You are entitled to believe that I am a socialist. You are entitled to believe that a bicycle is a parachute, too. The former delusion is much safer than the latter.
I am very much a Democrat, and don't deny that in the least- haven't for years. I am not now, nor have I ever been a socialist (although some have said I was antisocial; but, with medication ...
).
I used to work for a law firm that represented a fair portion of the Fortune 100. I've helped defend them from everything from class action suits, product liability lawsuits, environmental lawsuits, and employment and other kinds of discrimination suits. Didn't bother me in the least - even when they were guilty as hell. Why, I might have made a dollar or two when I did that - probably not much by the standards of many folks on this board, but enough.
Extremists on the left want to eliminate private enterprise. Extremists on the right want to put EVERYTHING in the hands of private enterprise. Anyone with a clue would realize that the ultimate result of either extreme is essentially the same thing. I don't care much for the pseudophilosophy whether its the fantasy of collectivism or the delusion of the benevolence of the unchecked "invisible hand."
Let me put it to you this way. I don't have much formal education beyond high school, but I've read a book, maybe even two or three- a lot of it history.
For a hundred years or more the left has been predicting the destruction of America at the hands of the greedy capitalist pigs and their war machine. For a hundred years the right has been predicting the destruction of America at the hands of creeping socialism. Last time I checked America is alive and well and kickin'. The whiners on both sides are still whining and screaming about their oppression and predicting imminent doom.
And they are just as full of shit now as they ever have been.