) are very civilised, functioning societies that are the most sought after and comfortable places to live in the world.
Yet why do so many Americans dread the thought of being like that??

Is it becuase of a strong streak of residual antagonism against the Soviet Union which was strongly socialist?

1st Buzie, thats a good point about people just not wanting to work, however Australia has a strong social security scheme (Centrelink) but is also the country with the hardest working population in the Western world;

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/give-us-a-break-australia-is-hard-at-work/2005/07/06/1120329502555.html

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/08/1089000295716.html?from=storylhs

So a strong social security scheme doesn't neccessarily mean lazy people.

Answer 1

there are still many that remember the red scare and it's very real in their heads... socialist=evil to them...

their media choices backs up their beliefs... never showing them anything to contradict it...

Answer 2

I think it is mostly because of a general lack of understanding of socialist views, caused by extensive villianization of the term during the cold war.

Also, some may confuse the term "socialist policies" with "socialism". Very, very few liberals think we should instill a purely socialist government in this country. It would be quite outlandish to assert that such a system would work with our population, and unclear if it could ever work on such a large scale. However, there are various policies which have simple characteristics of socialism that could help every country in one way or another. To benefit, we must get past the stigma associated with the word.

Answer 3

Socialism is in direct opposition with capitalism.
When socialism is strong, big business gets stronger, as they have a GUARANTEED income, with no reason to lower prices.

Healthcare. Every healthcare provider gets insured income due to group insurance. Make it universal, and there would be NO competition. They would simply raise the prices more, as would every supplier and every raw materials dealer involved.

Make them compete? The prices get lower, though some people who do not earn their own money have to settle for less healthcare (which they haven't earned, but would be given to them on a charitable basis, NOT as a debt we "owe" them).

Most Western countries that have socialist aspects suffer from exactly this sort of inflation and decreasing standard of living, supporting everyone else while the rich leave in droves, creating a cycle of increasing taxes and leaving sources of revenue (the rich and the businesses they create).

Here in the U.S. we complain about the companies that leave our country to open in other countries.

Stability is worth only so much when faced with a country that hates the rich and thinks they OWE the poor a living.

That's just it. Socialist citizens EXPECT. They think they are owed.

We don't owe you. We never did. If any patriotic American has a say in it, we never will.

Take a free sandwich, take a cot, charitably given, and go get a job and work for you living, like the rest of us.

Answer 4

I have no problem with socialists or anyone on the left...I just wish they would leave me and my wallet out of their grand schemes.

The problem I have with their policies is that they offer something for nothing. They want "free" healthcare, meaning they want YOU to pay for it. As P.J. O'Rourke once quipped, "If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free."

If I study hard, work hard, take risks and keep out of trouble, why should someone else have a claim on the fruits of my labor? For years I made plenty of money but lived like a pauper: my mattress was on the floor, no television and I drove a jalopy. Consequently, I retired at 38. My friends were leveraging debt to buy nice cars, nice clothes, nice meals in nice restaurants and not saving money. Why should they have the benefit of their money in the present and my money in the future?

Sure, there are Western Democracies who are socialist and are civilized; however, France and Sweden recently voted them out of office due to dissatisfaction with their policies.

The Soviet Union was only one example of the horrors of communism. Last year I asked the director of the CPUSA (Communist Party of the U.S.A.) if she could point to one communist country and claim that it was a moral and material triumph of socialist ideals. She could not.

Americans' hatred for socialist policies comes from examples you can read in The Black Book of Communism or the works of Anne Applebaum, Robert Conquest, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, among many others.

Answer 5

Its actually a very simple question: money, or so I thought. I thought that by drastically cutting out "offecive" spending and focusing on a bare minimum "defencive" spending we could cut taxes and increase public benifits drastically. But I was very wrong, people are addicted to things that cause pain, it goes back to the days of little kids and holding up a magnifying glass to kill a little bug. It will never be admitted but everyone likes a little conflict.

Answer 6

here's one problem what was supposed to be socialist USSR turned bad cause a few had control of most sort of like its getting to be here. the reds there ar e most like the reds here .
also Repubs strategy is to tell those who vote on a slogan all good moderate liberals are same as wacko over the edge left .
we are not.!!!!!!!

but one liners work on too many.

they don't like comparisons talk of socialism cause someone might bring that up., oops.
Americans view themselves as good and kind the saviors of the world; most of the world however does not agree.
we are full of ourselves .
and live in fantasy. swirling around our growing disabled and poor in designer duds . give em a quarter towards a 1.60 coffee. whoopee!
WHO DO YoU KNOW THAT GIVES EVEN 10% ON Regular BASIS?
did you know there are no food banks will help with medical needs diets for poor adults ?
go to most food banks and park feeds.
"let them eat cake."
did you know there is no humane society for people in the USA! and a dog would not be treated like most homeless and disabled in our country. making thinking of helping bad socialist allows them to buy that $350 purse each season to pull that occasional quarter out of.

we cut taxes for wealthy over and over and what made us gr e a t redistribution of the wealth doesn't go with republican right wing christian "greed is good."
propaganda all very right wing reds are the best at it.!!!!!
CAPITALISM UNCHECKED BY SOCIALISM BECOMES A MONARCHY OR DICTATORSHIP.
HIEL BUSH OR HAIL BUSH ITS ALREADY BECOME A FINE LINE.
USSR was Communist. Not Socialist.

Answer 7

This is just another misinformation campaign. We have had socialism for the rich for such a long time now, and they don't want the gravy train to stop. Corporate bail outs, protections, tax breaks and incentives, no bid contracts for Halliburton, etc, are all examples of socialism. But, as they don't want to share in this boondoggle, they have spent a lot of money demonising socialism so that only they can receive it. Corporate profits from medicine, pharmacies, etc., are way too high to give up, so you will always see a big fight over unversal health care.

Answer 8

Hi, I was born in Cuba and believe me when I tell you, Socialism does not work. Check out this article written by Jose Marti (a Cuban poet-writer-patriot) back on April of 1884 http://www.autentico.org/oa09037.php
It is called: "THAT FUTURE SLAVERY",SAID MARTI, "IS SOCIALISM". I found out about this article after living the first 20 years of my live in that regime and coming to this country and I was shocked when I realized that closed to 100 year before it was known that socialism didn't work and still this big monster made our country suffer all that we have suffer. It's been terrible for our people, our land, our last 50 years and who knows how many more. Thank you.

Answer 9

Most people in the U.S. take pride in making their own life. They like owning property, trying to improve their lives, doing better for their children, etc. Its sort of the American dream thing rather than having the government be your parent.

However, the larger the population becomes, the more social programs there are likely to be. I don't see the U.S. ever becoming willingly socialist unless or until our economy collapses.

Answer 10

yep, seventy years of anti communist propaganda. most american with these views don't even understand socialism. then it's the bottom line, socialism costs money, tax money. and the tax structure is such that it bears heavily on the lower strata. but that's ignorance. when you actually crunch the numbers, it's obvious that health care (for one) would be cheaper and better for all concerned. and too they're afraid of "big government," this in a nation with the largest most complex government in the world.

Answer 11

probably because most of the people pushing these "socialist policies" in the USA are racist against white Americans (especially the white sociallists are racist against white Americans)while calling the White Americans that they persecute "White Supremisists","biggots" and any other name that they can use to aid them in their efforts to commit genocide against white Americans,and we aren't blind to the fact that "liberals" would like to wipe us off of the face of the earth.I don't know of any country called Europe,it is a continent...I do not know of any one culture that "white people " came from...my ancestors were of German and Austrian ancestory chased out of Europe during the depressions and wars of WWI mostly,never had slaves,lived in German communities of farmers in the midwest and suffered racism from other cultures when they arrived in the USA just like every other culture and nationality that came here.Now I am told to be tolerant of all of these other races and cultures intent on killing me and people like me,they want to disarm my people,have preference in job fulfillment,I see no control of school administrations and governement officials embezziling money taken through taxation,no control on theft through welfare and child support and all Socialist Goverments I have seen have been extremely corrupt,look at the deaths in China,Russia,Germany when "socialism" began taking over...simply put most people around the world fleeing persecution head for America,and then try to change our government to persecute white Americans ....look at South Africa after Mandelea (a Communist) was placed in power..remember the stories of white land owners being murdered and their lands confiscated for there skin color?We watch the news and see the war being fought against us in our own country while noone in our country is fighting back other than voting....